Is It a Find!?

Dear Dan, Among an old lot of my grandfather's loose stamps, I found this 1915 Woman's Suffrage stamp. It is rather brittle and still has the adhesive glue on the rear. It is slightly larger than a postage stamp and I was wondering what it was used for and if the Post Service had officially issued it. The other stamps he had were cancelled and when I looked them up, they seemed to be worth little money. This is the only stamp I could find no information on. I thank you in advance for any information. Sincerely, Tom Hello Tom, That is quite the rare stamp! Many did not survive because, as you noted, they are quite fragile and brittle. This type of stamp is called a poster stamp, and they were quite popular from the early 1900s till about the 1940s. Often they were used to advertise products and events. They were collected in albums or adhered to letters. They were privately issued and had no postage value. Your stamp was used to promote Suffrage marches that took place in 1915 in New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. Though the 19th amendment, which secured the right for women to vote, did not pass till 1920, your stamp is still an important piece of history. It is worth more to a Suffrage collector than a collector of poster stamps. I would say that it could be worth upwards of $25 to the right buyer. It would be best to store them in vellum glassine wax paper bags specifically used to house stamps, as they are acid free and they repel moisture. Thank you for sharing with us your find.