The Brandywine Valley Stamp Collector's Club usually meet on the second
Wednesday of each month at the Brandywine Hundred Library in the upstairs
meeting rooms. In addition, meetings of the Stamp Swap Club are planned
three to four times during the year; see program schedule for details.
Annual dues are $7.50 and are due in January. |
As
the second-smallest state in the nation, Delaware has fewer stamps directly
related to it than most of the others. They are presented here chronologically
as they were issued.
 The
first to appear was a 3 cent stamp honoring William Penn. Penn landed
at New Castle, Delaware in 1638 and founded Pennsylvania. Before the
Revolution, Delaware was the three lower counties of Pennsylvania, but
had its own legislature beginning in 1704 with Penn's approval. It became
a separate state on June 15, 1776, declaring independence from both
Pennsylvania and Great Britain. The stamp is unusual in that it had
three official first-day-of-issue cities; New Castle, Delaware, and
Chester and Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. (Scott # 724)
Second was a 1937 issue commemorating the Constitutional Convention,
to which Caesar Rodney of Dover hurried on horseback despite his health
to break the deadlocked vote of the Delaware delegation with his vote
in favor of the Constitution. (Scott # 738)
In 1938 a stamp was issued for the 150th anniversary of the ratification
of the Constitution, and Delaware gained its nickname of "The First
State" by being the first to ratify it, on December 7, 1787.
(Scott # 738)
The 300th anniversary of the landing of the Swedish and Finnish colonists
at what became Wilmington saw a stamp issued in 1938 showing a painting
by Stanley Arthurs of the colonists meeting the natives. The original
painting now hangs at the University of Delaware. Sweden and Finland
also issued stamps for the occasion, of different design. (Scott # 836)
Peter Stuyvesant was the governor of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam,
and he had come south and established Fort Casimir at what is now New
Castle. In 1653 he formed the first volunteer fire brigade, and is honored
on a stamp first issued at Dover, Delaware in 1948. (Scott # 971)
Continued next week...
John Graper - January 2009
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