About This Stamp
The 6-cent Tricycle issue features an image of a three-wheeled vehicle popular during the 1880s. The tricycle was intended for adults wishing to avoid the hazards of the high rider bicycle of the 1870s that appears on the 5.9-cent value of the Transportation coil series. The 6-cent Tricycle was issued on May 6, 1985, at Childs, Maryland, without a formal ceremony. There were 151,594 first day covers. All were the block-tagged unprecanceled collectors' version issued in coils of 500 stamps, all with plate 1.
The stamp was issued to pay the basic third-class bulk per-piece rate that had gone into effect on February 19, 1985. The untagged version was overprinted with the words “Nonprofit Org.” between parallel bars using plates 1 and 2. It was issued in coils of 500 and 3,000 stamps. When the 6-cent nonprofit rate ended on December 31, 1985, the precanceled stamp was authorized for false franking until March 1, 1987.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing printed the stamp on the intaglio B with plate numbers and intervals of 52 stamps. It was designed by James Schleyer of Burke, Virginia. The vignette was engraved by Kenneth Kipperman. Thomas J. Bakos engraved the lettering. Both the engravers worked for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.