About This Stamp
On October 27, 1976, the Postal Service issued a 13-cent multicolored Christmas stamp depicting Nathaniel Currier’s 1855 hand-colored lithograph Winter Pastime. The stamp was designed by Stevan Dohanos based on the lithograph held by the Museum of the City of New York.
The multicolored stamps were issued with two types of tagging. The stamp was printed on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing seven-color Andreotti gravure press (601) as sheets of 200 subjects with overall tagged, perforated 11, and distributed as panes of 50 (five across, 10 down). The lettering at the base is black and usually .5 mm below the design, and there is generally no "snowflaking" in the sky and pond.
The second version was printed on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing seven-color Andreotti gravure press (601) as sheets of 230 subjects, block tagged, perforated 11, and distributed as panes of 50 (five across, 10 down). The lettering at the base is gray black and usually .75 mm below the design, and there is generally "snowflaking" in the sky and pond. Mr. Zip, “MAIL EARLY IN THE DAY,” electric eye markings, and five plate numbers, one in each color used to print the sheet, are printed in the selvage.
'Currier & Ives' was the name used by a New York printmaking firm from 1857 until 1907. This business had been in operation since 1834, first as Stodart & Currier (1834) and then as N. Currier (1835 to 1856). All the prints produced by this firm are usually referred to as "Currier & Ives prints." Nathaniel Currier was a printmaker and businessman. James Ives started as the firm's bookkeeper in 1852 and five years later became Currier's partner. Neither was an artist, so though all Currier & Ives prints were published by the partners, they were drawn and lithographed by other persons. Nathaniel Currier retired in 1880 and died in 1888, and James Ives died in 1895.
The firm produced a variety of images, including pictures of newsworthy events and prints depicting every subject relating to American life — sports, games, home life, religion, children, hunting, fishing, entertainment, trains, ships, views of cities, etc. Most Currier & Ives prints are hand-colored lithographs intended for a mass market, so they were sold inexpensively. Smaller prints sold for about 20 cents each and the larger ones for $1-$3. The smaller and less expensive prints were usually colored by a group of young women, each applying a different color, and images with large runs were often colored using stencils. The larger and more expensive prints generally were colored individually by skilled colorists.
Winter Pastime, by artist Fanny Palmer, shows a winter scene with children at play on the ice, some with makeshift hockey sticks. In the background other children hurry their sleds along snow-covered hills. Winter Pastime was the second Currier & Ives winter scene used as the basis for a Christmas stamp. The Road - Winter had been used in 1974.