One of the interesting souvenirs available at most international stamp exhibitions is the philatelic passport. This item is usually a little larger than the standard national passport and is filled with a number of pages, typically one for each postal administration attending the event. A visitor can obtain the passport at a booth near the entrance (sometimes given for free) and then visits as many of the postal administration booths as they can in order to obtain a stamp (or several) to affix into the passport and postmarked on the appropriate page.
The first such show that I attended was Pacific ’97, held in late May and early June of 1997 at the Moscone Center in downtown San Francisco, California. I attended every day of the exhibition while staying at my uncle’s home on the other side of the Bay. Early each morning, I would board the BART train bound for the city. My first stop each day upon arrival was to queue for the daily USPS show cancellations and purchase whatever new products were issued on any particular day.
Once that was done, I would head into the postal administrations’ booth area to purchase stamps, affix them into my philatelic passport and have them postmarked. I would do this for an hour or so each morning before heading off to one of the many other activities found at the show. This included auctions, book and postal history presentations, viewing framed exhibits, or just perusing stock at the numerous dealer booths.
Pacific ’97 remains the only international philatelic exhibition I have ever attended. Those held in Bangkok or Singapore also see to be held at times when I simply cannot get away due to my work. Someday…
One of my long-held topical interests has been the stamps issued to commemorate the American Revolution Bicentennial in 1976. The first U.S. stamp marking this was released in 1971. I began collecting stamps during the Bicentennial era. Each year from 1975 through 1978, my mother gave my sister and I the USPS set of commemorative stamps for the previous year. Mom also bought us U.S. Mint proof sets but the coin collecting didn’t take hold as well as philatelic pursuits. My interest in the Bicentennial stamps stems from those early days of collecting and I still purchase foreign first day covers with stamps marking the anniversary whenever I see them.
One purchase since moving to Thailand nearly twenty years ago was a nearly complete philatelic passport from the Interphil exhibition held in late May and early June 1976 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was the seventh decennial philatelic exhibition for the United States held under the auspices of the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie (FIP). During the nine-day show, the United States Postal Service issued a single commemorative stamp portraying Benjamin Franklin and four miniature sheets each of which portrayed a portion of a different famous painting relating to the Revolutionary War. The paintings were: The Surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown by John Trumbull, The Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull, Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Leutze, and The March to Valley Forge by William B. T. Trego.
The first page of this particular passport contains a space for the holder to enter his or her name and address and a space for a photo (oh, if only I had a good circa 1976 photo of myself…). There’s a statement by the chairman and president of the exhibition’s organizing committee (recognizable names to most American philatelists). The fun begins on the next page…
The left side has spaces for stamps from the United States and we find two copies of the Interphil issue (Scott #1632) released on January 17, 1976, to promote the exhibition. The upper stamp has the USPS Interphil ’76 Station pictorial cancellation used only on the first day of the exhibition (“Bicentennial Day”), May 29. Below that, the second copy of the stamp has received a pictorial cancellation dated May 30, picturing what I believe to be an AMTRAK railway engine.
On the facing page are the two stamps issued by Australia on November 13, 1974, to mark Christmas (Scott #600-601) showing engravings by Albrecht Dürer (“Adoration” on the 10 cent stamp and “Flight Into Egypt” on the 35 cent). Australia didn’t release any stamps marking the American Bicentennial and even the large Australian Stamp Bureau cachet tying the stamps to the passport shares space with a notice that it was the 75th anniversary of Australia’s nationhood.
On the next page, we see the four stamps issued by Bangladesh to mark the Bicentennial (Scott #111-114). These were released on May 29, making the circular date stamps (CDS) first day of issue cancellations. The 30 Bangladeshi paisa stamp features the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty is found on the 2.25৳ (Bangladeshi taka) value, the 5৳ stamp pictures the Mayflower, and Mount Rushmore is portrayed on the 10৳ denomination. The set was designed by E.W. Roberts and printing using the photogravure process by Heraclio Fournier, Vitoria in miniature sheets of four stamps in both perforated (frame 13¾) and imperforate varieties.
From Belgium, the stamp with accompanying label was issued on March 13. The stamp (Scott #942) features the official logo of the American Revolution Bicentennial, designed by Bruce N. Blackburn and consisting of a white five-point star inside a stylized star of red, white and blue. The logo is encircled by the inscription American Revolution Bicentennial 1776–1976 in Helvetica Regular. This was used on a flag that flew at many government facilities throughout the United States and appeared on many other souvenirs sold during the period. NASA painted the logo on the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in 1976 where it remained until 1998 when the agency replaced it with its own emblem as part of 40th anniversary celebrations. The attached label portrays the New York State Emblem and Seal. The issue was printed in photogravure and perforated 11½.
The Salute to U.S. Bicentennial miniature sheet of four stamps was issued by the British Virgin Islands on May 29 and bears a pictorial first day of issue cancellation. The period sailing ships pictured on the stamps are the Massachusetts brig Hazard on the 8¢ (Scott #309), the American privateer Spy on the 22¢ value (Scott #310), the Continental Navy frigate Raleigh is shown on the 40¢ stamp (Scott #311), and the 75¢ denomination shows the battle between the frigate Alliance and HMS Trepasy. The miniature sheet was printed using offset lithography and comb perforated 13.
While Canada Post did issue a stamp honoring the American Bicentennial — a common design with the U.S. commemorative — the original owner of this passport opted to use the previous year’s Christmas set instead to receive the opening day’s Maple Leaf Interphil postmark. The Bicentennial stamp would be released three days later.
The Christmas stamps were issued on October 22, 1975 with Bernard N.J. Reilander taking overall design credit although each stamp featured a different child’s colorful artwork. The two 6¢ stamps from this series (Scott #674 and 675) were printed together, se-tenant, in horizontal pairs throughout the sheet feature “Santa Claus” by G. Kelly and “Skater” by Bill Cawsey. “Child” by D. Hebert and “Family” by L. Caldwell are seen on the se-tenant pair of 8¢ stamps (Scott #676 and 677). The 10¢ denomination (Scott #678) portrays “Gift” by D. Lovely while “Trees” by R. Kowalski is reproduced on the 15¢ value (Scott #679). All six stamps were printed by Ashton-Potter (Canada) Ltd. using the offset lithography process and comb perforated 13¼.
The two Republic of China (Taiwan) stamps on the next page are obliterated by a bilingual Interphil ’76 cachet. The pair of stamps (Scott #1995 and 1996) picture the R.O.C. and U.S. flags and are denominated NT$2 (New Taiwanese dollars) and NT$10 respectively. Designed by Yen Ki-Shih and printed by China Color Printing Co. Ltd. using offset lithography, comb perforated 13½ x 14, the set was issued on May 29.
Cook Islands released three Bicentennial stamps and a souvenir sheet (as well as varieties with overprints for a Royal Visit) but only one is included in this passport with an attached label. The stamp (Scott #445) portrays Benjamin Franklin while the label reproduces a proclamation by Franklin stating that Captain James Cook and his crew should be treated with “all Civility and Kindness” if they happened to be captured during the war. The issue was released on May 29 and the passport bears a date-range cachet from the Cook Islands booth at Interphil.
Crown Agents was the world’s first philatelic agency, something that has become a blight on the hobby in recent years with such agencies at Stamperija and the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation going absolutely crazy with topical stamp issues that often are never sold in the countries whose names are printed on the stamps. Modern greed aside, in 1833 the British Government established the “Joint Agents for Crown Colonies,” set up to “look after the financial and supply needs in London” of a dozen or so British colonies. The name was changed to the “Crown Agents for the Colonies” in 1863, and by 1954 had become the “Crown Agents for Overseas Governments and Administrations.” Crown Agents Stamps Bureau, a British public statutory corporation overseen by the British Ministry of Overseas Development, included not just accounting for Treasury grants or purchasing supplies, but also overseeing things like public infrastructure and issuance of postage stamp when required. The first Crown Agents stamps were issued in 1847 for Mauritius and were responsible for many of the huge omnibus issues of British Commonwealth states beginning in the mid-twentieth century. Since 1997 Crown Agents has been privately held non-profit company, but the philatelic subdivision was taken over by new issue dealer Harry Allen in 2007 and currently goes under the name CASCO.
Any of a number of entities could have been included on the Crown Agents page in the Interphil ’76 passport but the original owner chose The Gambia and the three stamps issued on 15 May 1976 commemorating the Bicentennial (Scott #335-337). A miniature sheet was also released, including these three stamp designs (Scott #337A). These portray a militiaman on the 25 Gambian butut stamp, a Continental Army soldier on the 50b and the Declaration of Independence on the 1.25 Gambian dalasi value. The standard Crown Agents cachet for the event obliterates the stamps.
Denmark released four semi-postal stamps inscribed “DANMARK-AMERIKA” on January 22 (Scott #B49-B52), picturing Danish watercraft. These were designed by Claus Achton Friis and beautifully engraved by Arne Kühlmann. The 70+20 øre value features the Viking longship Skudelev I, the immigrant steamer Thingvalla appears on the 90+20 øre stamp, the 100+20 øre denomination pictures the 1930 passenger steamer Frederik VIII, and the sail training ship Danmark is shown on the 130+20 øre high value. The stamps are tied to the page by Potens filateli København canceller along with the additional datestamp of 29 May 1976.
France issued a single stamp commemorating the American Revolution Bicentennial on May 15 (Scott #1480), another recess-printed stamp designed by René Quillivic. The 120-franc stamp was printed in sheets of 20 and portrays Charles Gravier, comte de Vergennes, who greatly aided the rebel colonial effort in the American Revolutionary War, and Benjamin Franklin. As foreign minister, Vergennes hoped that by giving French aid to the American revolutionaries he would be able to weaken British dominance of the international stage, in the wake of England’s victory over France in the recent Seven Years’ War. Alliance with the revolutionaries produced mixed results for France as, despite helping to defeat Britain and secure American independence, he extracted little material gain from the war and the costs of fighting further damaged the already weakened French royal finances in the years before the French Revolution. In part as a result of his efforts in crafting the American alliance, Vergennes became a dominant figure in French politics during the 1780s. He died on the eve of the revolution in his own nation. Vermont’s smallest city (with a population of just 2,553), Vergennes, was named after him and was where Thomas Macdonough built and armed the fleet that defeated the British on Lake Champlain during the War of 1812.
The stamp on the page for the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) was released on April 27, 1976, and pictures the Ground Radio Station Intersputnik in Berlin (Scott #1718). The Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications is an international satellite communications services organization founded in 1971 by the Soviet Union along with a group of eight formerly socialist states (Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Mongolia, and Cuba). The objective was and continues to be the development and common use of communications satellites. It was created as the Eastern Bloc’s response to the Western Intelsat organization. As of 2008 the organization has 25 member states, among them the Federal Republic of Germany as the legal successor of the GDR. Intersputnik nowadays is a commercially aligned organization. It operates 12 satellites in orbit and 41 transponders. In June 1997 Intersputnik created the Lockheed Martin Intersputnik (LMI) joint venture together with Lockheed Martin, which built and operated the satellites of the same name. In September 2006, Lockheed Martin Intersputnik was acquired by Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS).
The German Federal Republic (West Germany) stamp in this passport was released on May 13 and pictures German revolutionary and American statesman, journalist, and reformer Carl Schurz (Scott #1216). He immigrated to the United States after the German revolutions of 1848–1849 and became a prominent member of the new Republican Party. After serving as a Union general in the American Civil War, he helped found the short-lived Liberal Republican Party and became a prominent advocate of civil service reform. Schurz represented Missouri in the United States Senate and was the 13th United States Secretary of the Interior under Rutherford B. Hayes. Schurz died in New York City in 1906.
The four stamps on the Great Britain page were issued on November 26, 1975, as that year’s Christmas issue (Scott #758-761). They depict angels — a pair on the 6½p with a harp and a lute, one angel with a mandolin on the 8½p value, one with a horn on the 11p, and a solitary angel carrying a trumpet on the 13p denomination.
The Greenland stamps are two earlier definitives engraved by the master, Czeslaw Slania. The red 70 øre stamp at top features a row boat, part of Greenland’s Post Transport series, and was released on September 21, 1972 (Scott #79). The black grey green 10 øre stamp pictures Queen Margrethe II and issued on April 16, 1973 (Scott #87).
The Guernsey page features Christmas stamps released on October 7, 1975 (Scott #127-130). They feature the legend, “Peace on Earth, Good Will toward Men” as well as images of globes showing the location of Guernsey and the other islands in the Bailiwick with images of the seal of the Bailiwick and shields of Guernsey, Alderney and Sark.
Hungary issued a single stamp with an attached label on May 29 to commemorate Interphil ’76 (Scott #2421); the copies in this passport were cancelled on the first day of issue. The stamp pictures the Philadelphia Light Horse flag which was the first flag to feature thirteen stripes, each representing a colony. The Philadelphia City Cavalry, the first American armed force and established alongside the Continental Congress, fought under this banner at the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, and Germantown. It often served as George Washington’s personal bodyguard and exists to this day as the First Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry, a unit of the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. It is one of the oldest military units in the United States still in active service and is among the most decorated units in the U.S. Army. Since 9/11, the unit has deployed to Bosnia, Iraq, Egypt, and Kuwait, with elements of the unit additionally deploying to Afghanistan, the Persian Gulf, Europe, and Latin America. Membership is by election. Soldiers on the active roll continue to donate their drill pay back to the unit, in order to maintain a tradition of voluntary service.
The attached label has been found in several different varieties: 1) small star on the bell with small letters of the designer’s name (bb); 2) small star on the bell with big letters of the designer’s name (bc); 3) big star on the bell with small letters of the designer’s name (cb); and 4) big star on the bell with big letters of the designer’s name (cc). The stamps were issued in miniature sheets of three stamps and three labels, comb perforated 11½ x 12¼ and imperforate. The imperforate version is not listed in the Scott catalogue.
On May 29, India released a single air mail stamp (Scott #C8) bearing a famous painting by Ohio artist and Union Civil War veteran Archibald Willard. The painting, originally titled Yankee Doodle, was created in 1875 for the Centennial Exposition. The piece acquired the name “Spirit of 76” while it was on tour in Boston. It was initially commissioned to be “semi-humorous,” but the death of Willard’s father, the model for one of the painting’s figures, changed the direction of its tone. The painting depicts three soldiers of the American Revolutionary War. Though one of them is wounded, the soldiers march on with spirit and determination. The painting is on display at Abbot Hall in Marblehead, Massachusetts.
The Spirit of ’76 refers to the attitude of self-determination and individual liberty made manifest in the Declaration of Independence with a sentiment first explored by Thomas Jefferson. According to the text published at Monticello, “The principles outlined in the Declaration of Independence promised to lead America — and other nations on the globe — into a new era of freedom. The revolution begun by Americans on July 4, 1776, would never end. It would inspire all peoples living under the burden of oppression and ignorance to open their eyes to the rights of mankind, to overturn the power of tyrants, and to declare the triumph of equality over inequality.” Thomas Jewett wrote that at the time of the American Revolution, there was “an intangible something that is known as the ‘Spirit of ’76.’ This spirit was personified by the beliefs and actions of that almost mythical group known as the Founding Fathers, and is perhaps best exemplified by Thomas Jefferson.”
Jefferson and the Second Continental Congress believed the Spirit of ’76 “included the ‘self-evident’ truths of being ‘created equal’ and being ‘endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights’ including ‘life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'”
Ireland released four stamps (Scott #389-392) as well as a miniature sheet incorporating the four stamps (Scott #392b) commemorating the Bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence on May 17. The 7p and 8p stamps depict stylized versions of the U.S. flag, one with thirteen stars and the other with 50 stars. The 9p and 15p denominations depict color die proof essays of the 1847 Albany Postmaster’s Provisional stamp (Scott #X1a-E1). These were printed in 1847 by Gavit & Co. of Albany, New York, on stiff ivory glazed paper in a number of colors including scarlet, dark green, black, brown, and blue.
The Isle of Man’s American Revolution Bicentennial commemoratives honor William Christian — a military officer, planter, and politician from the western part of the Colony of Virginia — and Christian’s brother-in-law, and brother-in-law of Patrick Henry (“Give me liberty or give me death!”). Born about 1742, in Augusta County, Virginia, Christian was the son of immigrants from Ireland who settled in Staunton, Virginia, in 1740, where they operated a general store. He represented Fincastle County in the House of Burgesses and as relations with Britain soured, signed the Fincastle Resolutions. He later represented western Virginia in the Virginia Senate and founded Fort William (now Louisville, Kentucky), as well as helped negotiate the Treaty of Long Island of the Holston, which made peace between the Overmountain Men and Cherokees in 1777. He was killed in 1786 at the outset of the Northwest Indian War, leading an expedition against Native Americans near what is now Jeffersonville, Indiana.
The four stamps (Scott #78-81) and miniature sheet (Scott #81a, including the four stamps) were issued on March 21. The 5½p value depicts William Christian and Patrick Henry at the Richmond Convention in 1775, Christian carrying the Fincastle Resolution — the earliest statement of armed resistance to the British Crown in the American colonies — is shown on the 7p stamp, Col. Patrick Henry and Lt. Col. William Christian are shown together on the 13p denomination while the 20p stamp portrays Christian as a frontiersman and Indian fighter.
Israel released a single stamp on April 25 depicting the U.S. flag in the shape of the number “200” (Scott #598). Unfortunately, the tab is not attached to the 4-lira stamp included in this passport.
The Japan page of this copy of the Interphil ’76 Philatelic Passport bears the two stamps released on October 14, 1975, to commemorate the visit to the USA by Emperor Hirohito & Empress Nagako. They picture the U.S. and Japanese flags along with cherry blossoms. They are not cancelled by a postmark or cachet but there is a bit of selvage pasted below. Also below is one of the many stamps issued by the United States during 1976 to mark the Bicentennial, this one honoring Benjamin Franklin, the first U.S. Postmaster General, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, American diplomat to France, publisher, writer, scientist, and inventor. Scott #1690 was released on June 1, 1976, designed by Bernard Reilander who based the image on a marble bust of Franklin and a map published in London by R. Sayer and J. Bennett. The ultramarine and multicolored stamp was printed (lithographed and engraved) on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Giori press as sheets of two hundred subjects, tagged, perforated 11, and distributed as panes of fifty. It was a joint issue with Canada (whose version we will see a bit later). This copy bears an Interphil 76 Station International Day pictorial cancellation on the first day of issue.
Jersey issued four stamps commemorating the Bicentennial on May 29 (Scott #160-163). The 5p stamp pictures Sir Walter Raleigh and a map of Virginia, Sir George Carteret and a map of New Jersey is depicted on the 7p value, the 11p denomination portrays Philippe d’Auvergne and the Long Island landing, with John Singleton Copley and his “Death of Major Pierson” featured on the 13p stamp.
Liechtenstein did not issue a stamp for the American Revolution Bicentennial so its page bears an imperforate miniature sheet supposedly released on June 10 (after the exhibition ended on June 6). I am not sure if it was sold early at the show or if my information of the issue date is simply wrong. At any rate, this is listed in the Scott catalogue as #590 and marks the 70th birthday of Franz Joseph II who was the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein from July 25, 1938, until his death on November 13, 1989. Franz Joseph was an extremely popular sovereign in Liechtenstein. He was the first ruling prince to live full-time in the principality. He also oversaw the economic development of Liechtenstein from a poor agricultural backwater into one of the richest countries (per capita) in the world. During his reign, women received voting rights for the first time, following a referendum on the topic (among men only) in 1984.
The Netherlands stamp for the Bicentennial features a stylized design by G. de Jong and Hans Kruit. The 75-cent stamp was released on May 25 (Scott #557). My passport includes a block of four postmarked on Bicentennial Day, May 29, 1976.
The New Zealand page includes the three stamps released on October 1, 1975, for Christmas. The 3-cent stamp features the painting The Virgin and Child by Zanobi Machiavelli (Scott #581), the 5-cent shows a cross in a window (Scott #582) and the 10-cent denomination pictures three ships (Scott #582).
Pakistan’s two stamps marking the Bicentennial weren’t issued until July 4 (Scott #408-409) so the passport contains the three stamps released on July 12, 1974, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Organization for Regional Cooperation and Development (ORCD). This was a multi-governmental organization which was established on the July 21, 1964, by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, regional members of the Central Treaty Organization (CENTO), to allow socio-economic development of the member states. Its headquarters was in Tehran, Iran, and from 1965 to 1979 the three nations jointly issued stamps. The stamps pictured here feature carpets from Pakistan on the 20 Pakistani paisa value, Iran on the 60p, and Turkey on the 1.25 rupee denomination (Scott #365-367). The ORCD was dissolved in 1979 and replaced by the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) in 1985. Seven new members were added: Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan.
On September 24, 1975, Poland released five horizontally-oriented stamps (Scott #2117-2121) and a miniature sheet of three vertically-oriented stamps and three non-denominated labels (Scott #2122) to commemorate the American Revolution Bicentennial. My copy of the Interphil ’76 passport contains the miniature sheet (with the selvage removed) as well as an additional Interphil stamp issued on May 20, 1976 (Scott #2158). The three stamps in the mini-sheet are each denominated at 4.90 Polish złoty and picture George Washington, Tadeusz Kosciuszko and Casimir Pulaski. The entire set was designed by Tadeusz Michaluk who also designed the Interphil stamp featuring the Philadelphia skyline below a stamp-enclosed exhibition logo. The latter is denominated 8.40 zł.
Portugal issued its three Interphil ’76 stamps on May 29 (Scott #1285-1287). The 3 Portuguese escudo stamp portrays stamp collectors, a hand canceller and stamp exhibition are pictured on the $7.50 denomination, and the $10 value shows a stamp designer at work and stamps being printed.
The San Marino set (Scott #885-887) was among the first non-U.S. Bicentennial-themed stamps I obtained for my collection, having arrived via a mixed packet some 45 years ago. It wasn’t until recently that I finally added a first day cover. They were issued on May 29 and feature the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. on the 70 Sammarinese lira denomination, the Statue of Liberty in New York City on the ₤150 stamp, and Philadelphia’s Independence Hall on the ₤180 value.
The 15-cent South African stamp in this passport commemorates the 100th anniversary of Cricket in the country and was released on March 15, 1976 (Scott #457).
The four stamps released by Spain to commemorate the American Revolution contain an error of sorts with the inscriptions declaring the Bicentennial of the Constitution of the United States, which wouldn’t be created for another eleven years (September 17, 1787) nor did it come into effect until a year-and-a-half after that (March 4, 1789). These are listed in the Scott catalogue as #1947-1950 and picture an infantry rifle from 1757, Spanish military leader Bernardo de Gálvez, what seems to be a Civil War-era banknote from the Confederation of Richmond, and the Siege of Pensacola. Gálvez served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Spain. While governor of Louisiana, he supported the colonists and their French allies in the American Revolutionary War, helping facilitate vital supply lines and frustrate British operations in the Gulf Coast. Gálvez achieved several victories on the battlefield, most notably conquering West Florida and eliminating the British naval presence in the Gulf. Following the March to May 1781 Siege of Pensacola, Gálvez personally accepted the surrender of General John Campbell, ending British sovereignty in West Florida after signing the capitulation. This campaign led to the formal return of all of Florida to Spain in the Treaty of Paris, which he played a role in drafting.
The stamp from Sweden affixed into this copy of the passport was one of three issued on June 7, 1974, to mark the centenary of the Universal Postal Union. The 1 korona black blue green stamp (Scott #1086) features a postman outside of a rural cabin. It was designed by Börje Rönnberg and engraved by Majvor Franzén.
The United Nations page features one of four stamps released by the entity on May 28, 1976 (two by the New York office, two by Geneva) to honor the Conference on Human Settlements, this one being the New York 13-cent low value printed in red brown (Scott #276). Also known as Habitat I, it took place in Vancouver, Canada, from May 31 until June 11 that year. The United Nations General Assembly convened the Habitat I conference as governments began to recognize the need for sustainable human settlements and the consequences of rapid urbanization, especially in the developing world. At that time, urbanization and its impacts were barely considered by the international community, but the world was starting to witness the greatest and fastest migration of people into cities and towns in history as well as rising urban population through natural growth resulting from advances in medicine. The stamps all feature the same Eliezer Weishoff graphic representing houses around the world.
The page for the U.S.S.R. (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the Soviet Union) includes all four of the regular stamps issued on July 15, 1975, to commemorate the Apollo-Soyuz space mission (Scott #4338-4341); there was also a one-stamp souvenir sheet (Scott #4342). The two stamps depicting the docking of the Soyuz 19 and Apollo spacecraft — which occurred on July 17 that year — were a joint issue with the United States (Scott #1179-1180). This was the first crewed international space mission, carried out jointly by the United States and the Soviet Union. Millions of people around the world watched on television as the spacecraft docked, followed by the famed handshake in space. It was a symbol of détente between the two superpowers during the Cold War.
Western Samoa released five stamps (Scott #428-432) and a miniature sheet containing all five stamps (Scott #432a) on January 20, 1976 to mark the 200th anniversary of the American Revolution. The stamps depict the Boston Massacre of March 5, 1770; the Declaration of Independence; the sinking of the Bonhomme Richard by HMS Serapis on September 25, 1779; William Pitt addressing the House of Commons (the stamp says this was an event in 1782 but the Karl Anton Hickel painting was based on the address on the eve of the French Revolution in 1793); and the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. Each of the designs feature famous artwork portraying the various events. The page in my passport contains the miniature sheet (sadly folded over to the next page due to its larger size) interestingly with two first day of issue postmarks — one is the January 20 cancellation for this specific issue while the other is for the May 29 release of Western Samoa’s Interphil ’76 souvenir sheet (Scott #437) which depicted a 100 Samoan tālā gold coin, which is not affixed here.
The remainder of the passport has blank pages on which one could affix additional stamps and receive extra cancellations. The first of these in my copy has the folded-over image of the Statue of Liberty on the Western Samoa miniature sheet as well as another of the U.S. Interphil stamps, this time with the May 30 Federation Day pictorial postmark of the Interphil ’76 Station.
The next two-page spread contains blocks of four of the U.S. and Canada joint issue featuring Benjamin Franklin (U.S. Scott #1690 and Canada Scott #691). The U.S. stamps bear the standard four-bar FIRST DAY OF ISSUE cancellation above and the Interphil ’76 Station pictorial postmark for International Day, June 1, while the Canadian stamps are obliterated with an Ottawa circular first day cancellation. The stamps were printed using a combination of photogravure and recess (engraving) — the U.S. versions printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing while the British American Bank Note Co. did the duties for the Canadian stamp. The top of the right-hand page also includes Great Britain’s sole American Bicentennial stamp, also depicting Benjamin Franklin. The 11p stamp was designed by Philip Sharland.
The U.S. Interphil ’76 stamp again appears on the following page, accompanied by two more of the show pictorial postmarks — Collectors Day (June 3) at the top and Dealers Day (June 2) below. A single copy from the strip of three featuring the Archibald Willard painting popularly called “Spirit of ’76” (see the India page for more details) is on the facing page, picturing just the Drummer Boy (Scott #1629); the strip of three depicts the width of the painting if not the height. It is cancelled with the June 4 Specialists Day pictorial postmark from Interphil ’76 Station.
The final page in my copy of the Interphil ’76 philatelic passport contains my favorite of all the stamps issued to mark the American Revolution Bicentennial, a mint copy of which has resided in my collection since Christmas 1976. That is the wonderful strip of four released on July 4, 1976, showing a portion of John Trumbull’s famed painting of the presentation of the Declaration of Independence (Scott #1694a). The work is a 12-by-18-foot (3.7 by 5.5 m) oil-on-canvas painting by Trumbull depicting the presentation of the draft to Congress. It was based on a much smaller version of the same scene, presently held by the Yale University Art Gallery. Trumbull painted many of the figures in the picture from life, and visited Independence Hall to depict the chamber where the Second Continental Congress met. The oil-on-canvas work was commissioned in 1817, purchased in 1819, and placed in the United States Capitol rotunda in 1826. I first viewed the painting during a visit to Washington, D.C., during the summer of 1975.
An 1820 engraving of Declaration of Independence by Asher B. Durand, who would later become a renowned landscape painter, helped to make it Trumbull’s most famous painting. It is pictured on the reverse of the two-dollar bill and has appeared on several U.S. stamps: a 24-cent stamp released on April 7, 1869 (Scott #120) and two sets of Bicentennial stamps in 1976 — a miniature sheet of five 18-cent stamps released on May 29 (Scott #1687) and the strip of four included in this passport. Designed by Vincent E. Hoffman, the blue and multicolored 13-cent issue was printed on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing seven-color Andreotti gravure press (601) as sheets of two hundred subjects, tagged, perforated 11, and distributed as panes of fifty. 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.
On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), approved the Declaration of Independence. Its purpose was to set forth the principles upon which the Congress had acted two days earlier when it voted to declare the freedom and independence of the thirteen American colonies from England. Although the draft was accepted on July 4, formal signing of the document actually occurred on August 2, 1776.
The Trumbull painting features the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence — John Adams, Robert Sherman, Thomas Jefferson (presenting the document), and Benjamin Franklin — standing before John Hancock, the president of the Continental Congress. The painting includes portraits of forty-two of the fifty-six signers and five other patriots. The stamps in my passport are cancelled with the standard four-bar FIRST DAY OF ISSUE postmark from Philadelphia on July 4, 1976, as well as the regular handstamp from the B. Free Franklin Post Office and Museum at 314 Market Street in Philadelphia. Operated by the U.S. Postal Service in conjunction with the National Park Service (as part of the nearby Independence National Historic Park), the post office was opened in 1975 and is the only post office without a U.S. flag or a zip code. Employees dress in period costumes and use quill and ink rather than ballpoint pens. The three-story row house housing the post office was occupied by Benjamin Franklin from 1737 to 1753.
Appointed postmaster of Philadelphia in 1737, Franklin later became co-Postmaster General (of the North American colonies) for the British. He served in that position from 1757-1774, increasing the efficiency of the post through improvements in bookkeeping, delivery routes, and more. From 1775-1776, Franklin served as Postmaster General under the authority of the Continental Congress.
In Franklin’s time, the sender’s signature was on the outside of the letter. Benjamin Franklin, the first U.S. Postmaster General, signed his letters B. Free Franklin, to protest British rule. “B. Free Franklin” signature stamp is still used at this post office to cancel stamps. The museum on the second floor features displays of postal history and memorabilia.
Of course, there are a number of additional stamps that were issued to commemorate the American Revolution Bicentennial that do not appear in this philatelic passport either because the postal administrations did not attend Interphil ’76 or the stamps were released after the exhibition closed. I do have first day covers of several of these including Cyprus, Honduras, Monaco, New Caledonia, Pitcairn Islands, and Venezuela as well as others commemorating events of the War that were released before or after 1976. Mexico released both a Bicentennial and an Interphil stamp in 1976 but I do not yet have either. There are others missing from my collection.
I am sure a multitude of stamps are already being planned for the U.S. Semiquincentennial in 2026.. How will the USPS top the Bicentennial Era releases is anybody’s guess at this point. That year will see an international stamp exhibition in Boston, Massachusetts, held from May 23-30 and I am certain there will be a philatelic passport on offer. Two souvenir labels designed by Chris Calle have been produced for the show so far and others will be released yearly depicting patriotic themes. I am already excited, not only for the collecting opportunities 2026 will surely bring but I am also tentatively planning my first visit to the U.S. since 2004 for that summer. It would be nice to visit the Boston 2026 show and complete another philatelic passport but only time (and finances) will tell. There are only 42 months remaining…
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