Columbian Exposition issue

The Columbian Issue, commonly known as the Columbians, is a series of sixteen postage stamps produced for the United States Post Office to commemorate the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. Recognised as the first commemorative stamp series released by the United States, the stamps were manufactured by the American Banknote Company and placed on sale nationwide across post offices rather than being restricted to the exposition grounds.

Fifteen denominations of the set were placed on sale on 2 January 1893, with an eight-cent value added in March of that year to accommodate a reduced fee for registered mail. The series included unprecedented high values of one, two, three, four, and five dollars, surpassing the previous maximum United States postage denomination of ninety cents. The issue was withdrawn from sale on 12 April 1894, marking the final contract for United States postage stamps produced by a private security printing firm before the Bureau of Engraving and Printing assumed production. Some sheets printed by the American Banknote Company were finished and perforated by the Bureau in early 1894.

The stamps were finely engraved and produced in an enlarged horizontal format measuring double the size of standard definitive stamps of the period. Each denomination illustrates scenes from the career of Christopher Columbus adapted from paintings by various artists. Because different artworks were used, Columbus appears clean-shaven on the one-cent stamp, based on William Henry Powell's painting Columbus in Sight of Land, but bearded on the two-cent stamp, which depicts John Vanderlyn's The Landing of Columbus. The two-cent value also includes a noted plate variety showing a chevron-shaped notch in the hat of an adjacent figure, caused by a damaged transfer roll.

Perforations vary noticeably between printings, ranging from clean gauge holes to substandard, ragged, or misplaced perforations with partially attached chads.