George Washington - Purple - Charles Wilson Peale - 1777

The stamp is printed in purple ink and is inclosed in a white-line border. In a curved panel having white edges and solid background across the top of the stamp are the words "United States postage" in white Roman letters. The panel is supported at each end by small acanthus scrolls. In each upper corner of the stamp is a small sunken triangle. In each lower corner is a circle with white edge inclosing the white Roman numeral "3" on a dark background. Across the bottom of the stamp connecting the circles is a narrow panel containing the word "Cents" in white Roman on a solid background. Above the panel is a ribbon with the name "Washington" in small dark Roman lettering. On the ends of the ribbon, which are curved upward to rest over the circles, are the dates "1732" at the left and "1932" at the right. In the central part of the stamp is the likeness of Washington in the uniform of a general with cocked hat reproduced from a portrait by Charles Wilson Peale painted at Valley Forge in 1777. The original portrait is now in the State Normal School at West Chester, Pa.

In cooperation with the national celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of George Washington, the Department authorized a special series of 12 postage stamps in denominations of ½ cent to 10 cents, inclusive, to be kept on sale in post offices throughout the anniversary period in lieu of the regular series of stamps.

The stamps are of regulation size, 0.75 by 0.87 inch in dimension, arranged vertically, and have as the central designs portraits of Washington modeled from the works of noted artists