Used US Stamps (1901-Now)

Collecting Used U.S. Stamps

By 1900, the United States post office had taken over all stamp sales. From then until now, the Postal Service has issued many different U.S. stamps. If you're a stamp collector or are interested in starting a collection, check out the many used and vintage U.S. stamps from 1901 til now on eBay. You can find a huge assortment of reasonably priced used U.S. stamps to add to your collection.

Definitive stamps are also known as regular-issue stamps, and they are the stamps typically used on everyday mail. These stamps are available in various denominations. Many used U.S. definitive stamps can be found on eBay. Definitive stamps have been issued with a wide range of themes. You can find a range of collectible stamps with themes such as:

• History - A printing mistake on a 1918 definitive showed a Curtis JN-4 airplane, called the Jenny, printed upside down.
• Patriotic - The purple 1919 Victory and Flags, issued to commemorate the end of World War I, is an example.
• Statehood - Definitives celebrating the 50th and 100th anniversaries of the date each state was admitted to the Union were sold.
• Nature - The set of three definitives issued in 1956 to promote wildlife conservation are very rare.
• People - The first postage stamps bearing such images are from the 1908 series featuring George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.
• Holidays - For over five decades, the U.S. post office has issued Christmas definitives. It has also issued definitives for Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and Diwali.
• Seasonal - Many different seasons have been featured on U.S. definitives, including autumn in New York, West Virginia, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
• Love - In 1981, the U.S.P.S. started annually issuing one new love definitive until 1995 when it kept the same definitive for two years. The 33-cent Love definitive was the first stamp cut in the shape of an image.
• Sports - Numerous sport icons have had their likenesses reproduced on U.S. postage stamps, including National Rodeo Hall of Famer Bill Pickett whose likeness was accidentally replaced with those of his little brother.
• Disney - Walt Disney first made his way onto a definitive in 1968, and Disney's characters soon followed with Disney's Pixar characters getting their own series in 2011.

The U.S.P.S. has printed semipostals to raise funds for charities. Semipostals sell for more than normal definitive stamps; the extra money that's collected is contributed to a cause. A breast cancer awareness semipostal was first issued in the year 1998. The Heroes of 2001 was released in June 2002, followed by the Stop Family Violence semipostal in 2006. The Save Vanishing Species semipostal was released in September 2011.

In 1938, the government issued a complete set of postage stamps showing the busts of all 29 presidents up through President Calvin Coolidge. To keep the presidents in order, they assigned a different value to each stamp. Those using these stamps had to buy additional units in order to raise the value of their postage to the current postage rate. Therefore, the government added a $0.05 postage stamp showing the likeness of Benjamin Franklin, a $0.015 one showing the likeness of Martha Washington, and a $0.045 one showing an image of the White House.