The 1960 Jet Silhouette Stamp

Finishing the Job

This airmail stamp is almost identical to the 1958 version—with a key difference. The 1958 stamp was sky blue, and was often missed by mail sorters. To solve the problem, Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield declared all airmail stamps were to be printed in “fire red.” The sheets of the red 1960 stamp shown here illustrate the different layouts for each major stamp format—panes, booklets and coils.

Printing for Panes