On September 16, 2005, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the sixth stamp in the American Design series, a three-cent definitive featuring a watercolor and gouache painting of a pear-shaped silver coffeepot with a carved wood handle that was made circa 1786 in Philadelphia. The stamps will be issued at the MILCOPEX Stamp Show in Milwaukee, WI. This is the sixth stamp in the American Design series, which showcases objects from various regions, eras, and ethnic cultures that combine utility with beauty and function with form. This new three-cent definitive features an artist's simplified rendering of a silver coffeepot, circa 1786, belonging to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. (Definitives are regular issues of postage stamps, usually sold over long periods of time.)

The elaboration of social life and the enormous popularity of tea, coffee, and chocolate in the late 17th and 18th centuries contributed to the demand for household silver. Each major American city boasted its own famous silversmiths who crafted made-to-order household utensils that were beautiful as well as useful, proudly proclaimed the wealth and social status of the owners, and served also as a means of storing savings in the days before banks.

Fine proportions and excellent craftsmanship were hallmarks of American silverwork, which in large measure was simpler than the more ornate silver favored in Europe. The coffeepot depicted on the stamp was made by Philadelphia silversmiths Joseph Richardson, Jr. (1752-1831) and Nathaniel Richardson (1754-1827). It may have been presented to Margaret Rawle on the occasion of her marriage to Isaac Wharton in 1786. Margaret Rawle's initials are engraved on the body of the coffeepot but do not appear in the simplified painting on the stamp. The Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired the coffeepot in 1986.

Joseph Richardson, Jr., and his brother Nathaniel came from a long line of noted silversmiths and worked together as partners from 1777 to 1790. Both the Rawles and the Whartons were prominent Philadelphia families.

The stamps in the American Design series will range in denomination from one through ten cents: The five-cent American Toleware stamp launched the series in 2002; the ten-cent American Clock and the one-cent Tiffany Lamp stamps were issued in 2003; the four-cent Chippendale Chair and the two-cent Navajo Jewelry stamps were issued in 2004. 
 
 
Design Brief:  On September 16, 2005, the U.S. Postal Service will issue the sixth stamp in the American Design series, a three-cent definitive featuring a watercolor and gouache painting of a pear-shaped silver coffeepot with a carved wood handle that was made circa 1786 in Philadelphia.

Freelance illustrator Tania Lee chose the coffeepot as the subject of this new stamp, using the broad guidelines that define the American Design series-namely, to showcase objects from various regions, eras, and ethnic cultures that combine utility with beauty and function with form. The artist simplified a few details-including the removal of the initials MR-so her painting of the coffeepot would reproduce well at the small size required for definitive stamps.

Silver Coffeepot is Ms. Lee's first stamp project for the Postal Service. Her other clients include American Red Cross, Bergdorf Goodman, Hearst Books, and Thornwillow Press. 
 
 
  
 
 Derry Noyes:  Silver Coffeepot Art Director, Designer, Typographer
  
   For more than a decade Derry Noyes has designed and provided art direction for dozens of United States postage stamps and stamp products. She holds a bachelor of arts degree from Hampshire College and a master of fine arts degree from Yale University. She worked as a graphics designer at Beveridge and Associates, a Washington, D.C., firm, until 1979 when she established her own design firm, Derry Noyes Graphics. Her clients have included museums, corporations, foundations, and architectural and educational institutions. Her work has been honored by the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, Communication Arts, Critique magazine, and Graphis. Before becoming an art director for the United States Postal Service, she served as a member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 1981-1983. Noyes currently lives in Washington, D.C., is married, and has five children.
 
 
 
Stamp Designs:  22¢ Navajo Blankets Art - Folk Art series (4 designs) (1986)
32¢ Classic Movie Monsters (5 designs) (1997) - w/Thomas Blackshear
32¢ Kwanzaa (1997) w/Synthia St. James
20¢ City College of New York postal card (1997) w/Harry Devlin
32¢ Classic American Dolls (1997) w/Sally Anderson-Bruce
32¢ Women in the Military (1997) w/Dennis Lyall
$1 Red Fox (1998) w/Robert Guisti
20¢ Ring-necked Pheasant (1998) w/Robert Guisti
33¢ Coral Pink Rose (1998) w/Ned Seidler
20¢ Block Island Lighthouse postal card (1998) w/Wendell Minor
32¢ Alexander Calder (5 designs) (1998)
32¢ Ballet (1998) w/Phil Chandler
33¢ Arctic Animals (5 designs) (1999)
20¢ Washington & Lee University stamped card (1999) w/Patrick Hinley
33¢ Coral Pink Rose (1999) w/Ned Seidler
20¢ Block Island Light House stamped card (1999) w/Wendell Minor
$1 Red Fox (1999) w/Robert Giusti
33¢ Youth Team Sports - 4 designs (2000)
33¢ The White House (2000) w/Patricia Fisher
34¢ Amish Quilts: American Treasures series - 4 designs (2001)
34¢ Flowers - 4 designs (2001) w/Robert Peak, Jr.
34¢ Status of Liberty (2001) w/Paul Hardy
$3.50 U.S. Capitol - Express Mail (2001) w/Robert Llewellyn
$12.95 Washington Monument - Express Mail (2001) w/Patricia Fisher
21¢ White Barn stamped card - (2001)
20¢ Yale University stamped card - (2001)
34¢ Lucille Ball - Legends of Hollywood (2000) - w/Drew Struzan
John Wayne - Legends of Hollywood (2002) - w/Thomas Blackshear
Great Photographers - Classic Collection (20 designs) - (2002)
Teddy Bears - 4 designs (2002) w/Margaret Bauer
Holiday Contemporary: Snowmen - 4 designs (2002) w/
Audubon Bird - American Treasures series (2002)
Mentoring (2002) w/Lance Hidy
Spay/Neuter - 2 designs (2002) w/
West Point Military Academy (2003)
Reptiles and Amphibians - 4 designs (2003) w/Steve Buchanan
Columbia University stamped card (2003)
Lincoln Memorial - unissued
Jefferson Memorial - unissued
St. Patrick's Day - unissued
Adoption (1999) - concepts - w/ Vivian Fleischer
 
 
 



********************************
Mark Saunders
U.S. Postal Service Headquarters
Community Relations Rm 10541
475 L'Enfant Plaza SW
Washington, DC  20260-3100

office: 202-268-6524
cell:  202-320-0782
fax: 202-268-4925
Mark.R.Saunders@usps.gov
https://www.usps.com