Framed 1914 One-Cent Thomas Jefferson Postal Card, Scott UX27, Green on Buff, Unused

The Piece

A single piece of United States postal stationery, framed behind glass with a wide mat. The card is buff, and printed at the upper right is the indicium — the imprinted stamp — a green oval bearing the profile bust of Thomas Jefferson, the denomination One Cent, and the words UNITED STATES POSTAL CARD.

Across the middle, in small capitals: THIS SIDE OF CARD IS FOR ADDRESS. Beneath it, nothing at all — no address, no stamp cancellation, no postmark, no pencil, no ink.

The card has never been used. It was bought at a post office window, carried home, put somewhere, and forgotten, and a hundred and eleven years later it is still waiting for somebody to write on it.

It is presented in a slim dark moulding with a gilt inner lip and a generous mat, which is what turns a small piece of paper into something that reads on a wall.

History & Provenance

This is Scott UX27, the one-cent Thomas Jefferson postal card in green on buff, Die I, issued in 1914. The catalogue number and the year are both firm.

The postal card was a genuine piece of communications infrastructure rather than a novelty. The United States Post Office Department issued its first in 1873, and the appeal was economy: the card carried its postage printed directly onto it, and it travelled for half what a sealed letter cost. For decades it was how Americans confirmed an order, acknowledged a delivery, announced an arrival, or sent three lines that did not warrant an envelope. More than three hundred and seventy different US postal cards have been issued since.

Now the part we would rather you had before you buy than after. This is a common card and it is not offered as a rarity. UX27 was printed in enormous quantity for ordinary daily use, unused examples survive in great numbers, and the major stamp dealers price a mint one at around a dollar. Anyone can check that in a minute, and we would rather say it first.

What is actually being sold here is the object as framed: a genuine, untouched artefact of 1914 American daily life, presented so that it can hang on a wall. The age is real. The scarcity is not, and we are not going to imply otherwise.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

Small framed ephemera does something large art cannot: it rewards standing close. This is a piece of paper that a clerk sold across a counter in 1914, in the year the Panama Canal opened and the First World War began, and it has come the whole way here without anyone writing a word on it.

Jefferson in green on buff is a genuinely good little piece of design — restrained, well-proportioned, and warm rather than cold. It hangs well in a gallery wall of small frames, in an office or study, in a hallway, or in a group with other paper: maps, letters, botanical plates, deeds.

It is also a precise and affordable gift — for a collector, a letter writer, a postal worker, a history teacher, or anyone born in or married in 1914's orbit who would like a small piece of the actual year.

A note on care, and paper is less forgiving than most things in a house. Keep it out of direct sunlight and off any wall that gets strong daylight. Light is what fades printing ink and darkens paper, the damage accumulates invisibly, and it cannot be reversed. Avoid bathrooms, kitchens and exterior walls, where humidity swings will cause the card to cockle inside the frame. Do not open the frame to handle the card unnecessarily, and if you do, hold it by the edges — skin oils stain paper permanently and the mark takes years to appear. Clean the glass by spraying a cloth rather than the frame, so nothing runs down behind the glazing.