About This Stamp
The 22-cent commemorative stamp honoring Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor of the Statue of Liberty, was issued in New York City on July 18, 1985. The stamp was available nationwide the following day.
Architect, painter, and sculptor, Frederic Bartholdi was born in Colmar, France, in 1834. Known for his monumental sculptures, he was probably most popularly associated as the creator of the Statue of Liberty. The 225-ton, 305-foot-tall structure, hammered on a wooden mold out of 300 giant sheets of copper, was presented in Paris in 1884 and was formally dedicated in New York in 1886. The Statue of Liberty has served ever since as the world-renowned symbol of freedom for millions of Americans and immigrants. Bartholdi died in Paris in 1904.
The Bartholdi stamp was designed electronically by Howard Paine of Washington, D.C. It featured a portrait of the sculptor taken from a painting by Jose Frappa, which hung in the Musee Bartholdi in Colmar, France, and a watercolor painting by James Dean of Annandale, Virginia, depicting the statue as seen across New York's harbor. The Frappa painting of Bartholdi, the painting by Dean, and the type for the lettering were placed in a computer memory of an electronic scanning machine and merged to form a single image. Several elements were altered until the desired picture had been achieved.
The stamp's designer, art director, and typographer was Howard Paine of Washington, DC. Modeler was Ronald C. Sharpe; engraver was Gary Slaght (letters and numerals). The offset/intaglio process was used. The stamps were issued in panes of 50.