Autographed National Parks Year Issue imperforate press sheet, 1934
Depicts Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
When the National Parks Year Issue of ten pictorial postage stamps appeared in 1934, the public soon learned that Postmaster General James Farley had purchased imperforate, ungummed full press sheets as gifts. The outcry from stamp collectors led Farley to order the stamps reprinted and sold to anyone who desired them in similar condition. This minor scandal and the reprinted stamps are known as “Farley’s Follies.” This 5¢ Yellowstone press sheet is one of the original gifts that created the uproar, as attested by the 1934 dates in Farley’s handwriting. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Secretary of the Interior Harold L. Ickes also autographed the sheet.
Credit: National Postal Museum
