You’ve probably seen her face on that clunky, silver-colored dollar coin from the late seventies—the one everyone kept mistaking for a quarter. But long before the U.S. Mint tried to make the "Susie B" a thing, the Post Office was already dealing with its own drama surrounding a Susan B. Anthony stamp.
It’s funny.
People think stamps are just boring little squares of paper, but in 1936, this specific stamp was basically a political hand grenade.
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The 1936 3-Cent Controversy
Honestly, the 1936 release wasn't just about honoring a suffragist. It was about an election.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt was a huge stamp nerd. He personally approved designs, and some historians argue he used stamps to signal his administration's values. The National Woman’s Party had been hounding the Post Office for years to give Anthony her own stamp. The response they kept getting? Collectors wouldn't be interested.
Then, suddenly, with an election looming and a need to secure the female vote, the Post Office "unexpectedly" announced the 3-cent purple stamp (Scott #784). It dropped on August 26, 1936, exactly 16 years after the 19th Amendment was ratified.
But here is where it gets weird: people thought she was smoking.
If you look at the 1936 stamp, there are some horizontal lines in the background near her mouth. Critics and some very imaginative citizens actually wrote in to complain that Susan B. Anthony was shown "in the unladylike pose of smoking a cigarette." She wasn't, obviously. It was just the engraving style of the time, but the "Smoking Susan" rumor became a weird bit of philatelic folklore.
Why the 1955 Version Is Actually Cooler
While the 1936 version is the most famous, the 1955 Susan B. Anthony stamp (Scott #1051) from the "Liberty Series" is arguably more interesting for serious collectors. This one was a 50-cent value, which back then was a lot of money. You didn't just slap a 50-center on a birthday card; these were for heavy packages or registered mail.
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The "Bunk" History of the 1955 Release
There is a persistent story—even the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum has repeated it—that the stamp was issued on August 25, 1955, to mark the 50th anniversary of Anthony meeting Teddy Roosevelt.
Except, according to researchers like those at Talker of the Town, that meeting story is largely bunk.
The real reason for the 50-cent stamp was more practical: the Post Office was overhauling its entire "Liberty Series" to replace the old Presidential stamps from 1938. They needed a high-value face to represent "Guardians of Freedom," and Susan fit the bill.
Is Your Susan B. Anthony Stamp Worth Anything?
I’ll be real with you: probably not much.
If you found a purple 3-cent Anthony stamp in your grandma's attic, don't quit your day job. They printed over 269 million of them.
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Value Breakdown (The Honest Truth)
- 1936 3-cent (Used): Basically worth the paper it’s on—maybe $0.15 to $0.35.
- 1936 3-cent (Mint/Unused): You can pick these up for about $1.00.
- 1955 50-cent (Used): Around $0.35.
- 1955 50-cent (Mint): This is slightly better, usually retailing for $3.00 to $5.00 depending on the centering.
Now, if you have a "Plate Block" (that little corner of four stamps with the serial numbers on the margin), you’re looking at maybe $3.00 for the 1936 version and $15.00 to $20.00 for the 1955 version.
The real money in the Susan B. Anthony world actually stays with the coins, not the stamps. The 1979-P "Wide Rim" dollar or certain 1981-S proofs can fetch hundreds or even thousands. But the stamps? They were meant to be used. They were workhorses of the mail system.
The Complicated Legacy
We have to talk about the fact that Susan B. Anthony isn't a simple "hero" icon anymore.
In recent years, historians have pointed out her friction with the 15th Amendment. She famously said she’d "cut off this right arm" before she’d work for the ballot for Black men and not women. This tension—the idea of "Who gets rights first?"—makes her a complicated figure to put on a pedestal, or a stamp.
When you look at that purple engraving from 1936, you aren't just looking at a "Lady of Liberty." You're looking at a woman who was so single-minded about her goal that she was willing to alienate her own allies in the abolitionist movement.
How to Spot a "Fake" Rarity
Whenever a Susan B. Anthony stamp hits the news, people start looking for errors.
In the stamp world, "errors" usually mean:
- Inverts: The center is upside down (doesn't exist for this stamp).
- Missing Perforations: The edges are smooth like a sticker (very rare).
- Color Shifts: The purple looks red or blue (usually just sun damage).
Most "rare" stamps found by amateurs are just damaged. If the stamp has a heavy ink smudge or a wavy line across it, that’s just a cancellation mark. It means it did its job.
Practical Next Steps for Collectors
If you actually want to start a collection or verify what you have, don't trust an eBay listing price. Anyone can list a stamp for $10,000; it doesn't mean it sells.
Check the Scott Catalogue. It’s the Bible for stamp collectors. Most local libraries have a copy in the reference section. Look for #784 and #1051.
If you're holding a mint condition 1955 50-cent stamp, keep it in a PVC-free glassine envelope. Humidity is the enemy of old stamps. It turns the gum on the back into a sticky mess that ruins the paper.
For those who just like the history, the best thing to do is find a First Day Cover (FDC). These are envelopes with the stamp postmarked on its very first day of issue, often with a beautiful "cachet" (an illustration) on the left side. You can get a 1936 Anthony FDC for about $15.00. It’s a literal piece of 1930s political history you can hold in your hand.
Basically, the Susan B. Anthony stamp is a reminder that the Post Office has always been a mirror of American tension. Whether it was FDR trying to win an election or 1950s officials trying to define "Liberty," Susan was there, staring back from the corner of the envelope.