United States, Scott #5798, used(o), 2023, Commemorative, Honoring Chief Standing Bear (1829-1908), a Ponca tribe chief whose landmark lawsuit in 1879 established that a Native American was a person under United States law; in the settlement of the West, the Army forced him and about 700 other members of the Ponca tribe to leave their homeland in northeast Nebraska and walk 600 miles to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma; Chief Standing Bear was arrested and imprisoned in Fort Omaha when he and others tried to return to arrange a funeral for his son; this prompted him to file a lawsuit that led to an 1879 ruling ordering his release and finding that a Native American is a person under the law and is entitled to full right under the law:
- At the end of his two-day trial in a Nebraska federal court, the judge honored his request to speak. Through a translator, Standing Bear delivered a short but striking speech that included the famous four phrases that asserted his humanity. Extending his right hand, he told Federal Judge Elmer Dundy, "That hand is not the color of yours, but if I pierce it, I shall feel pain. If you pierce your hand, you also feel pain. The blood that will flow from mine will be of the same color as yours. I am a man. The same God made us both." The judge agreed. Native Americans deserved the same legal protections as other Americans.
The image on the stamp is from a photograph of Chief Standing Bear taken in 1877; issued as a 'forever' stamp at a counter sales price of (66¢), issued with non-water soluble self-adhesive gum on counter panes, perforated: 11 vertical, offset lithography printed by Ashton Potter USA (APU), 'USPS' in black-inked micro-print on the fourth horn up from middle on the Chief's necklace, multicolored, Scott Supplemental Catalog Value: 25¢; nicely centered, double strike cancels, the main, a black-inked, horizontal, wavy line cancel over the top half of the stamp and into the main image, the second, a stray, non-descript cancel mark on the lower left corner, good perforations, stamp was removed from its mailing envelope using the Bestine solvent and placed on a piece of black cardstock for an attractive and uniform album appearance; centering and mounting warrants a selling price premium. This is not a 'bait-and-switch;' the stamp you see will be the one you receive.
Please review my terms of sale. If you are not ordering from the United States, there is a $US1.55 additional postage expense that needs to be added to the price of the stamp. If you are ordering from the United States, there is only a $US0.68 added postage expense. Also, if you make additional purchases from my offerings, they can all go in one mailing at no extra shipping expense for the added purchases. I will send the purchase by US first class mail, since the relatively low value of the stamp does not warrant signature or tracking mail. Hence the buyer assumes risk of loss or non-delivery. I will keep a scan of my mailing to verify that the correct mailing address was used. If not satisfied, return the stamp to me at your own expense, and I will refund the cost, but not my postage to you. If the stamp is not as described, I will refund the cost and reimburse you for postage both ways.
By way of reference, I am an American Philatelic Society member (195176) and an American Stamp Dealers Association (ASDA) member. Thank you for looking, and I hope this is the perfect stamp to fill that gap in your collection.
