For broadcast on CBS Radio Network stations
October 24-25, 1998:

Big stamps for a small city in New York.

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries.

When the rate change stamps are issued next month, there
will be a ceremony in Troy, just up the Hudson from Albany.
That's because the new H stamp shows Uncle Sam's hat, and
the new 22-cent stamp shows all of him.

[GOTO AUDIO
*He was definitely a real person.*
DURATION:0'02"]
                        
Renssallaer Historical Society curator Stacy Pomeroy Draper
says Samuel Wilson was a meat-packer in Troy who shipped
provisions to American soldiers during the War of 1812.

[GOTO AUDIO
"Because the soldiers in the area recognized that it was his
meat and knew that he was also called Uncle Sam, they
jokingly said, 'Oh, this is from Uncle Sam.'*
DURATION:0'10"]

The stamps originally were planned for
release in Washington, but moved after
a letter from a Troy stamp club.

And did he really look like that?  Well,
probably not. There are no known photos
of Samuel Wilson. The image we recognize
today is by a political cartoonist during
World War One, a century later.

The stamps are being issued November 9th.

And that's Stamp Collecting this week.

I'm Lloyd de Vries, CBS News

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