A Trove of U.S. Stamp Dies Lies Behind Vault at Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Via Flickr user U.S. Embassy The Hague
One of Washington’s secret stamp treasures lies not at the National Postal Museum nor at the headquarters of the United States Postal Service in L’Enfant Plaza.
Look, instead, inside a huge basement vault at the Bureau of Printing and Engraving.
Ten years after the BEP printed its last postage stamps, it still retains in this vault the original dies as an invaluable legacy of its rich history as one of the world’s premier stamp printers.
A stamp die is the original engraving of a stamp design, usually recess-engraved in reverse on a small flat piece of soft steel.
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