C4902

American Scientists

Asa Gray -- Botanist

Collins Cover Announcement 

American Scientists

Asa Gray — Botanist

This is the first cover in this four-stamp mini-series of American Scientists. Although the subject matter will be of interest to some of my collectors, the challenge presented to me as a cachetmaker was how to make this set visually appealing and philatelically desirable to all of my collectors. Let me share the results of my thought process. In my opinion, the overall strength of these four stamps are their colors. If you lay them side by side, they are easily the most appealing in terms of color of any stamp set of the whole year. Therefore, I almost immediately decided to coordinate the watercolors in my hand painted cachets to the colors found in the respective stamps The covers turned out great.

As for layout and design composition, I decided to employ several elements on each cover. First, each of the four stamps is positioned in a different corner of the envelope. The first one, Asa Gray, is at the lower left. Second, I decided to use bold letters on the opposite side of the envelope for the series title — American Scientists and they will be hand painted. Third, the honored scientist will be in an oval frame, and the background within the frame will be in a color that coordinates with the stamp and title lettering. The portrait itself will be painted in natural and realistic colors. Finally, on each cover there will be a cachet vignette that will be a direct link to the field of the scientist being honored. Put them all together, and the result is a First Day Cover set that I believe will be judged the best by any cachetmaker.

Asa Gray is considered the most important American botanist of the 19th century. As a professor of natural history at Harvard University from 1842 to 1873, he essentially created the Botany Department at that institution. Published in 1836, "The Elements or Botany" was the first of Gray's many works. He traveled the country on research trips, and on his second trip through the American West collected over 1,000 specimens.

When viewed individually, and even more so as a set, the distinctive coordinated colors of the stamps and watercolored cachets will make these First Day Covers something special for present and future Collins collectors. The first one — for American scientist Asa Gray — is now ready. Collins #C4902 at $14.00.