Stamp Desk / People and places
United States, 1863 (2 cents, Black Jack)
A large portrait of a stern man with swept-back hair, printed in black.
Illustration of a historical stamp for learning, shown at screen size. Not valid for postage.
How to read it
U.S. POSTAGE across the top.
- 1U.S. POSTAGE
- 2TWO CENTS
- Inscription
- U.S. POSTAGE · TWO CENTS · 2 2
- Meaning
- U.S. stands for United States.
- Issued by
- United States
- Today
- the United States Flag of United States
- Year
- 1863. Issued 1863.
- Made by
- National Bank Note Company (printer); John Wood Dodge (source portrait)
One fact
Collectors call it the Black Jack: a large portrait of President Andrew Jackson printed in black.
Source and public-domain rule
United States, published before 1931. Published in the US in 1863. It was printed by a private bank-note company, so the publication rule is used, not the federal-work rule Commons states. Works published in the United States in 1930 or earlier are out of copyright there (the longest term, 95 years from publication, ended on 1 January 2026 for 1930 works), and stamps made by the federal government itself are not protected at all. Under the EU comparison of terms a work from outside the EU is protected no longer than in its country of origin. Legal sources: Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain, 17 U.S.C. § 105.
Scan: Stamp US 1863 2c.jpg on Wikimedia Commons (revision 1194503052), licence templates {{PD-USGov}}, {{PD-scan}} (a public-domain reason different from ours; both are recorded). Downloaded 2026-10-21, sha256 64e20953c857…; cropped and cleaned for this site. Facts checked 2026-10-22 against source 1 and source 2. Research record, not legal advice; a second check of these rights by a person is planned, and a stamp that turns out not to be free to use will be removed. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
