Virtual Museum
Stamp Collection
The Stamp
This stamp was first issued on 3rd February 1903
(although it is part of the 1902 series) in the United States of America. It was part of a series issued as learning tools to educate people, in particular new immigrants to America. The stamp was designed by Raymond Ostrander Smith, the image of Franklin taken from an original painting by James Longacre, and engraved by George F. C. Smillie, Robert F. Ponickau and Lyman F. Ellis. The new stamp was somewhat criticised for showing a rather doleful looking Franklin flanked by “writhing nude boys”.
The Subject
The stamp shows Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790), American polymath, politician and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. As a scientist, he experimented with electricity and, if you look carefully, you will see tiny lightbulbs in the top corners of the stamp.
Urology Connections
Benjamin Franklin designed a flexible silver catheter. In 1752, he wrote a letter to his brother enclosing a silver flexible catheter he had instructed a local silversmith to make. His brother must have suffered from lower urinary tract symptoms. It is not clear if it was ever used, it was an experimental model and he discussed how it could be improved by a covering of gut or by making it smaller.
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