Mar 25, 2021 - Sale 2562

Sale 2562 - Lot 145

Price Realized: $ 344
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
(BUSINESS.) Black and Brown Stamp Album. [48] printed pages, with 2 strips containing 42 unused James Brown stamps laid in, and 5 additional stamps pasted in. Original color pictorial wrappers, oblong 12mo (5 x 6 1/4 inches), minimal wear, light paper clip stain. Chicago: Black & Brown Distributing Company, [circa 1969]

Additional Details

This project was the brainchild of star football player Art Powell, whose career had been curtailed by injuries. The project was initially launched in early 1969 in San Francisco, where retailers in the Black community were issued stamps featuring the image of singer James Brown, which they could give to their customers with each purchase. The loyal customers were then able to redeem a full album of 1200 stamps for a $3.00 discount. The blank pages are filled with promotional slogans for the project. See "Retailing: Soul Stamps" in Time Magazine, 11 July 1969. By 1971, the stamps were being distributed in 10 cities, and the albums were being printed in Chicago (as with the present example).