This exhibit focuses on the ungrilled issues from 1861-1866 and the early grill experiments which culminated in the 1867 issues of the points up grills and the 1868 issues of the points down grills.

The issues of 1861 were made necessary by the Civil War. The Union ordered new stamps to prevent the seceding Southern states of the Confederacy from shipping supplies of existing stamps to the north to finance their war efforts. A contract was put out for bids and an inexperienced firm, the National Bank Note Company, was the low bidder.

The firm had difficulty in producing acceptable work samples at the times required in the contract. Several design and color changes were made in an attempt to produce satisfactory results. These changes resulted in the much debated "Premieres Gravures." These are now considered essays, except for the 10 cent which was mistakenly issued. With no changes in the design of the 24 and 30 cent values, these should be considered trial colors.

The Stamp Agent records show a first delivery date of August 16, 1861 for the 1c, 3c, 5c, 10c, 12c, 24c, 30c, and 90c values. The earliest possible use for these stamps is stated to be August 17, 1861.

The Post Office was concerned about loss of revenue from cleaning and reuse of stamps. With a new contract coming up for bid in 1868, the firm tried to acquire a patent acceptable to the Post Office This lead to the grill experiments which were successful enough to be included in the bid specifications, guaranteeing the contract to the firm.