October is recognized as "stamp collecting month". Crown Jewels presents some stamps that have been issued to commemorate people and events involved in the development of telegraph, telephone & electric power.

The stamp below was released in 1944 to mark the 100th anniversary of the development of the commercial telegraph. Partially obscured behind the cancellation are the words of Samuel Morse's first message, "What hath God wrought". Morse himself had been honored as a inventor as part of a 1940 series honoring Famous Americans (below, lower left). In 1973, the US issued a series honoring Rural America. One of the stamps (below, lower right) depicts a telegraph line along a railway as part of the design.

Alexander Graham Bell's first telephone design was depicted on the 100th anniversary the invention in 1976. Canadian born, Bell was honored by his country on a stamp printed in 1947 to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth. The US had honored Bell as part of the 1940 Famous American series with a 10-cent stamp.

When the stamp came out, the Bell Telephone Companies purchased a substantial amount of them for use in their own mailings. So many, in fact, that Bell's stamp in unused condition today is worth a premium many times greater than any other commemorative of that era. The unused plate block shown on the left today is worth $85.00... more than 210 times its face value.* *Brookman catalog of US & Canada Stamps

While the US commemorated the Pony Express with a stamp in 1960, there was no issue to mark the 100th anniversary of the completion of the Trans-Continental Telegraph in 1961. Telegraph operations, being more mechanical and less adventuresome, never seemed to capture the public's admiration like the Pony Express. In a 1976 Bi-Centennial issue, the US modified a postal stationery stamp from 100 years earlier that features a pony express rider, telegraph line, and a train.

Development of electrical power has been acknowledged on stamps in various ways. A 1929 issue (below left) commemorated the 50th anniversary of Thomas Edison's electric light. A stamp issued in 1985 (right) remembered Depression era efforts to bring electricity to rural areas.