130 Single Sheet Used Franked Stamps on Cardboard Packaging

About the Stamp

Issue Date: July 17, 1987

City: Washington, DC

Quantity: 157,475,000

Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing

Printing Method: Lithographed and engraved

Perforations: 11

Color: Scarlet and black

Joint Issue:  

Morocco #642

 

This stamp was issued to commemorate the bicentennial of the Treaty of Peace between the United States and the Kingdom of Morocco. 

The treaty forms the cornerstone of U.S./Moroccan relations and predates any other pact still in force.

THE United States Postal Service and Morocco are celebrating the bicentennial of a treaty that marks 200 years of friendship between the two nations. The first day ceremonies were held simultaneously in Washington and Rabat last Friday.

The new issue marks the 18th time the Postal Service has issued stamps jointly with the postal administration of another nation. The release of such issues by other pairs of nations or of omnibus sets by large groups of independent states has reached the point where a major ''philatelic diplomacy'' collection could be formed.

The two new issues recognize the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, the first diplomatic agreement between the United States and an Arab, Moslem or African state. Known also as the Treaty of Marrakesh, the accord is the longest unbroken contract of its kind between the United States and any nation.

The central design element of each stamp was created by Howard E. Paine of Delaplane, Va. It is from an arabesque that is part of an ornate painted door in the Dar Batha Palace, now a museum, in Fez, Morocco. ''Friendship with Morocco 1787-1987'' appears on the United States stamp. The Moroccan stamp includes in French ''Two Centuries of Friendship with the United States'' and in Moroccan ''Morocco and the United States - Uninterrupted Friendship.'' The coloring of both stamps is the same.