Topical stamps - Gunmen and Great Chiefs of the American West

Gunmen & Great Chiefs Series
Artistic Stamps & First Day Covers
by
W. C. "Bill" Porter
The Olathe Poste

Portrait of Bill Porter reflected in glass of Chipeta artistamp wall hanging. Photograph by Eric Drummond, Montrose Daily Press, Nov. 2003.

My Gunmen and Great (Indian) Chiefs series of artistamps began as a personal project for two reasons: I wanted to add a few wall hangings to our home and office depicting those outlaws and fierce fighters of the American old west who had otherwise been passed by through the normal selection processes of the USPS. Seemingly because the gunmen and/or great Chiefs were not well known enough to the general public; their places in history were too bloody; or, because these particular gunfighters and Indian Chiefs didn't bow down to bureaucratic desires of their day. Over time now, a few overlaps have occurred with my topical, historic stamp issues and a few issues by the US Postal Service. Such as Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce.

In a few instances of The Olathe Poste's Gunmen & Great Chiefs artistamp series, others have found pleasure and value in the concept of these faux postage stamps. For example, the Ute Indian tribe museum, under the authority of the Colorado Historical Society, commissioned The Olathe Poste to produce a set of stamps for their own purposes. Which, at the time, was to help commemorate the first Annual Chipeta Days celebration, held at the Ute Indian Museum in Montrose, Colorado.

Chief Ouray and Chipeta se-tenant sheet of artistamps. While searching a back storage room at the museum for a suitable image(s) to use for the stamp sheets, The Olathe Poste discovered an old photograph, surrounded by a broken down old frame and covered in dust. The photograph was a beautifully rich portrait of Chipeta, wife of Chief Ouray. The portrait was made in 1914 -- in black and white and colorized by hand oil tinting. Once the photograph was removed from the frame for reproduction, it was discovered on the back of the photograph that it had also been authenticated by the commander of Fort Uncompahgre in that year. This rich piece of history depicting Chipeta, who led the Ute Indian tribe for over twenty years following the natural death of her husband, Ouray, was re-matted, re-framed and can now be viewed by visitors to the museum. While mail artists and other friends of The Olathe Poste may occasionally find one of these stamps adorning a piece of correspondence from us. These are a limited edition version (35 sheets) of the stamps which bear The Olathe Poste "signature." While the Chipeta and Ouray se-tenant sheet of decorative, faux postage stamps were designated with "Colorado Historical Society" on them to differentiate the two editions. The CHS stamps can readily be purchased from the Ute Indian Museum gift shop.

The Olathe Poste's Gunmen & Great Chiefs series of topical artistamps is an ongoing project. Those of you who may be collecting these stamps will find several variances from normal markings that typify Olathe Poste artistamps. These cinderella stamps were the first stamps produced by The Olathe Poste to stray away from our denominational "trademark" of 53, for example. Doing so for the sake of aesthetic authenticity in making the stamps appear to be from turn-of-the-twentieth-century vintage.

Topical faux postage stamp of Ute Indian Chief Ouray.

Another rare find of an image of Ute Indian Chief Ouray, which came to The Olathe Poste as a lithograph that was used on counter checks of the Bank of Ouray, Colorado, dating back from 1904. The owner of a small cache of these counter checks is also a collector of Chief Ouray memorabilia and brought them to us to reproduce the image. Hours of retouching were required to remove a signature that invaded the lower portion of the Chief's likeness.

New Mexico outlaw and gunman from the Lincoln County Wars, Billy-the-Kid, commemorative artistamp.

Having grown up myself in Silver City, New Mexico, not very far from where Billy and his mother lived in what used to be a sleeply little mining town. And also having lived in Lincoln County for four years just after high school. Billy-the-Kid has always been a favorite subject of mine, especially considering all of the mysteries that surround the notorious outlaw. Not to forget that many a time throughout my life has someone compared me to William Bonney, because of some wild action from my youth. Billy-the-Kid was just meant to be one of the first stamps to be issued in the Gunmen & Great Chiefs series.

Topical cinderella stamp of Apache Chief Mangus Coloradas.

Mangus Coloradas - another Indian Chief who will probably never be on a real, United States postage stamp, but never-the-less held a place in the history of Southwestern New Mexico. There were two Apache chiefs by the same name. This being the son of the greater of the two. Unfortunately, no photographic images exist of the elder Mangus, who was murdered at Pinos Altos, New Mexico, 6 miles north of Silver City. Because of the confusion between the two Chiefs who had the same name and, how they're actually spelled, the stamp bears the name spelling with how most people mispronounce it.

Butch Cassidy - although Butch was known more as a lover and not a gunfighter, a faux postage stamp bearing his image was high on The Olathe Poste's priority list. Why? Because he robbed his first bank (so legend has it) at Telluride, Colorado, a mere 70 miles or so south of Olathe. If memory serves me correctly however, Olathe, even by the town's original name, Colorow, didn't exist at the time Butch and his gang escalated their criminal careers by robbing the bank at Telluride.


(L-R above) Wild Bill Hickock, Bat Masterson, and Buffalo Bill Cody with Chief Sitting Bull - All notables Gunmen & Great Chiefs in the State of Colorado's history and the wild American Old West. Click here to view Wild Bill Hickock's First Day Cover envelope.

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Olathe, Colorado 81425
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