Mariner 10 was a robotic space probe launched by NASA on November 3,
1973, to fly by the planets Mercury and Venus. The spacecraft flew past
Mercury three times with the first encounter taking place on March 29,
1974 (below). Mariner 10 was deactivated March 24, 1975.

Mercury in black and white.

Artists’ impression of the Mariner 10 mission.

This stamp, known as "Position 58," was valued at between 
$525,000 and $1.6 million.

(AP) – An ultra-rare stamp could sell for more than $1 million when it hits
the auction block in New York City next week, analysts have estimated.

It was one of 100 "inverted Jenny" stamps, legends among collectors. They
were issued in 1918 to celebrate the launch of U.S. air mail, but showed the
Curtiss JN-4H "Jenny" biplane inverted. A smart customer bought a 100-
stamp sheet before anyone realized the error.

According to the auction house, the stamp hitting the auction block on May
31 was “remarkable for its pristine state of preservation and for its centering”. 

The U.S. Post Office offered a special 10-cent postage stamp for sale. It
depicted Charles Lindbergh’s "Spirit of St. Louis." The first of 15 million
U.S. air mail stamps went on sale in St. Louis, Detroit, Washington and Lindbergh’s boyhood hometown of Little Falls, Minnesota.

Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974)

Camille Bohannon

The First Lady of Radio

Kathryn Elizabeth “Kate” Smith (May 1, 1907 – June 17, 1986)

The 2¢ Landing of Columbus is the most common stamp of the Columbian
Issue.

Often cited as the world’s first commemoratives are the sixteen stamps of the
United States Columbian Issue, produced to help celebrate the World Columbian
Exposition in Chicago honoring the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s
arrival in the New World in 1492. The stamps are today highly prized by collectors.

The $1 stamp is included in the US issue of commemoratives introduced
in 1893.