New Stamp to Honor Cabrillo
The U.S. Postal Service will issue a commemorative stamp in September, 1992, bearing the likeness of Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the first European to explore San Diego.
The stamp will be issued Sept. 28 in San Diego to coincide with the 450th anniversary of Cabrillo’s landing at Ballast Point.
The Postal Service hopes to incorporate the publication of the stamp with the the annual Cabrillo Festival on Point Loma, spokesman Mike Cannone said.
The stamp is among the 126 new stamps that will be issued next year and shows the profile of a helmeted Cabrillo, with a ship in the background. Other stamps to be issued next year include an Olympic series, hummingbird and floral stamps.
A limited number of the Cabrillo stamps will be available for sale in San Diego and via mail from Washington for about six months, Cannone said. After that, the stamps will only be available through collectors.
Cabrillo is credited with being the first explorer to traverse the Pacific Coast of North America. He was the first to see San Pedro, Santa Catalina Island and Monterey Bay. He died in 1543.
“Juan Cabrillo was the first explorer ever to set foot in San Diego,” Cannone said. “That reason alone is enough to have the stamp issued.”
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