When Rochester Philatelic Association member Gail Ellsworth was looking over her dad’s stamp collection she happened upon an old newspaper article discussing a creative use of the 1939 50th Anniversary of Statehood Commemorative Issue for four northwest states.
Take a look at the rose violet stamp below:
![Scott # 858, issued November 2, 1939](https://fredmhaynes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ad11.jpg)
Do the states look like clothes hanging on a clothesline? They did to the makers of a product called “Mrs. Stuart’s Bluing Fabric Whitening”. So, they went to work inserting some clothespins and a woman hanging clothes. They changed the date as Mrs. Stewart’s Bluing was 6 years older than the states and naturally they made the states pure white to reflect the quality of the product.
![Here is the result of the ad campaign’s creativity.](https://fredmhaynes.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/ad2a.jpg)
The newspaper article Gail’s dad had saved was dated November 27, 1939, less than 4 weeks after the stamp was issued. They were quick!