Date of Issue: May, 1855

Earliest Known Date of Use: May 12th, 1855

Plate Size: Sheets of 200 subjects (2 panes of 100). Only one plate was used, plate #1.

Printer: Toppan, Carpenter, Casilier & Co. using the die-to-relief-to-plate transfer process.

Watermark: None

Quantity Issued: 2,300,000

Use: The Letter Rate for distances greater than 3,000 and under ½ oz was 10c, the domestic rate for letters over ½ oz. Because of this the 10c stamp was relatively common. Not only used for foreign mail, it was used for coast to coast mail when the rate for the latter was raised from 6c to 10c in 1855.

Identifying #14
(a type II printing)

All the ten cent stamps were printed from just one plate, plate #1.

Click the chart above for a full scale chart of the plate positions

As from the chart supplied with this website , #14 or Type II stamps (also known as 'relief A' stamps) were the most common stamps from the plate (#1).

The stamps come in a whole range of greens, ranging from light green to dark green. The darker the shade of green, the more desirable.

The 10c value was printed with wider spaces between the stamps than the 1c, 3c and 5c values, consequently copies with less than four margins are sold at a heavy discount.

CANCELS

Because this stamp was used mainly for foreign mail expect to see quite a few red transit cancels. West coast cancels are rare and add a price premium. Grid and circular date cancels are the most common, with the Boston grid 'PAID' cancel. New York and New Orleans cancels being the most prevelant of these.

A rare fancy cancel
Fancy cancels are are rare on all imperfs

An example showing a red transit mark
Transit marks add interest but rarely do they add value

George Washington 1743-1826
painted by Gilbert Stuart 1755-1799
Known as the The Athenaeum it was painted in 1796 by Gilbert Stuart

Perhaps the most famous portrait in the US, probably due to the fact that it's presence graces the front of the $1 bill, this portrait was in fact unfinished at the time of Gilbert's deathin 1828. It now hangs in the Boston Museum of Fine Art (Gilbert was one of Boston's more famous sons).

An excellent website on this portrait can be found here.

Gilbert Stuart Self Portrait

Position #31L1

There are a number of small variences, however there is one major re-entry, that being position 31L1. The re-entry is at the to and is the most pronounced shift in the three postions that have this characteristic.

 

History left us with just three essays of the 10c, none of which have I seen come up for auction in the last thirty years. I do have an image of a rare trial proof, seen below.

15-TC1
Trial Color Proof