Date of Issue: May, 1855

Earliest Known Date of Use: July 19th, 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: 200,000

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 #16
(a type IV 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 , #16 or Type IV stamps occur in only eight positions. Type IV are distinguished by the recutting of the outer frame line at the top or bottom. After recutting, a B relief stamp was misplaced into an A relief space, this being position R13, the only Type IV on the right pane. There is also only one example where the lines have been recut at both the top and bottom, position 64L1. Both of these aforementioned stamps command higher prices than the other six type IV's.

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

#16 is frequently forged, with the re-cut line
being expertly drawn in. Above is a faked
certificate. The giveaway is there is no
imperf type V.

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 death in 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 #64 L1

LEFT STAMP: Position #64 L1 showing recut lines at both top and bottom
RIGHT STAMP: #16 without recut lines

Position #65L1

Position #3R1

Position #76L1

Position #54L1

#54L1 also has a smudge in the left X, as noted on the right side of the X.

Position #55L1

Position #86L1

A multiple showing type II,III and IV
#14, #15 and #16

 

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