Issued: Issued on July 1st, 1847. The earliest recorded copy is July 7th, 1847. Below is one of the twenty recorded examples bearing a July 1847 date stamp.

Plate Size: Sheets of 200 subjects (2 panes of 100), Stanley Ashbrook was convinced there was only one plate used.

Printer: Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson Bank Note Co. NYC. (later to become part of the American Bank Note Company)

Watermark: None

Quantity Issued: 864,000

 

GOOD MARGINS

The value of this stamp is greatly effected by the number of margins it has. Ideally it should have four wide margins. These stamps were scissor cut by the postmaster, hence purchasing a four margin stamp with wide margins (as shown at the top of this page) can be expensive. The value goes down depending on the width of the margins and the number of the margins. Three margin copies will always be of less value than a four margin copy. Two margin copies are considered undesirable.

Because these stamps were scissor cut the design is often cut into, if this is the case it will significantly take away from the value of the stamp, the more the stamp design has been cut into the greater the deduction.

IF UNUSED CHECK TO SEE IF YOU HAVE THE REPRINT

The 10c was reprinted in 1875. The differences are subtle. If the stamp has a cancel or pen mark on it then it is an original 1841, numbers 1 or 2. If the stamps are clear and free of cancels or pen marks then they could be the reprints. This is especially true of the 10c.

To discern the difference look at the cravat, or shirt frill. On the original, on the right, the right edge of the cravat pretty much lands opposite the middle of the letter T in the word CENTS. Now look at the reprint on the left. The right edge of the cravat Graded towards the left branch of the letter T in CENTS. There are other cues but this is usually the easiest.

1875 REPRINT	1847 ISSUE

CANCELS

The majority of cancels are obliterated with the grid cancel, usually in black or red. Town cancels are less common and carry a small premium. Cancels with the word 'Steamboat' or 'Railroad' often demand a 25-50% premium. Other, but less common cancels is the word 'PAID' or the number '10'. Pen cancels are fairly common and a tad less desirable, so where possible avoid the pen cancels. This rule can be applied to almost all the US stamps.

Example of a pen cancel

Removed pen cancel examples (see note below)

Above are illustrations of how dangerous removed pen cancels can be. The images on the left ishow how the stamp was sold on ebay. After putting these stamps under a microscope the buyer could see traces of the ink that had been removed. The images on the right depict the stamps before the pen cancel was removed.

Example of a number '10' and a 'PAID' cancel
(many post offices used a different representation of 10 or PAID)

An example of a railroad cancel
Nearly all railroad cancels are straight line
A better example can be seen on the Rush cover below

One thing to be careful of is cancels that obliterate the face, such as the example below, which sold for only one third of the average price for this stamp

Heavy cancels that hide the face detract heavily
from the desirability of the stamp.

FORGERIES

Sperati, perhaps the most infamous forger in philatelic history took aim at this stamp. Below can be seen an example of his work, complete with genuine appearing faked cancel. These typicaly sell for $300-$600 each.

Sperati Forgery

Recently an ebay seller from Florida has been producing, off his own plates, some very good reproduuctions. If it was not for the obviously faked cancel these would be dangerous as the quality is good and they have been aged by the seller. An example is shown below

A fake #2 and #1, with faked cancel on fake piece.

The inspiration for the design was Gilbert Stuart's unfinished portrait of George Washington. The engraving had been previously used on Michigan's banknotes of 1836

Gilbert Stuarts 1796 unfinished portrait of George Washington
(also known as The Athenaeum)

It is possible that the original engaver used the Albert G Durand engraving (shown below) which was based on the Stuart portrait shown above. I say this because the engraving on the stamp shows the cravat in the same fashion as Durand's version, whilst the cravat in Gilberts portrait is not defined.

The Albert G Durand Engraving
(the same as used in the $1 bill)

The stamp vignette is on the left, Durand's engraving is on the right. I have flipped Gilberts portrait for th purpose of comparison. The original had Washington facing left.

DOUBLE TRANSFERS

Type B double transfer

Type D double transfer

FRACTIONALS

10c Fractional Usage Diagonal Bisect Scott #2a - 1847	10c Fractional Usage Horizontal Bisect Scott #2c - 1847

OTHER VARIETIES

'Stick Pin' variety

The stick pin variety (top image)
(note the dot in the middle of the cravat)

'Hair Lip' variety

The hair lip variety, notice the line across the mouth.