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The 1847 10c Washington


10c - Black or gray black
860,000 - Imperf - Thin bluish Paper - Scott #2 - 1847
Requires certificate
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Price History

Realized prices below are for four FULL margin copies

 
 
NY Auction Houses
 
MH
Used
MNH
MH
Used
Graded
Fall 2003
-
-
-
-
$600-$1,000
-
Spring 2004
-
$500-$600
-
-
$800
-
Fall 2004
$9,500
$500-$900
-
-
$900-$1,350
-
Spring 2005
-
$600-$800
-
$7,500-$8,000
$400-$3,250
-
Fall 2005
-
$730-$875
-
$6,000-$12,500
$500-$2,400
-
Spring 2006
-
$495-$990
$67,500
$18,500-$67,500
$725-$4,000
-
Fall 2006
-
$445-$1,150
-
$12,000
$1,350
90
Spring 2007
-
$780-$1,240
-
$10,000
$575-$600
70
Fall 2007
-
$760-$1,150
-
$9,000-$9,500
$3,750-$4,500
95
Spring 2008
-
$700-$1,000
-
-
85
-
-
-
-
90
-
-
-
-
98
Fall 2008
-
$605-$1,275
-
-
-
Spring 2009
-
-
-
-
-
-

Varieties

Hair Lip Variety
Notice the line across the mouth
Stick Pin Variety
Notice the dot on the cravat
Double Transfer
obvious on the words 'Post Office'

Forgeries and Altered Stamps
(or good reasons why you need a certificated stamp)

Sperati Forgery
The forgery, complete with forged cancel is on the left.
For more examples of forged stamps click here
It should be noted that the Sperati forgery is nearly as valuable as the orginal
The stamp on the left was sold with a pen cancel removed. By looking at the stain left behind one can resconstruct the pen cancel. Another example can be seen below. Stamps with the orginal gum are exceedingly rare. Usualy a gummed stamp will be an uncancelled stamp that had been affixed to an envelope, soaked off and gum applied later. Stamps that have been kept in warm temperatures will gum that is amber or brown.

The 1875 Reprint

The reprint is on the left

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.



 
NY Auction Houses
 
MH
MNH
MH
Graded
Fall 2003
-
-
$800
-
Spring 2004
-
-
$625
-
Fall 2004
-
-
$1,100
-
Spring 2005
-
-
$675-$1,000
-
Fall 2005
-
-
$850-$925
-
Spring 2006
$1,100
-
$575-$1,150
-
Fall 2006
$900
-
$1,150
85
Spring 2007
-
-
-
-
Fall 2007
$760
-
$700
80
Spring 2008
-
-
85
Fall 2008
-
-
-

The Design Process

The inspiration for the design was Gilbert Stuart's portrait of George Washington.
The engraving had been previously used on Michigan's banknotes of 1836.
The stamp vignette is on the left, Gilbert's portrait is on the right.
I have flipped Gilberts portrait for the purpose of comparison. The
original had Washington facing left.
The original frames of the 1847 design mockups in black. The frames are on thin card, hand-drawn in pencil and black ink with a light black India wash.
The vignettes were drawn by Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson
Die Proof
Final Specimen

Large Multiples

1847 Issue cover with retaliatory-rate charge.
Largest multiple on cover. Known as the 'Rush cover'
Spring 2006 auction $1,200,000


40c transcontinental rate to California example, on and off cover.

The largest reported multiples of the 10ยข are :

  • an unused block of six (privately held)
  • used multiple of fourteen (Swiss Postal Museum in Lucern).


Block of 12 of the 10c Reproduction (#4)

Fractionals

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

 

Only about 1.3% of mails carried at the time of this stamps issue had a stamp affixed to them, most the rest having the amount of payment required written or rubber stamped on the envelope or letter. In very instances a postmaster would run out of the 5c issue, and would have to resort to bisecting a 10c in order to get by until the next delivery of 5c stamps arrived. These bisects only have value when on a piece of the envelope, wrapper or letter. The stamp has to be tied to the paper by a cancel. Both the above are good examples of this.

Key Graded when buying this stamp



Forgeries



As you will see, the Sperati forgery shown left is close to the real stamp.
The latter stamp is interesting in that it was sold as a Sperati forgert by
a NY auction house, however close examination of the hairline will reveal
that this is a composite of two stamps with a heavy cancel to hide the
join. I had to lighten up the cancel in order to make the forgery more
obvious to the eye.

The Stamps History

This, and its sister 5c stamp were the first stamps issued by the Post Office in the US. They were not the first stamp, this honor goes to the provisionals. This stamp was issued six years after the British Penny Black, the worlds first postage stamp. The firm that produced the New York Provisional, Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, made a proposal to supply the stamps on March 20, 1847 was succesful in winning the contract. 1,050,000 stamps were printed and 892,000 were issued during their lifetime of 1847 to 1851.

To learn about the 1847 issue click here