Is There An Earliest Known Use For Scott 10A, 11 Or 11A?

I have a shabby, light blue colored, folded letter from Oct. 15th 1851. I grabbed it because I didn't have a Boston small paid on a cover.

Due to the cut inner line on the right side, I believe this is not a #10. So my first thought was it must be a 10a. But...because it's in my hands, I have to consider it might be a #11.

So I would ask, could this be a #11 used this early?





I find it interesting that I can see the right side of the stamp, that was attached, to the left of this one. That stamp doesn't show the cut inner line.

Well,

Both 10s and 10As came from plate 1 Early, and that plate was known used on July 1st, 1851 so I would surmise that there's 10s and 10As on what are effectively FDCs (Several do exist used on July 1st, 1851 and lots exist from July 1851).

Plate 1 Late was known used as early as October 10th (I think) 1851 so while uncommonm 11s do exist with Small Boston Paid cancels. I actually own 2 of them, 1 is on a cover front and 1 is this off cover guy right here:



The only Small Boston Paid that absolutely proves the stamp to be a #10 or #10A is the RED Small Boston Paid. These were only used in early July of 1851, here's a cover I own with one from July 17th, 1851: (Apologies for the lousy scan, it looks nice in person)



And here's a very early use of the SBP in Black from July 23rd:

Thanks billw2.
So conceivably, #11 could be used on Oct 15th 1851 (plate 1L). Bill, the 11 you have on cover with the small paid, do you have a date on that?

As for the stamp on my cover, the problem I see with plating this 1L, (from what I read) 1L should have inner frame lines on both sides.

Stampcrow, your stamp is a #10A from Plate 1E or 1i. There is a very slim chance that your stamp is from Plate 5E. All Plate 1L stamps have inner lines. Your stamp only has the right inner line recut which helps make the plating fairly easy.

The earliest known use for an 11A (Plate 1L) is October 6, 1851. The EKU for an 11 (Plate 4) is March 28, 1855.

Sinclair2010, I did some quick web reading. I did see that some of plates 1E and 1i have right side only inner lines. Also there are 3 instances of 5E having right side only inner line. That seems to jibe with what you wrote.
There is one other possibility. If the stamp isn't original to this cover, then the 5L could be a possibility.

I wonder if missing the top portion of the stamp makes this more difficult to plate?

As to your second post, I find it interesting that the 11a is earlier than the 11.


BTW, the scotch tape showing at the top of the cover, is not on the cover. It's attached to the plastic sleeve.

I'm 85% sure this stamp belongs on this cover. If the stamp and cover were in better condition, I think I would have it cetified.

Here's the front in question:



Postmarked December 9th, Docketing on the reverse of the front dates it at December 7, 1851 with the notation that the sender was going to California.

I am looking for a clarification on the 10's. I thought the dull reds and rose prints were only for the 11's and the 10's had orange-brown ink. I have seen several places on the web that chose examples of the 10's with red like the example on google. here is the link
http://www.ebay.com/gds/Scott-10-11...01293/g.html
Everything I have read in printed matter to include Scott's say only orange-brown ink was used on the 10's. Thanks

stampcrow,

I have no doubt your stamp originated on the cover. I don't think you would find that particular CDS cancel in use by the time Plate 5L was put into service anyway. Missing parts of a stamp don't help platers much but the stamp should still be easy to plate.

jd88fan,

You are correct, the #10 and #10A are orange brown. One of the stamps shown in the ebay review looks like a brownish carmine #11A. There are some other errors as well. Moral of the story: Don't limit your studies to reviews written by dealers who's entire stock of U.S. stamps are reproductions.

sinclair2010, as always, thank you!
Billw2, I hope I can pick up an 11 with the small cancel on cover. That's nice. Looks like a really wide margin on the right.