USA #1 Unused

Hi,
I´m from Germany, so please pardon my English.
I got a USA #1 unused and I´m not sure if it´s a genuine one or a reprint.
Is there anybody here, who can help me?
I attached a high resolution scan of the stamp.
Thanks
Sven

1875 reprint.. Beautiful stamp!!

Thanks for the fast reply. Are the reprints catalogued? And if yescould you tell me a cat. price?

If sound, worth $800 - $1200 currently with that centering at typical auction. Don't have catalog in front of me.

And yes, these reprints are in Scott catalogue. They are rare, I think only about 4000 ever produced!

Thank you very much for your help!

Scott #3

Since you are not familiar with them, perhaps a bit more needs to be said about your stamp. You asked if it is a reprint and were told it is. Your stamp is not a reprint in the same sense as many "reprints" of stamps of the world from the 19th century. They were not privately produced. Terminology has been refined in recent years, so US numbers 3 and 4 in Scott are not classed as reprints because they were not printed from the original plates. They were, however, produced and distributed by the federal government through the Post Office Department.

Today your stamp is described in the Scott catalog as an official "reproduction." The original stamps were demonetized at the beginning of the US Civil War, so when the Government wished to display sheets of them at the US Centennial Exposition it was necessary to prepare new dies and plates for them. The Continental Bank Note Company was instructed to print them, and, if I remember correctly, they assigned Charles Skinner the task of duplicating the original designs with new engraving. The reproductions of 1875 are very similar to the originals, but there are also many points of difference. The catalogs mention a couple of the most evident ones.

Anyway, I thought you might want to know why your stamp is not a common unofficial reprint, but an official reproduction by the US government. It certainly makes a difference in the value.