Show Your US 1857 Perforated Stamps

I only have a few One Cent stamps of this issue. Thought I could share this #24. Some missing perfs but the red cancel and the bit of imprint makes this the most interesting one I have.

Always like to see imprint copies, stampcrow. You have position 41L9 there.

Thanks dudley, I will mark it 41L9.

I thought that I should share something here as this thread was all the way down to page 2.

Here's a #26 that I just received that will being going to PSE for a graded cert.

Thoughts on the right side perfs?

Stan Shepp

That is a beautiful stamp. I think that at the right just below the rosette there is something that was "modified". As to why I have no idea but it is not consistent with the rest of the stamp. I will be interested in PSE's opinion if you would be kind enough to share it. TIA

Can anyone tell me if this is a #24?
I'm thinking it's a #20.

J/K - Scott #20variety - Major Plate Crack
Position 23L2. Bold color, light cancel.

Absolutely stunning.

Stan Shepp

I have an amazing 3c Washington usage to share today.

US Classic Stamps underwent a complete transformation in 1861.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, the United States Government demonetized all of the postage stamp issues from 1847 to 1860, in order to prevent their use by postmasters and postal patrons within the Confederate States of America.

In May 1861, the Postmaster General ordered all postmasters within the United States to return their inventories of old stamps to Washington, D.C. It was further ordered that any letters received from the secessionist states, utilizing the old stamps, were to be treated as unpaid and were to be held for payment of postage. Unpaid letters that were not called-for were to be sent to the Dead Letter Office in Washington, D.C.

The government printing contract with Toppan, Carpenter, & Co. expired in June 1861, and the new contract to produce United States postage stamps was awarded to the National Banknote Co. Beginning in August 1861, the new redesigned United States postage stamps were issued.

This generated some postal markings that were used for a very short time - especially the rare "OLD STAMPS - NOT RECOGNIZED"

I would love to find a nice example of this marking on a 3c Washington. I keep my eyes open for any usage around this time period. and I eventually found this gem:

Philadelphia Pa. Sep 4 1861, black datestamp on cover to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, 1857 3c Dull red single and strip of three (26, small faults) all tied by large targets, two strikes of matching straightline "Ship", very fine, an interesting legal use of the 1857 issue after they had been demonetized in Philadelphia, this cover probably originated on the West Coast where the stamps had not yet been demonetized and postal regulations required they be recognized, 12c franking prepays 10c postage plus the 2c ship fee, ex-Kramer and Fortgang.

The stamps aren't perfect & neither is the cover - but find me another one and I will be interested!!











Morris Fortgang
(October 8, 1899 – August 5, 1960) New York City

Fortgang was a specialist and student of the U.S. one-cent 1851-1857 issues. From 1946, he concentrated on that issue and collaborated with Stanley B. Ashbrook on the plating of the difficult plates 3 and 5. Fortgang was instrumental in forming the U.S. 3-cent 1851-57 Unit of the APS (now the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society) and was its first treasurer.

He was Associate Chairman (with William W. Hicks) of the "Perforation Centennial" celebrating the centennial of the issue of the first perforated U.S. stamps in 1857. Mortimer Neinken was General Chairman. This event was held at the National Philatelic Museum in Philadelphia in July 1957. Fortgang presented two papers published in the Perforation Centennial Book - "The Centennial of United States Perforated Stamps," and "The 1-cent Stamp 1851-1857."

I do not collect these stamp issues, but am regularly fascinated by the discussion in this thread about the stamps, their plating, and the spectacular covers that you have found them used on..

The following cover caught my eye on Delcampe this evening. It seems like someone in this discussion thread would be interested.




https://www.delcampe.net/en_US/coll...0250651.html

Nice cover.

That's a 3c Nesbitt, uprated with 9 3c stamps to pre-pay the 30c rate to Wurttemburg via Prussian Closed Mail.

From Montpelier, VA; March 25th.

The year would be between 1858 and 1861 based upon the stamps used.

edit: I guess I could also point out that this rate is usually paid with 3 10c stamps, which is why this franking is somewhat unusual and interesting.

Some really nice 26A's on that cover. Particularly the strip of three in the bottom middle. Gaps at the top on the frame lines, frame lines are crooked and obviously entered by hand, and definitely not the A relief with the damaged relief.

Really nice stamps.....
Ray

This cover was shared on this thread a few weeks back - in case someone might be interested in it. (Thanks MML1942! - You were very much correct in there being interest in this item)

I was very interested in it, so I bought it & it finally arrived today.

The bottom right stamp, with the manuscript date, has the right inner line recut.

I didnt have time, but I scanned it today anyway. I hope that you enjoy the closeup images of the nine #26A's.

Pretty cool cover.

Stan Shepp

Since I am here sharing the above cover, I thought that I should share the below cover as well.

Always check who your covers were sent to - and from.

This Scott #26 was sent to a guy named "Mr. A. Lincoln" in Springfield, Illinois.

1857, 3¢ dull red, type III. Tied by manuscript "X" cancels, matching "Howard Ind., Sep 13th 1860" postmark on orange buff cover addressed to Abraham Lincoln at Springfield, Illinois, docketed "not answered" at right; reduced slightly at right, some soiling, F.-V.F.

This is 9R28, an A relief stamp. Top row stamp. It shows the damaged transfer at upper left of lower left rosette. Two or more stray dots in right selvage just above eye level. I do not see these dots identified on Hegland's "Plate Flaws in the 3c 1857 Issue" so they may not be a repeating marking.

There is also a slight engraver's slip on the left frame line, about forehead height - aligning with the bottom of the upper left rosette.

Enjoy!
Stan Shepp

Stan:

Glad to see you rescued that Montpelier, VA cover. I had hoped someone would.

From the quality of material in your other posts, it should be right at home in your collections.

Neat A. Lincoln cover. I'll bet you don't encounter those every day.

Mike

Is this possibly a usa 31 or 34 ? Fresh out of a 1875 Scott International Album.

Clovnfire, your stamp is a #35. There are a few signs that tell me this. First, the pearls at the lower right are missing - they got 'carved' away during rework on the sides of the design. It is hard to tell from the size of the scan, though. The other sign that this is a #35 is the size of the stamp. Those large margins are almost (like 95%, but not 100%) exclusive to the Type V stamps. Alternatively, a small-margined #35 may very well be a mis-identified other type. Over the years, I have bought a number of "35's" with small margins, only to find them to be one of the other types perhaps 80% of the time. Since this attribute isn't 100%, then none of the types can be described as being small- or large-margined, but the correlation is quite high.