Scott # 10 Or 11 Purchased From Ebay As # 11A

Hello fellow Community Members, I hope that all is well with you! Today I have a cover with a 3 cent stamp (Washington), when purchased it was described as a Scott 11a. But the date of cancellation is June 21 and that is before July 1, 1851 when the first 3 cent of 1851 were released. So I think that it maybe Scott #10. Can someone take a look and help me to determine what exactly this is, the date is indicative of a possible #10? After I posted this I noticed picture #3 and I must say I am sorry it is really bad!

A June date is actually an indicator that you do not have a 10/10A. Most of the orange brown stamps were used up by early 1852. Beyond that, the stamp has been plated as position 65L3. Plate 3 stamps only produced 11A's. One more clue is the black Philly postmark... they were blue until late 1853 which makes your cover 1854 or later. I would not be surprised if it is an 1854 usage.

Hello, sharons25,

sinclair2010 summed in up perfectly. 65L3 means the stamp was printed from the 65th position of the left pane of plate 3. These stamps were printed in sheets of 200, with two panes of 100 each.

For additional information, see "The 3¢ Plates" and "Philadelphia Cancellations" links at the site below:

http://www.uspcs.org/stamps-covers/...51-3c-issue/