Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

Chase stated on page 149 that, with the help of paper expert Mr. Garland, and "microscopical" analysis, he was able to prove that a small lot of paper used within the first two or three months of manufacture was made with a mix of rag stock and fiber from the inner bark of the bamboo tree, the basis of India paper.

Here are a couple of late usages of the 3-cent imperforate stamp; August 9, 1858, Janesville Wisconsin; and February 21, 1859, Montpelier Vermont:

Wow! Sweet cancel, Stephen.

Wish it was still on it's cover.

Indeed, like the 3c coin of the period.
These cancels can be tough to find, especially nice strikes.

classic coins -- those are some really nice late usages of the 1851-1857 imperfs that you showed -- especially tied with "year dated" cds cancels (versus dated by docketing or enclosures). Nice!

stampcrow -- that "PAID III C" is a gem of a cancel -- and the first one that I have ever seen on an 1851-1857 imperf -- very nice!

So yesterday, my very old Epson Artisan 710 "all-in-one" printer / copier / scanner finally gave out -- and I went down to Staples and picked up an Epson V600 flat bed scanner as a replacement. Here are a couple of my first "test scans" with the new scanner. Both of these were made using stock default settings in Epson's "Home Mode" -- at 1,200 dpi -- then the file sizes were shrunk down to the SCF 200 kb maximum using Irfanview's file re-sizing utility.

Showing some blue cancels today...

-- the first one is a 74-75L1L pair with a nice strike of a blue JUL 13 Sheboygan, Wis. cds.

-- the second one is a 26-27R1i pair with a striking blue SEP 5 University of Va. cds (note that this pair is seriously over-inked -- and that 26R1i is a "missing guide dot" variety).

Regards // ioagoa

Nice college cancel.

Those are certainly collectible in their own right.

I picked up three university covers earlier this year. Here's Randolph Macon College, Virginia.
It's an 1855 stamp from plate 1L. Haven't plated it to a position yet.

Thanks, ioagoa.

Congrats on the new scanner. The colors of your two pairs look excellent, not to mention the really neat cancels. Thanks for showing them.

That's a great looking university cover, Stephen. They fit a lot of letters into that CDS.

Here are two 3-cent imperforate covers that were carried to or from the post office by the independent mail service Blood's Penny Post, who charged one cent for the service, and applied their own stamp.

The Blood's stamp on the Dec 1 cover is Scott 15L15, with a bluish background that got discolored when it was canceled with acid. It also is tied to the cover by the blue Philadelphia CDS, making it much less common than normal frankings, which were not tied, as with the Jan 3 example.

The Blood's stamp on the Jan 3 1857 cover is Scott 15L16, and it was not canceled.

Pair of 11A's on a folded letter from New Orleans, 97-98L3.
The 98L3 has the recut #8, extra frame line at right.

Nice "three-rows" pair, Moyock13.

Here is 98L3's neighbor, 99L3, that I've posted in other threads. This is Variety #6 – Two Extra Lines at Left, and Frame Line Takes Place of Right Inner Line.

It is also a plate wiped too clean variety, with too much ink wiped off the plate along the bottom third of the design.