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The 5¢ and 10¢ Stamps of 1847

Wade E. Saadi

8 May 2000

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Appendix

Part 1 Introduction

This July 1st, we will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of the 1847 Issue of the United States. As this emission was the first general issue of this country, it will not pass without much fanfare. It will be a primary focus of America's once a decade international stamp exhibition, Pacific 97. A world class F.I.P. / A.P.S. sanctioned affair, and the first since Ameripex in 1986, it will take place in San Francisco, this May 29th - June 8th.

These 5¢ and 10¢ stamps represent to most collectors, the beginning of U.S. philately. (Postmaster provisionals and locals may have preceded this issue, but their uses were generally restricted to a specific geography. They will be discussed later in this installment). Traditionally, the 1847 stamps occupied the first two spaces in albums, and, to young collectors these spaces were almost certainly empty, due to their high catalog value. While many early issues often had less expensive varieties of a particular stamp design, that was not the case here. Many of the perforated issues of 1857-1860 are obtainable in used condition at a fraction of the cost of the face-similar imperforate issue of 1851-1856. For instance, the Type V 1¢ and Type V 10¢ perforated issue are much less expensive than the Types I through IV of their imperforate cousins. Such circumstances have created a certain mystique about the 1847 stamps and made them more desirable, when affordable later in life. They hold a special place in the minds of most collectors of U.S. stamps, as they are the premier issue and represent a genesis of sorts.

This article will present a general history of the issue, touching the events leading up to 1847, then covering its manufacture and philatelic past, lastly detailing the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps. It is written in the vernacular, as to be of interest to the novice collector, and for the more advanced student as well.

History of the First Adhesives

Before the issuance of the first postage stamp, the fee for the posting of a letter was paid by cash. During this stampless period, the cost of the letter was usually borne by the addressee and not the sender; quite a difference from what we are use to nowadays. The recipient would pay the fee when they picked up the letter at the post office. The rates charged for a letter would not only depend upon its weight, but the distance the letter would travel from where it originated. These convoluted rating structures were expensive and were actually cost prohibitive in allowing the use of the mails for casual correspondence. In the 1830's, a letter from New Orleans to Boston could cost 25¢ to mail.

Great Britain was the first country to issue a stamp for the prepayment of postage. The credit for this belongs to Roland Hill, a British administrator and educator. His was a novel idea, although other types of stamps had existed to indicate the payment of taxes. The British apparently had a penchant for stamps. Most Americans will recall the Stamp Act of Great Britain, which imposed the use of tax stamps on many commodities, tea in particular, and led to a famous "Tea Party"; held in the Boston Harbor. The world's first postage stamp, the Penny Black, issued in May 1840, however, was much better received by British citizens.

The first postage stamp actually resulted from Hill's proposals for postal reform. The issuance of a stamp to prepay postage was only an end to the means of reducing postal rates and making them uniform. Hill proffered the following;

1) Reduce the high cost of posting a letter - This would increase the use of the posts and create more revenue for the government.

2) Create a uniform postage rate for mail within Great Britain - This would abolish the enigma of distance based postal rates and the accounting required for it.

3) All mail shall be prepaid - This included the suggestion that a tax stamp be applied to the letter, evidencing the payment of postage. (Actually, the term philately, with which we are all familiar, was coined in 1864 by a Frenchman, Georges Herpin, who invented it from the Greek philos, " love," and ateleia, "that which is tax-free"; the postage stamp permitted the letter to come free of charge to the recipient, rendering it untaxed.)

These propositions became law and the birth of the postage stamp was upon us. Hill was knighted some 20 years later for his prescience.

On June 10th, 1840, Daniel Webster, then a senator from Massachusetts, placed a resolution before the U.S. Senate calling for a reduction of postal rates and the issuance of stamps to prepay those rates. Citing the announcement from the General Post Office of Great Britain from April 28th, 1840, declaring the same, the resolution fell upon deaf ears.

Brazil is credited as the next to issue stamps in 1843. While Switzerland did not issue its federal stamps until 1849, the Swiss Cantons of Geneva and Zurich did in 1843, with Basel following in 1845. Then, 1847 marked the United States entry with its general issue, making it fourth after Great Britain, Brazil and Switzerland.

However, several private companies in the United States issued local stamps prior to 1847. The "City Dispatch Post"; of New York issued in early 1842. These stamps became a semi-official government issue in September 1842, under the name "United States City Dispatch Post";, albeit their use was limited to city delivery.

This allows an argument to be made that the United States was actually the 2nd government to sanction the use of the postage stamp, preceded only by Great Britain. As a matter of fact, of the first 15 major adhesive postage stamps worldwide, the U.S. was responsible for 4 of them.

Adhesive postage stamps in use previous to January 1st, 1844*

Issuing Entity	Date of Issue	Number Issued
Great Britain	May 6th, 1840	4
City Dispatch Post (NY)	Feb. ??, 1842	1
United States City Dispatch Post	Sept. 1st, 1842	3
Zurich	Mar. 1st, 1843	2
Brazil	Aug. 1st, 1843	3
Geneva	Sept. 30th, 1843	2
Total		15

*Compiled by Dr. Norman Hubbard

During 1844 alone, there were some 13 different private companies issuing near 34 stamps for local delivery use. These companies' services either competed with or augmented those of the Post Office Department. By March 1845 and thereafter, the government, eager to capture all of the revenue created by the delivery of the mails, passed laws forcing them out of business, and by and large, their existence's were short lived.

The Act of Congress of March 3rd, 1845 called for uniform postal rates across the nation, effective July 1st, 1845, for the carriage of letters. For distances under 300 miles, the rate would be 5¢ per _ ounce. For distances over 300 miles, the rate would be 10¢ per _ ounce. This rather large diminution of rates fueled a growing increase in the number of letters posted, as it encouraged people to use the mails more often to communicate. Businesses had used the mails as was necessary, but, the cost required to send a letter was beyond the means of the public in general, until 1845. An examination of surviving covers from the pre 1845 era establishes the preponderance of usages are from business or legal correspondence. As rates were lowered in 1845 and again in 1851, the amount of personal and casual mail increased significantly. The rise in the literacy of the populace in combination with the lowering of postal rates provided the perfect medium for this growth.

Postmasters in several cities issued stamps to reflect these simplified rates. New York Postmaster Robert H. Morris issued the first postmaster provisional in July 1845. Approximately 11 more cities officially issued provisionals, most notably St. Louis and Providence, before the Act of March 3rd, 1847 suspended their use on July 1st, 1847, when the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps were issued.

The Act of March 1847

As mentioned earlier, although legislation to issue postage stamps at the federal level had been introduced in the United States congress as early as June of 1840, (a scant five weeks after the issuance of the British Penny Black), it was not until March of 1847 that such a law was passed. Only the imagination can suppose as to why it took almost seven years for a law to issue postage stamps to pass the congress. On March 3, 1847, the future of the U.S. postage stamp was cast.

The title of the bill was "An Act to establish Post Roads and for other purposes."; It seems the issuance of postage stamps was actually an adjunct of the law, qualifying under "other purposes";, and not the act's main objective, again, almost trivializing its birth, as under the British postal act of 1840.

Effective July 1, 1847, the placement of an adhesive stamp on letter could prepay its necessary postage. A patron could buy a single stamp and affix it at the post office or purchase a quantity and place them on the letters at their home or business. The latter would allow a patron to spend less time on the post office lines waiting to purchase stamps each time he wanted to post letters. This was also beneficial for the U. S. Post Office as they were able to be paid in advance for their service. And, if those purchased stamps were lost and not used by the customer, the revenue was earned even though the service was never performed.

With the authority vested in him by the statute "to prepare postage stamps";, Postmaster General Cave Johnson retained Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, a New York City banknote engraver and printer for the task. Whether or not he obtained competitive bidding is not known. His choice was likely premised on the fact that R.W.H. & E. was the prominent firm of their time and they had engraved and printed the New York Postmaster's Provisionals two years prior.

Even after their issuance in 1847, the use of stamps remained optional. Dr. Carroll Chase, a renowned student of this country's classic issues, reported that in their last full year of use, July 1850 through June of 1851, less than 2% of the mail was prepaid by stamps. It was not until April 1st, 1855 that the Post Office Department required prepayment of all outgoing mail. Finally, all mail had to be prepaid with stamps or would not be accepted at the post office for delivery.

The Engraving and Printing Process

Of large part, the process by which the stamps of 1847, and nearly all early U.S. stamps for that matter, were engraved and printed was invented by Jacob Perkins. The founder of the famous British printing firm of Perkins, Bacon & Co., Mr. Perkins was nonetheless American born and educated. His "transferring"; procedures produced a plate of congruent images, far better than any other process of that time. This consistency made it more difficult to counterfeit security paper since any variation would be apt to stand out all the more. The following applies to both the 5¢ and the 10¢ plate unless otherwise indicated.
First a die was made by engraving, in reverse, a single image of the intended design. This engraving was etched into soft steel and hardened by the introduction of carbon under high temperature. To further harden it, the hot die was submerged into a liquid (usually an oil) in an operation known as "quenching";. These actions change the crystalline structure and make the steel much harder, conversely affecting the flexibility and rendering a more brittle substance.

The hardened die was then secured, impression up, to a flat horizontal surface. An arc shaped band of soft steel called a transfer roll, was rocked over the die, transferring the impression from the hardened steel die into the soft steel of the transfer roll. (See below). This rocking was repeated with increasing pressure until image was completely transposed. The soft steel transfer roll was then hardened as was done with the die. The image on the transfer roll was not in reverse.

Next, a plate large enough to accommodate two side by side panes of 100 entries each, and each pane to be laid down with 10x10 entries, was held fast to a table. Keep in mind that the plate's images are in reverse. As such, all reference made hereafter to the various positions will be those of the printed stamps, which is in keeping with the nomenclature used in philately. So, position 1L refers to the upper left stamp of the Left pane as you view the printed sheet of stamps. But, as you view the plate, this entry would appear in the upper right corner of the plate, since everything on the plate appears left-right reversed.

A faint vertical line was scribed onto the plate, just to the right of where the tenth vertical row of the stamps in each pane would be, from position 10L to position 100L and from 10R to 100R. These 2 lines would serve as a baseline in each pane, for the perpendicular lines to be drawn next. A series of faint horizontal lines were drawn across the plate, from 10L to 1L, 20L to 11L, 30L to 21L and so on, until each of the 10 horizontal rows of each pane was so scribed. On the 10¢ plate, some of the horizontal lines were doubled, but it is unclear as to why.

Position dots for guiding the entry of each impression onto the plate were placed along each horizontal line. The dots for the tenth vertical row were placed first, and are located in the gutter selvage, about 2mm to the right of the right frame lines. Each subsequent dot was placed to its left, about 20mm apart, across the row. This was repeated for each horizontal row in both panes.

This places these dots in the left trifoliate of all stamps in rows 2 through 10 in both panes. Hence, they can be found in all the vertical rows except the first rows. And, as already stated, it can also be found in the right margin of all the row 10 stamps. These dots assisted the plate maker, as he lined up the transfer roll to the left of the position dot and rocked in each impression. Elliott Perry, who plated the 10¢ stamp, relied substantially on the location of these dots, as they vary in the exact placement and size within each different plate position. On the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps, there are a few positions known with 2 position dots, and one position of the 5¢ stamp, 69L, is known with 3 position dots.

Although not conclusive, evidence indicates the transfer roll was placed above the left side of the plate and the impressions were rocked in one position at a time, starting at the top of the column and working downward. The siderographer used the position dots to aid in the alignment of each entry.

After all 200 transfers were made, the plate was hardened and secured into the flat bed press. The paper was dampened to ease the transfer of ink from the plate to the paper. The plate was inked and wiped, leaving ink only in the recesses of the plate. The plate and paper were brought together under tremendous pressure, the paper being forced into the indentations on the plate and hence picking up the ink from within. The printed sheet of stamps was removed from the press and placed in a stack. Subsequent sheets would be placed on top, sometimes causing an offset image on the back of the paper, due to the increasing weight. This plate was wiped clean and the process would begin again, each operation producing 200 stamps at a time.

After the ink on the sheets would dry, gum was applied to the back side of the sheets. When the gum dried, the left and right panes of 100 were separated by vertically cutting between them. The accuracy of this cutting, or inaccuracy as the case may be, has shed light on one of the most controversial aspects of the manufacture of these stamps. For many years, differences of opinion existed among the students of the 1847 issue as to what size plates were used to print the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps; did the plate consist of 100 or 200 impressions? As we know today, there was only one plate of 200 for each the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps. This is proven by the existence of what are known as straddle margin copies of each denomination. Caused by an errant cut made while separating the panes, these straddle margins are living proof of 2 panes. Nonetheless, the cutter was usually on the mark, as only 1 copy of the 10¢ and 2 copies of the 5¢ are known, having created these philatelic rarities with the uneven application of his knife.

The paper used for printing the stamps is typical of the times and similar to that of the New York Postmaster Provisional stamp, printed by the same firm. It is a thin woven paper, high in rag (cotton) content, and having a bluish cast, probably due to the introduction of an ultramarine dye. Some stamps are known on whitish paper, but it is unclear if they are changelings due to having been improperly soaked off their covers, the acidic gum used at certain times or for some other reason. Regardless, the paper variations are few. One notable exception is the "stitch watermark"; variety. Caused by the seam line of the cloth on which the paper is formed during its manufacture, these are usually only visible in watermark fluid.

Philatelic History

Of the many philatelists who have studied the 1847 issue, we will cover only the most important ones. John Luff, in his Postage Stamps of the United States, published in 1902, wrote the initial words about the issue. But his was more of a philatelic report of the events surrounding the stamps as opposed to an actually study of the issue. Dr. Carroll Chase was the first to publish a comprehensive study of any consequential sort. Possibly more known for his studies of the 3¢ issues of 1851-7, he was the preeminent student of early U.S. classic stamps. In the Philatelic Gazette articles of May 1916 through January 1917, his in depth treatise of the issue remains an important writing on the subject. Although the were some inaccuracies in his theory of the number of plates used in the printing of the issue, he was first to give consideration to some of the primary shades of the 5¢ issue and began a listing of the double transfers and plate varieties of both the 5¢ and 10¢ stamps. Enumeration of the proofs, 10¢ bisects and cancellations are also included.

Following Chase's lead in the study of this issue were Elliott Perry and Stanley Ashbrook. Perry performed the then considered impossible task of the complete of plating the 10¢ stamp. Many, including Chase claimed it would never be done. Perry was, perhaps, the greatest student of the 1847's. Ashbrook plated many positions of the 5¢ stamp, though never completing the plating. Although contemporaries, many times Perry and Ashbrook were on the opposite sides of agreement regarding opinions of the day. This will be discussed further in the 3rd installment of this article, when covering the 10¢ stamp and the Knapp shift forgery. Lester G. Brookman's, The 19th Century Postage Stamps of the United States, is another source of 1847 issue information. While, in this book Brookman has created a convenient compilation of the research of others, he himself was not a consummate student.

In the early 1980's, Creighton Hart and Susan McDonald began a comprehensive compilation of 5¢ and 10¢ covers, from a postal history perspective, parts of which have appeared in various issues of The Chronicle of the U. S. Classic Postage Issues, a publication of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society. Other students have continued that work after their deaths. In 1986, Calvet M. Hahn authored an in depth study of the 5¢ shades in three successive issues of The Collectors Club Philatelist, published by the Collectors Club. Jerome S. Wagshal is credited with discovering the "F"; double transfer on the 5¢ 1847 and has written about the same in Opinions V, published by the Philatelic Foundation in 1988. He is the 1847 section editor of the Chronicle of the U. S. Classic Postage Issues, and is interested in plating the 5¢ stamp. Jon Rose devotes over 30 pages to the 1847 issue in his Classic United States Imperforate Stamps, published by Linn's in 1990.

Many great collections of the 1847 issues have been formed. During the first half of the 20th century, their names read as a "Who's Who"; of classic philately. Although comprised of the treasures of the philatelic world, these great early collections were replete with the 1847 issue, as it was the United States first general issue. From the holdings of Count Ferrari and Colonel Green passed many great pieces of the issue. Large parts of Judge Emerson's and Stephen Brown's collections consisted of 1847's, as did Alfred Caspary's and Saul Newbury's. Frank R. Sweet owned a reconstructed 10¢ plating, as well as the 2 largest 10¢ pieces, an irregular block of 14 and a strip of 10, from the famous Bandholtz find in the 1920's. Clarence Brazer had the finest collection of 1847 proofs and essays when it was sold in 1956, and its eminence has never been surpassed.

Of the collections built primarily during the second half of this century, many specialized in the 1847 issue alone. These included the collections of Leonard Kapiloff, Creighton Hart, John Boker and Duane Garrett. While not specializing in the 1847's, Louis Grunin, Katherine Matthies, Paul Rohloff, and Ryohei Ishikawa had major showings of the issue in their collections.

Other than the obvious postal history considerations of the 1847's, the color shades of the 5¢ stamp and the plating variations of the 10¢ stamp are the highlights of each. I will just introduce this now and a more detailed discussion will ensue in their following respective installments.

There were 5 deliveries of the 5¢ stamp to the Post Office from the printer, Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson, the first in July 1847 and the last in December of 1850. The shades of this stamp are often referred to as having come from a particular delivery and run the gamut from a very dark blackish brown of the 1st delivery to a very light orange from the 5th delivery, (colors are shown in italics). Even within the same delivery, there are wide swings with respect to the shades. The 1st delivery has both a light hued bright orange brown shade and a deep blackish brown shade, which contrast sharply with one another.

It is my belief that the most reliable way to assign shades to the proper delivery is by studying the fine lines of the engraving on the individual stamps. Since the plate wore so badly as it was used, the quality of the impressions deteriorates with each delivery; from the sharpest impressions first through the weakest last. This dating concept is novel compared to the traditional method of using dated covers, but I consider impressions to be far more accurate. Simply put; as the plate wore, the impressions became less distinct, essentially fingerprinting every delivery. But a cover dated June 1851 (last month of use for the 1847 issue) could be franked with a stamp from ANY of the 5 deliveries, proving nothing concretely.

On the other hand, the 10¢ stamp has no shade varieties of consequence. Rather, the collector is challenged by the nuances of each plate position. All of the 200 positions were plated by Perry and if a 10¢ stamp has all four margins, one can almost certainly assign it to its position. Aside from the 4 well known double transfers, there are the "harelip"; variety, the "stickpin"; variety, the "line through F"; variety and many others. The plate is rife with scratches, guide lines and recuts, a delight for those who are students.

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