UNITED STATES 1847-1868

Return To Catalogue - United States Overview - USA 1869-1890

Note: on my website many of the pictures can not be seen! They are of course present in the cd's;
contact me if you want to purchase them: evert@klaseboer.com.

1847 Franklin and Washington

(Genuine stamps, obtained from a Shreves auction)

  5 c brown on grey
  X (10) c black

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Reprints

1875 reproduction, in the 5 c value, the shirt of Franklin ends much higher (above the "F" of "FIVE", while it ends about halfway the "F" in the original stamps)

Forgeries, examples:

(Spiro forgery, note the strange expression of the face!)

(Forgery)

The forger Sperati seems to have made three different types of forgeries of the 10 c value. It is lithographed and not engraved. A picture can be found at: http://www.ggriffith.com/sperati.htm. He even made proofs of this stamp:

('Proof' forgery of Sperati, Sperati's signature is at the bottom of the sheet)

I've been told that these are Sperati forgeries

In the Sperati forgeries, there is a small dash extending from the outer frameline, to the left of the top of the left 'X'.

A 5 c blue and 10 c red were printed in 1947 in a mini-sheet to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first US stamps:

Another 'reprint' was made of the 5 c in 1984 for the 'Salon der Philatelie' in Hamburg (Germany). A single stamp was printed on a minisheet, the inscription just below the stamp reads 'Reproduktion 1984'.

1851 Portraits of various presidents and Franklin, inscription 'U.S. Postage'

Imperforate

  1 c blue
  3 c red
  5 c red-brown
  X (10) c green
  12 c black

Perforated

  1 c blue
  3 c red
  5 c brown
  X (10) c green
  12 c black
  24 c grey
  30 c orange
  90 c blue

The perforated stamps has perforation 15. Two types exist of the 5 c: in Type 1, there two horizontal lines at the top of the stamp, these are missing in Type 2.

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Forgeries, example:

Forgery of the 90 c value. Lettering slightly different (flat bottom of 'S' of 'POSTAGE', small 'C' in 'CENTS', etc. There are many other small differences in the design. I've only seen it cancelled with a penstroke.

Two other primitive forgeries of the 90 c value.

Primitive forgery of the 1 c (cut from a souvenir card?).

Essays, made in 1849, 1850, 1851 and 1853.

1861 Inscription U.S. in the lower corners

  1 c blue
  2 c black (1863)
  3 c red
  5 c brown
  10 c green
  12 c black
  15 c black (1863)
  24 c grey
  30 c orange
  90 c blue

The 2 c black is commonly known under the name 'Black Jack' or 'Big Head' since the head of Jackson almost covers the whole design. These stamps exist with an embossed security grill overprint.

(3 c with embossed security grill, certified genuine)

vc = very common
c  = common
*  = not so common
** = uncommon

*** = very uncommon
R   = rare
RR  = very rare
RRR = extremely rare

Cancels, example:

Click here for more fancy cancels

Forgeries, removed pen cancels to make the stamp look unused:

(Before and after removing of the pen cancel)

Be careful with removed pen cancels, the above images show stamps that were recently (2003) sold on E-bay, modified and re-sold on E-bay again, but now in an 'improved' state. The traces of the pen cancels can still be seen in the design. Thanks to Sheryll Oswald for letting me use the images from his "tip of the iceberg" website, see http://www.sheryll.net/Forgeries/Forgeries_article.htm. There is also more information concerning reperforation etc. on this website.

A crude forgery of the 90 c:

(I've been told that this forgery was made by Oneglia)

Click here for stamp of USA issued from 1869 to 1890.

Copyright by Evert Klaseboer