The U.S. one cent stamp of 1851 and 1857 is one of the most studied stamps in the field of United States classic stamps. Accordingly, this article is designed to whet the appetite of aspiring collectors and students. It is not presented as a definitive treatise on the stamp. That book has already been written by Mortimer L. Neinken, The United States One Cent Stamp of 1851 to 1861.
- For letters of half an ounce or a single sheet traveling less than 300 miles the rate was three cents if prepaid, or five cents if not prepaid.
- For letters being sent more than 300 miles, the rates were six cents if prepaid and ten cents if not prepaid.
This legislation made it advantageous to use stamps because it levied a fine on letters that were not prepaid, but the use of stamps did remain optional.
When the postal rates changed, new stamps were needed. The five and ten cent 1847 issue was replaced with a one cent, a three cent, and a twelve cent stamp, each issued in 1851.
The one cent stamp met three needs:
- Pre-paying the drop rate
- Paying the circular/newspaper rate
- Making up rates with the three cent stamp.
The earliest known use of the 1851 issue is July 1, 1851.
Although it seems daunting to figure out which 1851 (or 1857) one cent stamp we are looking at, it really is quite simple. It is just a matter of design and nomenclature.
Figure 1. The One Cent 1851 Complete Die Design (revised Sonic Imagery Labs and Richard Doporto). The curved lines above “U.S. POSTAGE” at the top of the stamp and below “ONE CENT” at the bottom of the stamp are complete, the scrolls below the lower label are turned under, forming little balls, the bottom plumes and the scrolls at the top are complete.
There are five major types of the 1851 imperforate stamp and six major types of the 1857 perforated stamp. Relief trimming, short transfer, re-cutting, and erasure characterize the types. The differences between the types focus on the presence or absence of the balls formed by the scrolls on the right and left bottom of the stamp, the presence of an intact upper and/or lower line — broken or whole, whether the upper and lower lines have been re-cut, and the status of the side ornaments.
When you are confronted with an unidentified stamp, try this: Re-cutting is the easiest feature to see, so look first at the top and bottom lines. If they are re-cut, your stamp is a Type IV. If they are not re-cut, look again at the top and bottom lines. Are they complete? If they are, your stamp is either Type I, Ib, or Type II. If they are not complete, are they both broken? If so, the stamp is Type Ia, Ic, III, V, or Va. If only one line is broken the stamp is Type IIIa. If your stamp has two broken lines, look at the side ornaments; are they complete? If so, your stamp is Type III. If they are incomplete, your stamp is Type V or Va. If the top and bottom lines of your stamp are complete, look for balls. If they are not present, your stamp is a Type II. If they are present, take a deep breath, sit down and call your broker. You have a valuable stamp.
Click the above image to enlarge
A complete guide to the types of the 1851-57 one cent stamps
- The curved lines above “U.S. POSTAGE” at the top of the stamp and below “ONE CENT” at the bottom of the stamp are complete,
- The scrolls below the lower label are turned under, forming little balls,
- The scrolls at the top are complete.
A strong double transfer at the upper right is a key feature of the stamp at position 7R1e. These features are well illustrated in Neinken. Being aware of this feature will keep you from being taken by a fake made from a proof of the stamp, which does not show this double transfer. Moreover, the late state, 7R1L, has practically the same double transfer, but is Type IV because it is recut at the bottom. The lack of a double transfer will protect you from the Plate 12 Type I with the perforations trimmed.
Click the above image to enlarge
There are three subtypes of type I; they are type Ia, type Ib, and type Ic (Scott Nos. 5a for type Ib, 6 for type Ia, and 6b for type Ic). The Type Ib stamps are all from the top row of plate 1 (3R1e through 6R1e and 8R1e and 9R1e). Type Ib stamps all have the top ornaments complete but some of the bottom ornaments are incomplete. The imperforate type Ib stamp is Scott 5A. There are no perforated type Ib stamps as they are all from plate 1Re.
Click the above image to enlarge a reconstruction of Plate I Late
The Type Ia stamps are from the bottom row of plate 4. Type Ia stamps different from Type I in that the bottom ornaments are complete but the top ornaments have been erased.
Type Ic stamps are similar to type Ia in that the top ornaments are cut away. The bottom ornaments are complete except the right plume and the right ball are only about half complete. The left plume is complete; the left ball occurs complete in some positions and half complete in some positions. All come from 8 known positions on plate 4.
The type II stamp (Scott No. 7) shows the following characteristics:
- The balls of the bottom scrolls are missing;
- The top and bottom curved lines are complete;
- The plumes are incomplete;
- The side elements are “largely” complete.
All Type II stamps are from plates 1, 2, 3, and the top row of Plate 4.
The Type III stamp Scott 8 has the following characteristic:
- The curved lines at the top and bottom are broken in the middle.
- The side elements are “largely” complete.
Remember: if the side ornaments are incomplete, you have a Type V or VA stamp (see below)
All Type III stamps come from plate 2 (one position) and plate 4. The stamp on plate 2 is at position 99R2 and is considered the finest example of the Type III stamp because the breaks in the top and bottom lines are so pronounced.
Remember, the larger the breaks, the better the example.
The Type IIIa stamp (Scott 8a) has the curved line at the top or the bottom broken, but not both.
Type IIIa stamps are from plates 1e, 2, 4, 11 and 12. Most of the type IIIa stamps have the break at the top. A break at the bottom is rare.
Type IV (Scott No. 9) stamps have re-cutting of one of the four curved lines at either the top or the bottom. Actually all type IV stamps have the top or bottom line re-cut or both of them re-cut. Stamps that have either the top or bottom inner lines re-cut will always also have an outer line re-cut. There are seven different combinations available, all from plate 1 late. Stamps with double re-cuts (two lines at the top or bottom) are more rare than stamps with only one line re-cut at the top or bottom or both.
Click the above image to enlarge
Figure 6. Scan of all Type IV’s
The plate twelve stamps often have a film of ink contaminating the background.
Subtypes of Type I include Type Ia (Scott No. 19) and Type Ic (Scott No. 19b). All Type Ia stamps come from the bottom row of plate four and have the bottom complete, but top incomplete.
Type Ic stamps come from a number of positions on plate four (Neinken lists eleven, p266) and the Type Ic positions depend on plate wear. Combination pairs of Type Ia and Type Ic are possible but are very rare.
- Both upper and lower frame lines are broken, and
- The side ornaments are cut away.
From plate 5 there is a subtype, Va, in which the right side ornaments are “more” complete. This stamp does not have a separate catalog number but is scarcer. With the perforations removed and cut closely these trimmed stamps are sometimes passed as an imperforate Type III. Moreover, these stamps with perforations are frequently confused and passed as Type III.
One cent stamps were printed from thirteen plates between 1851 and 1860. Plate 1 was first placed in service in 1851 and was the only plate used until 1855. The plate is very interesting because after being used for 11 months, sufficient wear occurred that it was reentered and recut. While the first state of the plate produced stamps of Type I, Ib, II and IIIa, the second state of the plate was recut to produce Type IV stamps in 199 positions and a single Type II. These two states of the plate are referred to as plate 1 early and plate 1 late. Imperforate stamps only were printed with plate 1 early; both imperforate stamps and perforated stamps were produced from plate 1 late.
Stamps from Plate 2 appeared in 1855. From the onset this plate had a huge crack, appropriately called the “big plate 2 crack.” Stamps were produced from this plate until 1857. Of the two hundred positions on plate 2, 198 produced Type II stamps, one was a Type IIIA (100R2) and position 99R2 produced the finest existing example of the Type III stamp. NOTE: the 100R2 was a Type II until the bottom line wore enough to be broken, leaving a Type IIIA.
Plate 3 was produced in early 1856. All 200 positions were Type II stamps. Plate 3 stamps are significantly scarcer than plate 2 stamps. All stamps from this plate were imperforate.
Plate 4 was produced in 1857. A new transfer roll using 6 reliefs instead of 3 was used in the plate layout producing the first stamps designed to be perforated. This plate furnished stamps of Type Ia, Ic, II, III and IIIa. Both imperforate and perforated stamps were produced from this plate.
Plates 5, 6, 7, and 8 were produced in late 1857. A new 6 relief transfer roll was made for these plates. These plates produced only perforated Type V stamps. All plate 5 stamps are scarce and desirable; especially the type Va. For more information on the Types V and Va from Plate 5, the reader is pointed to the Neinken and Ashbrook references, where this is discussed in great length.
Plates 6, 7, and 8 were laid down by this new transfer roll of type V stamps. Actually, plate 6 is another enigma. Controversy surrounds the discussion of whether or not any stamps were ever printed from this plate (6), and to date none have ever been identified.
Plate 9 was completed in the summer of 1859 and plate 10 in the spring of 1860. All positions are Type V. These plates produced only perforated stamps.
Late in the fall of 1860, plates 11 and 12 were made. These plates were made from new three relief transfer rolls, a different one for each plate. Plate 11 produced Type II stamps from the twenty top row positions and 180 Type IIIa stamps from the remaining 180 positions.
Stamps from Plate 12 are of Type I, II and IIIa. And recall from above, later printings of 46L12 are Type III. The original entry of the transfer roll produced ninety-nine Type I and 101 Type II stamps but as the plate was used, wear converted several Type II stamps to Type IIIa. All stamps from plates 11 and 12 have a dot between the two frame lines forming the oval around Benjamin Franklin¹s head. It is located slightly above the collar level on the left. These plates produced only perforated stamps.
| Design Type | I | Ia | Ib | Ic | II | III | IIIa | IV | V | VA | |
| Plate Number | These numbers are to be used as a guide, recall types change with wear. | ||||||||||
| 1 early | 1 | 6 | 160 | 33 | |||||||
| 1 late | 1 | 199 | |||||||||
| 2 | 198 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| 3 | 200 | ||||||||||
| 4 (1) | 18 | 8 | 20 | 37 | 90 | ||||||
| 5 (2) | 60 | 130 | |||||||||
| 6 | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
| 7 | 200 | ||||||||||
| 8 | 200 | ||||||||||
| 9 | 200 | ||||||||||
| 10 | 200 | ||||||||||
| 11 | 20 | 180 | |||||||||
| 12 (3) | 99 | 100 | 1 | ||||||||
| (1) 127 positions are III or IIIa depending on the state of the plate | |||||||||||
| (2) see above — column 14 a mix | |||||||||||
| (3) see above — some II’s became IIIa’s | |||||||||||
- Neinken, Mortimer L. 1972. The United States One Cent Stamp of 1851 to 1861. United States Philatelic Classics Society.
- Ashbrook, Stanley B. 1938. The United States One Cent Stamp of 1851-1857. Volume II, H.L. Lindquist, Publisher, NYC, NY.
- Brookman, Lester G. 1989. The United States Postage Stamps of the 19th Century. North Miami, Fla.: David G. Phillips Publishing Co.
- Phillips, David G. ed. 1997. American Stampless Cover Catalog 5th ed. North Miami, Fla.: David G. Phillips Publishing Co.
The One Cent Stamp Of 1851 & 1857 written by Jerome S. Wagshal; tabulations by John F. Dunn
The Swedish Tiger’s US Stamp Site An illustrated Guide
Siegel Encyclopedia (1857-60 Issue)
Civil War Timeline, at Siegel Encyclopedia
