The 15¢ Type I has again a date of issue of March 19, 1869, but its earliest known use is April 2, 1869. As mentioned above, the largest known unused multiple is a mint block of nine, and there exists only one used block, a block of four. Primarily, the 15¢ stamp, including Type II (Scott #119) was used to pay the 15¢ registration fee in the United States, which combined with an additional 3¢ of postage, made up the 18¢ registered rate to any domestic destination.
15¢ Type I covers do exist to pay rates to Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and most notably, to France. There are, however, only approximately 150 Type 1 covers known to exist. Interestingly enough, and of great rarity, is a 15¢ Type I and a 15¢ Type II together with a pair of 2¢ 1869 stamps, paying the 34¢ rate to Peru. This cover, however, reposes in the Hirzel collection on display in Berne, Switzerland.
A similar cover mailed to Lima, Peru from New York is illustrated below.
The 15¢ Type II was issued in May 1869, and its earliest known use is May 23, 1869. The largest known unused multiple is a block of 20 (of which there are several), and the largest known used multiple is a block of nine. As was true for the 15¢ Type I, this stamp is primarily found on covers to France, Italy, Switzerland and Germany. It was, however, also used in combination with other denominations to make up higher rates to other foreign destinations.
The high value 1869 pictorials, were the first attempt at bi-color stamp, due to errors (see inverts below) the process was not attempted again until the 1901 Pan-Am issue, which also
THE INVERT
The inverted center stamp was caused by a printing error, sheets were inadvertently placed in the wrong direction before the blue color of the vignette was applied.
