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STATISTICS
Issued: The 3¢ was officially issued on January, 1st 1893, a Sunday, and at Post Offices the following day. There are a couple of examples postmarked in New York, N.Y., on January 1st, 1893.
Plate Size: Sheets of 100 subjects (2 panes of 50).
Printer: The American Bank Note Company.
Watermark: None.
Quantity Issued: 11,051,250.
Color: Green, dull green or dark green.
Common use: The stamp was used in combination with other values as there was no 3¢ rate at the time.
THE INSPIRATION FOR THE DESIGN
The vignette depicts the Santa Maria, the flagship of Christopher Columbus. The image was taken from an engraving that was last seen located in Spain in 1938, it was lost to history after the Spanish Civil War in 1939 and no copy exists.
VARIETIES
The stamps color ranges from green through to dull green and dark green with little variation. Other than the occasional double entry there is little in the way of variety.
One imperforate copy was issued at the time of printing.
ESSAYS AND PROOFS
Despite the popularity of the Columbian series there are very few essays and proofs on the market.
- Brookman, Lester G., U.S. Postage Stamps of the 19th Century, Lindquist 1966
.comThe Swedish Tiger’s US Stamp Site An Illustrated Guide
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