Plating The 3¢ U.S. Imperforate Stamp of 1851 - 1857

Plate 1L:

The final softening, reentry and very extensive recutting which led to the third state of Plate 1 took place in October, 1851, according to Dr. Chase. The plate was then used continuously until about March 1855, when it was permanently discarded due to excessive wear. The colors found on stamps from Plate 1L range from the late 1851 orange-brown shades, through all of those used in the years 1852 through the early part of 1855. The recutting of this plate was so extensive and heavy (with all stamps showing extensive recutting of the upper right diamond block which appears as gouging out of the entire upper part of it), that it is usually easy to identify stamps from Plate 1L. Approximately 61,695,000 stamps (308,475 impressions were printed from Plate 1L. Refer to Dr. Chase's book The 3¢ Stamp of the United States 1851-1857 Issue for the full story of Plate 1L.

Plate 1L - Earliest Use October 4, 1851; Used for 41 Months; 308,475 impressions/61,695,000 stamps/17.03% of issued; 200 Scott 11A:

  1L 2L 3L 4L 5L 6L 7L 8L 9L 10L     1R 2R 3R 4R 5R 6R 7R 8R 9R 10R
       
11L 20L 11R 20R
21L 30L 21R 30R
31L 40L 31R 40R
41L 50L 41R 50R
51L 60L 51R 60R
61L 70L 61R 70R
71L 80L 71R 80R
81L 90L 81R 90R
91L 100L 91R 100R
  91L 92L 93L 94L 95L 96L 97L 98L 99L 100L     91R 92R 93R 94R 95R 96R 97R 98R 99R 100R

Chase - Plate 1L:

Images are provided courtesy of Smithsonian's National Postal Museum

  1L 2L 3L 4L 5L 6L 7L 8L 9L 10L     1R 2R 3R 4R 5R 6R 7R 8R 9R 10R
       
11L 20L 11R 20R
21L 30L 21R 30R
31L 40L 31R 40R
41L 50L 41R 50R
51L 60L 51R 60R
61L 70L 61R 70R
71L 80L 71R 80R
81L 90L 81R 90R
91L 100L 91R 100R
  91L 92L 93L 94L 95L 96L 97L 98L 99L 100L     91R 92R 93R 94R 95R 96R 97R 98R 99R 100R