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

Plate 3:

Plate 3 has an earliest known use date of January 15, 1852, so it was likely manufactured shortly before that date. It was used continuously until some time after February 24, 1857, because some perforated stamps were produced from this plate. All stamps from Plate 3 have inner lines. This plate is notable due to the "three right vertical rows" of thirty stamps, of which nineteen stamps show extra or missing frame lines. Dr. Chase provided extensive plating information for these thirty stamps. Approximately 77,877,600 stamps (389,388 impressions) were printed from Plate 3. Refer to Dr. Chase's book The 3¢ Stamp of the United States 1851-1857 Issue for the full story of Plate 3.

Plate 3 - Earliest Use January 15, 1852; Used for 60 Months; 389,388 impressions/77,877,600 stamps/21.50% 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 3:

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