Unused 19th Century US Stamps

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The first official U.S. postage stamps were issued in 1847, depicting Benjamin Franklin on a 5-cent stamp and George Washington on a 10-cent stamp. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson of New York City printed these first stamps, charging 25 cents per...
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The first official U.S. postage stamps were issued in 1847, depicting Benjamin Franklin on a 5-cent stamp and George Washington on a 10-cent stamp. Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Edson of New York City printed these first stamps, charging 25 cents per thousand for two-color stamps and 20 cents per thousand for one-color stamps. Curiously, these stamps were not initially required to mail a letter. In fact, until 1856, people in the United States could mail a letter and expect the recipient to pay the postage. Naturally, a lot of recipients declined, or simply never found out they had mail, which was delivered to area post offices rather than directly to their doors. These first U.S. postage stamps were printed on pregummed sheets, but they lacked perforations—postal clerks were obliged to cut individual stamps from the sheets with scissors. Franklin and Washington were the only individuals to appear on a U.S. stamp until 1856, when a Thomas Jefferson stamp, which also cost a nickel, was issued. In addition, throughout much of the 1850s, U.S. stamps were imperforate, until a 3-cent Washington stamp was issued in 1857. This new Washington stamp reflected a welcome decline in postage rates, although stamps issued in 1860 in 24-, 30-, and 90-cent denominations appear to have been bucking that trend. In the end, few people purchased the 90-cent stamps in the short year or so that they were printed, making them more rare as used stamps than as unused ones. Between 1861 and 1865, the Confederate States of America (CSA) issued its own stamps as the nation struggled through a bloody Civil War. The 13 different stamps issued by the CSA were lithographed rather than engraved like Union stamps, which meant their quality was low. Worse, the portraits of former presidents Washington and Jefferson, who had owned slaves, now found their way onto CSA stamps, too. Andrew Jackson was also claimed by both the north and the south for 2-cent stamps in 1863, although a 15-cent stamp...
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