The Abraham Lincoln Wing
part of the Peter Schwartz Collection

116-E1j

This margin block of six is printed on gummed stamp paper. It's probable that the handwritten marginal notation "Imperial" was written for the benefit of those in charge of approving the color and/or the design.  

Jon Rose, in his book "United States Postage Stamps of 1869" states that there are three reasons why the 10c Lincoln design was rejected:  

  1. Enlarging the numerals (a modification made to all of the 1869 series essays prior to final approval) would have ruined the stamp's appearance

  2. The design was too similar to the 15c design

  3. Some officials wanted to reserve Lincoln's portrait for the highest value in the series.

A side by side comparison of the Lincoln vignette from the 10c essay (right) with vignette of the 15c stamp of 1866 (left) reveals numerous differences in the engraving:

  • shorter bust
  • shorter white shirt collar
  • lower eyelids (especially the right eyelid) not as soft in appearance as on the 15c, giving the appearance of bags under the eyes
  • dot on right nostril (15-cent's "dot" is enlongated)
  • line defining the right cheek not as defined
In designing stamps for the 1869 series, Lincoln's portrait was used twice: in the 10-cent essay shown here, and in the later stages of the 90-cent design. It is known that the vignette for the 15-cent stamp of 1866 (a more finely engraved vignette) was utilized for the 90-cent stamp's design. So it begs the question: why wasn't this same vignette utilized for the 10-cent essay?

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