While the Rhode
Island, Delaware and Maryland Essays are available to collectors
in various forms (die proofs, card proofs and complete sheetlets),
the remaining essays are known only as photo essays, housed in the
National Postal Museum as part of the Clarence Eagle Collection.
The frame design
for this essay features allegorical scenes
of Manufacturing, Mechanics, Commerce, and Agriculture.
Note the perfect
centering of the Coat of Arms within the frame's medallion area.
This was as a result of the use of a special configuration of male
and female printing plates - the Earl
& Steele Patent. Here, a separately inked series of vignette
dies (male plate) fit into holes in the frame plate (the female
plate), perfectly registering the vignettes. This process was not
used in the production of the Washington-vignetted stamps.
Click
here to view a comparative display of
this essay and the adopted design.
Back to the High Value Revenues Menu
