A rare strip of four on a cover to Mexico

The Letter Rate for distances greater than 3,000 and under ½ oz was 10¢, the domestic rate for letters over ½ oz. Because of this the 10¢ stamp was relatively common. Not only used for foreign mail, it was used for coast to coast mail when the rate for the latter was raised from 6¢ to 10¢ in 1855.

The plate positions of Plate 1, the green row at the bottom are #13's
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#13 comes exclusively from plate #1. In plate one there is a break in the bottom line of the value label and the pearl at the right and left edges care complete.

The stamps come in a whole spectrum of greens, ranging from light green to dark green. The darker the shade of green, the more desirable. Plate 2 stamps have not breaks in the bottom line and the pearls at the sides are shaved.

The 10¢ value was printed with wider spaces between the stamps than the 1¢, 3¢ and 5¢ values, consequently copies with less than four margins are sold at a heavy discount.

It is worth looking out for an all too common bit of fakery. Above a 1857 issue (almost always the cheapest #35) has had all its perforations trimmed off to imitate a imperforate 1851 10¢ issue. The clue in this case is that it is a type V stamp and there was no type V in 1851.