Plate impression, 19 by 22 mm., color, white paper.
THREE CENTS. Bust of Washington, first President of the United States, in profile to left, on an oval disk, with hatched ground, bordered by a fine colorless line between two fine colored lines, surrounded by a frame composed of colorless lines, forming diamonds on a solid ground, the alternate diamonds filled in with diagonal colorless lines, leaving a colored chain conspicuous, with rosettes in the four angles. The space between the oval and frame filled with horizontal lines, and the corners outside the rosettes filled with ornamented triangles. Above and below all these are solid colored labels, with a small piece containing a diamond cut off at each end by a vertical colorless line, inscribed in colorless Roman capitals, above "_U. S. Postage_," below "_Three Cents_." The whole is surrounded, at a little distance, by a colored line forming a rectangle.
Plate impression 20 by 25 mm., color, white paper.
3 cents, in shades of brick and rose red.
TWELVE CENTS. Bust of Washington, after Stewart, facing three quarters to the left, on an oval disk 13½ by 17 mm., with hatched ground, bordered by a colorless line between two colored lines. This colorless line is crossed by horizontal lines. About this is a frame like that of the 3 cents, with rosettes at the angles, but showing six and two half links in the chain on each side, instead of five and two half links as in the three cents. The outside corners are filled by small foliations. The space between the oval and frame is filled by horizontal lines. Inscription above "_U. S. Postage_," below "_Twelve Cents_" in colorless capitals, shaded outside on the back ground and following the curve of the oval. The whole is surrounded by a fine colored line.
Plate impression, 19 by 25 mm., color, white paper.
As it was considered desirable to keep the amounts collected and paid for delivery by carriers (under section 10 of the act) separate, a special stamp for the payment of such postage was soon added:
ONE CENT. Bust of Benjamin Franklin, in profile, to the left, on an oval disk, 15 by 17½ mm. with hatched ground, bordered by a colorless line between two fine colored lines. Frame, labels, etc., like the three cents, but with a colorless star between curved colorless lines at the end instead of the diamonds. The inscription is in colorless Roman capitals, on the upper label "_Carrier's_," and "_Stamp_" in the lower label.