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The
most obvious means of distinguishing between the
issues of 1899, 1900 and 1901-02 is the
date or lack of it, on the shield.
But frequently the date is very difficult to read.
In such cases these several issues may be distinguished
by less obvious
differences. The principal differences in design of these three issues are indicated below: Issue of 1899: Date, 1899, on shield; letters and figures of labels more than 2.5mm tall; 28 rays in left panel; rays touch lower corners of left panel; 9 rays touch semi-circle above shield; the words "UNITED" and "STATES" touch third ray and end on seventh ray; period after “STATES.” Issue of 1900: Date, 1900, on shield; letters and figures of labels smaller than in preceding issue, being about 2mm tall; 28 rays in left panel; rays do not touch lower comers of left panel; 10 rays touch semi-circle above shield; “UNITED” does not touch third ray and extends beyond seventh ray; "STATES" touches both third and eight rays; no period after "STATES". Issue of 1901-02: No date on shield, letters and figures of labels smaller than in eithar of the two preceding issues, being about 2mm tall; 30 rays in left panel; 11 rays touch semi-circle above shield. Tha last series of SELLO stamps was issued in 1903, at some time subsequent to March. 15th. Dr. Perry, writing under the date of March 15, 1903, stated that new plates were being prepared for engraved stamps at that time. Forbin has erroneously listed this issue as released in 1902. The issue of 1903 consisted of only three denominations: 25c, 50c, and 1p. It appears to have been printed from plates produced by photographic process which produced a background of dots. The design is of the same type as the three preceding issues, but the upper label reads "CLASS" followed by a number. This issue remained in use until the supply was exhausted about the end of 1904. CUSTOMS stamps which began to be issued in 1902 replaced SELLO stamps on customs documents. And subsequent to January 1, 1905, DOCUENTARY stamps replaced SELLO stamps on other documents which had required SELLO stamps prior to that date. |
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