US 1851 3c Washington Orange Brown Type I

The stamp for an ordinary letter

On March 3, 1851, Congress passed a postal reform act that cut the basic letter rate. From July 1, 1851, a prepaid half-ounce letter could travel up to 3,000 miles for 3 cents. The Smithsonian's National Postal Museum notes that the only stamps then available were 5-cent and 10-cent values, so a 3-cent stamp was needed. It went on sale on July 1, 1851, with new 1-cent and 12-cent stamps, and because it paid the basic letter rate it became the most common stamp of the issue.

Under Postmaster General Nathan K. Hall the contract went to the Philadelphia firm of Toppan, Carpenter, Casilear & Co. The design shows Washington facing left, his hair tied back and his shoulders draped in a Roman toga, based on a portrait sculpture by Jean-Antoine Houdon. Houdon had crossed the Atlantic at Benjamin Franklin's invitation to visit Mount Vernon, where Washington sat for clay models and a plaster life mask in 1785. A leading auction firm's reference, citing a specialist journal, notes that the stamp is one of only five face-different 19th-century postage stamps designed with plain rectangular framelines.

The design stayed in use for a decade. More than one billion 3-cent stamps of the 1851 to 1857 design were printed from 29 steel plates of 200 subjects each, imperforate through 1856 and perforated from 1857. They were demonetized in 1861 so that the seceded states could not use or sell their stocks.

An ink that lasted four months

What makes Scott 10 different from the hundreds of millions of later 3-cent stamps is its color and its plate. A specialist reference describes the first ink as roughly 80 percent Venetian red, an iron oxide, and 20 percent vermilion, a mercury sulfide. The mix gave the stamps their distinctive orange brown, a sharp impression and very little tendency to discolor. It was dropped after about four months in favor of a brownish carmine. Nobody knows exactly why; the reference notes that the formula was more expensive and that the mercury compound may have worn the plates quickly.

The first plate put to press was Plate 1, in a state specialists call Plate 1 Early. According to a 2012 sale description, the earliest uses from any other plate are July 12, 1851 (Plate 1 Intermediate) and July 19, 1851 (Plate 5 Early). Sometime after the first week, Plate 1 was taken off the press and reworked into its Intermediate state, used for several months, and then reworked again into Plate 1 Late, all of whose stamps are the later Scott 11A. The same description calls Plate 1 Early stamps the scarcest from any 3-cent 1851 plate. The first plate did not even receive its number until October 1851.

Since the 2008 edition of the standard U.S. specialized catalog, Type I means a stamp with an outer frameline on all four sides, side framelines recut, and the inner lines along the tessellated lathework not recut. Orange brown stamps with those inner lines recut are Type II, Scott 10A. A leading auction firm assigns Scott 10 only to Plates 1 Early and 1 Intermediate, where about 64 of the 200 positions lack the recut inner lines. Other references list more plates for Scott 10, and the National Postal Museum's own page still describes the older Type I, II and IIa system, so attributions vary between sources.

Dates help. Letters in the 1850s were usually stamped on the day they were mailed, and one specialist reference finds that about 98 percent of Scott 10s were used by the end of May 1852, with only a few confirmed later uses, in February 1853, June 1854 and one in 1858. It also notes that Philadelphia switched from blue to black canceling ink around January 1, 1854, so a black Philadelphia cancel rules a stamp out.

The most misidentified stamp in U.S. classics

In a December 2020 market column, two columnists called Scott 10 "the most misidentified stamp in U.S. classics collecting." They wrote that in thousands of collections they had examined, the stamp offered as Scott 10 almost always turned out to be the more common dull red 3-cent, Scott 11 or 11A. Nonspecialists are fooled by a sharp impression and by color, which is subjective. Their advice was blunt: unless you can plate the stamp yourself, get an expert certificate.

Condition is the other hurdle. There was very little space between the stamps on the sheet, so copies with four clear margins are hard to find, and most collectors settle for three. Unused copies are scarcer still, and among those sold at auction in recent years several had no gum or only part of their original gum.

Specialists also chase shades and plate varieties within Scott 10: deep orange brown, brownish orange brown and copperish orange brown; triple transfers such as position 98R1I; a part-India-paper variety from position 21R1E; and oddities such as a stamp on which someone drew a "Man in the Hat" over Washington's portrait.

Dr. Chase and the color charts

Most of what collectors know about this stamp traces to Dr. Carroll Chase, who published his first book on the 3-cent 1851 to 1857 issue in 1929 and revised it in 1942. A leading auction firm's reference still calls it the definitive work. Chase built master color charts for the 1851 and 1857 3-cent stamps and used them until he died in 1960.

His executor offered the charts privately to Dr. Wilbur F. Amonette on condition that Amonette become the color authority on the issue, which, the auction firm that later sold them wrote, "he certainly did." In December 2025 Chase's final color study, a binder of 40 cards with more than 330 stamps, including 26 of Scott 10 and 10A, was offered in New York by Amonette's estate as a single lot with an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000. Bidders were warned it was not returnable if an expert committee disagreed with any color attribution.

What an orange brown brings

Scott 10 is not a great rarity in the sense of the 1-cent Type I; ordinary used copies sell for a few hundred dollars. Price depends on gum, margins and plate position. Unused copies without gum have sold for $253 (August 2015) and $350 (October 2014); a sound copy with part of its original gum brought $2,200 in September 2014, and a lightly hinged original-gum copy brought $1,700 in February 2012.

Exceptional used stamps can match them. A used Plate 1 Early copy from position 61R1E, with huge margins and the interpane centerline, sold for $1,700 in December 2011 and for $1,900 in June 2012. Multiples are rare: a used block of ten from Plate 1 Intermediate, rejoined from a block of four and a block of six, sold for $2,000 in November 2014; the standard catalog lists but does not price a used block of four.

The numbers

Issue date

July 1, 1851

Quantity printed

Not established for Scott 10 alone; one collector reference gives 20,000,000 for Scott 10 and 10A together, another gives an estimate of 362,000,000

Plates

Plate 1 Early and Intermediate (about 64 of 200 positions), by one leading classification

Perforation

Imperforate

Sheet format

200 stamps in two panes of 100

Ink

About 80 percent Venetian red and 20 percent vermilion, used for about four months

Printing method

Engraved, from steel plates

Timeline

1. 1785

   Washington sits for Jean-Antoine Houdon at Mount Vernon; the resulting bust later inspires the stamp's portrait.

2. Mar 3, 1851

   Congress passes the postal reform act creating the 3-cent letter rate.

3. Jul 1, 1851

   The 3-cent orange brown is issued with the 1-cent and 12-cent stamps; covers used on the first day are known.

4. Jul 12, 1851

   Earliest recorded use from Plate 1 Intermediate, after Plate 1 Early is reworked.

5. Jul 19, 1851

   Earliest recorded use from Plate 5 Early.

6. Oct 1851

   The first 3-cent plate receives its number.

7. 1851

   About four months after issue, the orange brown ink formula is replaced by a brownish carmine.

8. May 1852

   By the end of this month about 98 percent of Scott 10s have been used, by one specialist count.

9. Apr 1, 1855

   The option to send letters collect at the 5-cent rate is abolished.

10. Jan 1, 1856

    Prepayment of postage with stamps becomes mandatory.

11. Feb 1857

    The first perforated 3-cent stamps are distributed to seven cities on a trial basis.

12. 1861

    The 1851 to 1857 stamps are demonetized.

13. 1929

    Dr. Carroll Chase publishes his first book on the 3-cent 1851 to 1857 issue; he revises it in 1942.

14. 1960

    Chase dies; his executor later offers his master color charts to Dr. Wilbur F. Amonette.

15. 2008

    The standard U.S. specialized catalog reclassifies the 3-cent types, splitting orange browns into Scott 10 and 10A.

16. Dec 2011

    A choice used 61R1E copy sells for $1,700; it brings $1,900 six months later.

17. Dec 28, 2020

    A market column calls Scott 10 the most misidentified stamp in U.S. classics collecting.

18. Dec 2025

    Chase's final 3-cent color study is offered in New York with an estimate of $30,000 to $40,000.

The world in 1851

• Jan 23, 1851

  A coin flip decides that a new Oregon Territory city will be named Portland rather than Boston.

• Jan 28, 1851

  Illinois grants the charter that creates Northwestern University.

• May 6, 1851

  John Gorrie of Apalachicola, Florida, is granted a patent for a machine to make ice.

• Aug 3, 1851

  The filibustering Lopez Expedition leaves New Orleans for Cuba.

• Aug 22, 1851

  The yacht America wins the first America's Cup race off the coast of England.

• Nov 13, 1851

  The Denny Party lands at Alki Point, the first settlers of what becomes Seattle.

• Nov 14, 1851

  Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is published in the United States.

Price record

A price-guide value is an editorial estimate, not a transaction and not an asking price. Guides lag the market and smooth over grade and condition. It is neither a floor nor a ceiling: a sale can land above or below it, and it should be checked against a realized sale before anything rests on it.

By reference price, US 1851 3c Washington Orange Brown Type I is number 79 of 100 in the stamps entries of the FLOAT 100. 82 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (41 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• The orange brown color came from an ink that was roughly 80 percent iron oxide, essentially rust, which is why these stamps hardly discolor.
• The first 3-cent plate was reworked after only about a week on the press, and twice in all, which is why Plate 1 is studied in three states.
• A black Philadelphia cancel proves a stamp is not Scott 10: Philadelphia switched from blue to black canceling ink around the start of 1854.
• The master color charts used to judge orange brown shades belonged to Dr. Carroll Chase, who used them until his death in 1960.
• By one specialist count, the 3-cent 1851 is one of only five face-different 19th-century postage stamps designed with rectangular framelines.
• Collectors have found a 3-cent orange brown on which someone inked a "Man in the Hat" over Washington's face.