The one, two, five, and ten cent values of the new United States newspaper stamps have thus far been issued.
In the three-cent stamp of the 1857 issue, the "Outer Line" variety consists of a fine line running all around the stamp. Each of the stamps has a line on the side, but in the variety an additional fine line appears at both the top and bottom, the perforation sometimes destroying one of them. The outer-line variety is not as scarce as the price given would indicate.
The high values of United States envelopes are now a thing of the past, the department no longer printing any value higher than five cents on the envelopes.
Many stamp papers say that only the one, two, and three cent values of the new postage-stamps have been issued and printed, but the ten has also been sent out.
It would not be surprising to many collectors if the current issue of United States stamps, which were first printed by the Bureau of Engraving, should be catalogued as a separate issue before many years, there being many points of difference between those first put out and what the bureau is now printing. The colors, perforation, and gum are now much superior to the first printings, and smaller things than these have caused stamps to be separately catalogued.
Another question that puzzles many collectors is the difference between wood-engraved and typographed stamps. Typographed means set and printed from type, so the United States officially sealed stamps of this variety are printed with regular type, while the lithographed are printed from stones, the designs being engraved, and thus fancy and very different from the type-set stamp.
A new stamp paper will shortly be issued from Boston. It will have a good financial backing, and it is expected to be one of the leading publications in the philatelic line.
Since the last catalogue added the varieties of United States stamps on ribbed paper, it has caused collectors to hunt for them, but probably with little success, as they are very scarce. Ribbed paper is a variety of wove, having lines running up or down or across, and showing on the back of stamp.