Variety 1:—Letters of "THREE" very widely spaced, especially the last two letters. "T" nearer to left label than "E" to the right. "ENT" of "CENTS" nearer to each other than "C" to "E" and "T" to "S".
The die has been used for note and letter size, i.e., Knives 1 and 2, on white, and for the latter on both white and buff paper.
THREE CENTS, RED. DIE 5.
The common die of the first series.
Short labels (measuring 15 mm. horizontally) with curved ends.
9 loops on the left; 8-1/2 loops on the right.
This die appeared in March, 1854, and remained in existence until October, 1860. On account of its six years of constant use, it was not strange that the die should need repairing and retouching. Nevertheless, while admitting the necessity of repairs, this does not account in any way for the fact that we have thirty distinctly different dies in this series, many of which cannot be explained by the above theory. Of course, the various curves of the labels may be accounted for by repeated retouching, but no one who compares many of these dies would attempt to give the same reason for the totally different lettering and the great variety in the spacing. As a matter of fact, most of the so-called varieties are far more distinct dies than some of the well-known Reays and Plimptons of equal denominations. In spite of the great number of varieties of this issue, the engraver has seen fit to use but one head of Washington, which is totally different from any of those preceding.
HEAD XV.
