FREE: 1851 - 6 22kt Gold Replica of 1 Cent Benjamin Franklin U.S. Postage Stamp

The listing, 1851 - 6 22kt Gold Replica of 1 Cent Benjamin Franklin U.S. Postage Stamp has ended.

Regular Issue of 1851 - 6
22kt Gold Replica
1 Cent Benjamin Franklin
First Day of Issue of the Original Stamp: July 1, 1851
Includes an enlarged reproduction of the original stamp

This stamp is one of a small number of stamps that were printed imperforate by the U.S. Postal Service. What's more, they are rate-change stamps - always popular with collectors. Congress envisioned them as incentives. If you prepaid your letters - rather than send them collect - you were entitled to the new, lower rates. (Putting stamps on U.S. mail wasn't required by law until 1856)
Since their issue, collectors have been fascinated to discover several types of each of the stamps. There are slight variations in the orders and frames of the designs - resulting from the engraving of the printing plates. For example, there are eight known types of the 1 cent Franklin stamp, and at least two or more of the other four stamps. But the variations are more than just interesting - an unused Franklin of "type 1" ranks among the highest-priced issues ever!
The series saw a new name added to the small list of Americans pictured on U.S. stamps. In addition to Washington and Franklin, another founding father, Thomas Jefferson, made his debut appearance on the 5 cents stamp of 1856.