Census of Saint Louis Mo. Postmaster's Provisional, Se-Tenant Multiples
There are only three provisional issues produced from plates containing more than one denomination: Baltimore, Providence and St. Louis. There is no known se-tenant multiple of the Baltimore provisionals. Se-tenant multiples of the Providence stamps are readily available in unused condition, due to the survival of remainder sheets. Only six se-tenant multiples of the St. Louis “Bears” are known (listed below).
The “Bears” were printed from an engraved copper plate comprising six subjects arranged in two vertical rows of three. The original plate was made by a local engraver, J. M. Kershaw, and it was altered twice. The states of the plate (1, 2 and 3) roughly correspond to the papers used (Greenish, Gray Lilac and Bluish Pelure). On sheets printed from Plate 1 there were three 5¢ subjects in the vertical row at left and three 10¢ subjects at right. To fill the need for 20¢ stamps, the denominations on two of the 5¢ subjects (Positions 1 and 3) were burnished out and reengraved with “20,” creating Plate 2. After some time the two 5¢ values were restored by burnishing out the “20” and reengraving “5,” which is Plate 3. Since only one of the six subjects on the plate used to print stamps on Gray Lilac paper was a 5¢ value, the 5¢ on Gray Lilac (11X4) is an extremely rare stamp—perhaps even rarer than the 20¢ on Gray Lilac.
All six recorded se-tenant multiples are on Gray Lilac paper
The “Bears” were printed from an engraved copper plate comprising six subjects arranged in two vertical rows of three. The original plate was made by a local engraver, J. M. Kershaw, and it was altered twice. The states of the plate (1, 2 and 3) roughly correspond to the papers used (Greenish, Gray Lilac and Bluish Pelure). On sheets printed from Plate 1 there were three 5¢ subjects in the vertical row at left and three 10¢ subjects at right. To fill the need for 20¢ stamps, the denominations on two of the 5¢ subjects (Positions 1 and 3) were burnished out and reengraved with “20,” creating Plate 2. After some time the two 5¢ values were restored by burnishing out the “20” and reengraving “5,” which is Plate 3. Since only one of the six subjects on the plate used to print stamps on Gray Lilac paper was a 5¢ value, the 5¢ on Gray Lilac (11X4) is an extremely rare stamp—perhaps even rarer than the 20¢ on Gray Lilac.
All six recorded se-tenant multiples are on Gray Lilac paper
