The 15 centes stamp I type hand-made paper

(1° plate 1/6/1850 - 2° plate 28/12/1850)

Type I – Hand-made paper – Original coat of arms

1° plate                                                                        2° plate

Characteristic of the cliché of 15 CENTES – I type :

- stereotype;

- tip of the lower internal right ornament long and pointed (in the coat of arms frame);

- second “K” of KKPOST defective;

- first “E” of STEMPEL defective (the bottom line);

- number “1” and “5” aligned;

- bottom left line of “1” prolonged;

- the "1" begin separated from the frame line of the value frame;

- on the right of the "S" a small dot can be found;

- "C" of CENTES defective because of a dot of color in the inferior part of the curve;

- tip of the inferior right in the value frame, under “S.” open (in the 2° plate this is not very clear because of the wear and tear of the cliché);

- tip of the superior right in the value frame in the middle of “S” and “.”; moreover it is inclined on the right;

- a vertical line connect the centre of the upper line of the value frame to the thicker line immediately below it.

The I type cliché was utilized to print the 1° plate and, together with the IIa type, was utilized also for the 2° plate (for this reason the 2° plate was mixed, formed by stamps of I and IIa types).

You can note the I type, 1° plate stamps because of their particularity clearness and for their color red, carmine red and vermilion red (1° plate: 1/6/1850);

the I type, 2° plate stamps have a bad clearness (because of the wear and tear of the cliché) and the color deep vermilion red (2° plate 28/12/1850).

The estimated number of copies of the 15 centes are 25.800.000: 11.200.000 printed on hand-made paper and 14.600.000 on machine-made paper.

15 centes I Type:

first stamp: 1° plate - I issue - red – Occasional defective of the cliché "Without the left corner";

second stamp: 2° plate – vermilion red – Recurrent defective of the cliché "5 of 15 like a 3";

third stamp: 2° plate – dark carmine red - Lilliput (cut without white edges);

fourth stamp: 2° plate - counterdraw – deep vermilion red.