The Die Varieties of the NESBITT SERIES of United States Envelopes By VICTOR M. BERTHOLD. NEW YORK SCOTT STAMP & COIN CO. 1906. Copyrighted, 1906 All rights reserved. CONTENTS. INTRODUCTION, 3 THE 1853-55 SERIES, 6 Reference List, 33 SECOND ISSUE: 1860, 40 One cent: Blue, 40 Three cents: Red, 45 Four cents, 47 Six cents: Red, 48 Ten cents: Green, 48 Reference List, 48 THIRD ISSUE: 1861, 53 Three cents: Rose, 53 Six cents: Rose, 59 Reference List, 60 FOURTH ISSUE: 1863 AND 1864, 63 Dies Inscribed "U. S. Postage", 64 Dies Inscribed "U. S. Post", 68 Reference List, 83 FIFTH ISSUE: 1864-1865, 90 Reference List, 97 APPENDIX, 103 ADDENDA, 105 ERRATA, 106 INTRODUCTION "Variety is the spice of Life". This aphorism, if applied to collectors of the dies of the early United States envelopes, changes with kaleidoscopic rapidity into: "Varieties are the bane of collectors". The truth of this statement is borne out by the fact that, though the die varieties of the Nesbitt issues are one of the most interesting phases of American philately, the amount of our knowledge concerning them is surprisingly small. If we recall that many of these dies have been in existence for half a century, embracing all issues prior to 1870, and thus, in comparison with modern issues, are hoary with age, that they have been collected for decades by ardent lovers of United States envelopes, our surprise is heightened. The honor of the first attempt at describing the various Nesbitt die varieties and making this knowledge public property belongs to an English philatelist of rare ability, the late Gilbert Harrison. While this confers great credit upon the latter, it is an humiliation to American philatelists that this page of our own history was left to be written by an English student. Even so, this work[A] did not appear until fully forty years after the Nesbitt dies were first issued.