Description
Size of engraving 187 x 17mm. A scene at a railroad station, bordered by an octagonal frame, with a point at the centre of the right and left side, of a colorless line between two fine, colored ones. To the right and left are horizontal rectangles bordered, except at the inner ends, by a colorless line between two fine lines of color, outside of which is a reticulated frame. The left rectangle is inscribed, in two lines of colorless and exteriorly shaded capitals, “United States – Lawrence & Martin”, upon a ground composed of a repetition of the words “Four Cents” in colored, almost microscopic, Roman capitals. At right, in a similar manner, “internal Revenue-Chicago, Ills.” The upper line of these inscriptions is slightly curved and in Roman letters; the lower is straight and in block letters. At the outer ends of these rectangles, separated from them by a colorless line, are upright ovals, flattened at top and bottom, upon a square tablet bordered by a colorless line between two colored ones; these contain a circular disk with a colorless numeral of value upon a ground of solid color surrounded by a colorless line. The ground of the oval, above and below the circular disk, is of crossed vertical and horizontal lines upon which is a scroll ornament of solid color. At right of this oval, in a label of solid color closely following its outline, is: “Four”; at left “Cents”; in colorless, Roman capitals. There is a small colorless ornament upon the shaded ground at either end of these labels. Outside of this, at each end, is a rectangular space, its ground lined horizontally and crossed by vertical lines arranged in sets of three at a little distance from each other. These rectangles contain two irregularly shaped ornaments, one above the other, outlined by colorless lines and with a reticulated ground with central ornaments of solid color.
An Historical Reference List of the Revenue Stamps of the United Stamps: Including the Private Die Proprietary Stamps
Boston Philatelic Society
Salem, Press of Newcomb & Gauss, 1899