In the early years of the US postal service they would often use the same design to re-print stamps in different years. But, they wanted to be able to identify these different stamps. So, what they often did was to add tiny secret changes to the stamp design.

The seven cent Edward Stanton Stamp is a good example of this secret variation. Let's get a good look.

Here are the two stamps taken from my collection. Other than the obvious differences of postmark, centering and fading they are the same design. Ths is the Edward Stanton seven cent stamp.

They are Scott #149 (left) and Scott #160 (right)

The Scott 149 was issued in 1871.

They re-issued this same design two years later in 1873 as the Scott 160. And they wanted a way to secretly differentiate between the two stamps. So, what the USPS did was add a very small secret change to the design. I got it for you below.

To find the secret design change you have to look to this very small area of the stamp. The arrow points to where we should look.

The Scott 149 just has a white blank area circled around the dark part. And the Scott 160 has an added dark arc added. Can you see it?

There actually is another variation of this stamp. It is the Scott #138. It has the same Edward Stanton design and it has no secret mark on it. The thing that makes it different is that it is a grilled stamp! It has a grill embossed onto the back of the stamp. I don't have this stamp in my collection so I can't give you a picture. But, if you don't know what a grilled stamp is I have a nice explanation with pictures right here: All about Grilled Stamps