The US Post Office has made a huge mistake on a stamp honouring an icon of America, the Statue of Liberty.

A first-class mail stamp featuring the Miss Liberty is based on a photograph of a replica of the statue at a Las Vegas gambling casino.

Postal Service spokesman Roy Betts said three billion stamps have been printed, and they will not be pulled from the market. The 44-cent forever stamp has been on sale in coils since December and is to be released in booklet form.

The actual Statue of Liberty has appeared on more than 20 stamps previously, Mr Betts said.

In the Post Office's news release in December announcing the stamp, the service said the Statue of Liberty was shown in a close-up photograph of her head and crown.

The mistake was first reported by Linn's Stamp News. Linn's, a weekly magazine for stamp collectors, noted that the stamp shows a rectangular patch on the crown of the statue. Such a patch does not appear on the statue in New York Harbour that has welcomed millions of immigrants to their new home.

In addition, the magazine said, the eyes, eyelids and eyebrows on the replica appeared more sharply defined than on the original statue, and the hair was different.

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