Image caption Details shown in the stamp are more sharply defined than on the statue

The US Postal Service regrets issuing a stamp featuring a photo of a Las Vegas casino's replica Statue of Liberty rather than the original in New York harbour, a spokesman has said.

But the postal service printed three billion of the first-class stamps and will continue to sell them, he said.

And the agency would have selected the photograph anyway, he said.

A stamp collector discovered the mix-up after noting discrepancies between the stamp image and the copper original.

The mix-up was first reported by Linn's Stamp News, a publication for philatelists.

It points out that the photo used on the stamp shows a rectangular patch on the crown that is present on the 14-year-old statue at the New York-New York Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, but not on the 305ft (93m) copper statue in New York.

In addition, the facial features on the Las Vegas replica are more sharply defined than on the original.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The stamp was thought to show the Statue of Liberty in New York

The image was taken from a stock photography service, the New York Times reported.

Designed by French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi and French engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, the statue - entitled Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World - was given to the US by the French and dedicated in 1886.