Statue Of Liberty/Flag Alternating Coil Forever Stamp

Received my first example of the Statue of Liberty Forever Coil Stamp with a spray on cancel in today's mail. Unfortunately, the spray on cancel is virtually illegible, so I'm not even sure what the cancel is supposed to say but it was a nice find on a piece of business mail:

I like the typography on this stamp a lot and I agree - the spray on cancel is horrid, 99% illegible, and a total disgrace to the post office.

I got a stamp yesterday that was cancelled with a good 'ol non-spray-on round stamp..
How refreshing! :) lol

Some interesting information about this coil stamp.

Apparently there are three (3) printers being used. Of the three printers, all are using a different die cut size (perhaps to tell them apart?). Anyway, the (APU) is perf. 9.5 Vertical; the (SSP) is perf. 11.0 Vertical; and the AVR is perf. 8.5 Vertical.

Further, even if one wanted to purchase a full roll of this coil stamp, the USPS has not (at least not according to USA Philatelic) made any distinction between order numbers for the three varieties.

I think the example shown above is the (APU) at perf. 9.5 Vertical.

After posting the above info. on different varieties of the alternating Statue of Liberty/Flag Coil, I now have two used copies of both the Statue of Liberty and Flag Coil, but as you can readily see, there is a distinct difference in the die cut perforations.

Anyone venture a guess as to which ones I have? Also, is it an optical illusion or does the Flag stamp appear just a touch wider than the Status of Liberty stamp? Close ups are provided below:




Any comments would be welcomed.

Hi wt1,

It looks like your Liberty stamp is Scott # 4486, from Ashton Potter, Die Cut 9 1/2.
It looks like your Flag stamp is Scott # 4491, from Avery, Die cut 8 1/2.

Edit to add: "It looks like yur flag stamp is also a "peak/valley" variety. see next post."

I'll make another post showing all 3 printer versions of each stamps along with a little extra something to make it interesting.

Dave N.
<><

Hi again wt1,

I'm going to try to attach some pics...
the pics will show each of the three printers versions of the different stamps. I have put the name of the printer under each stamp along with the Scott #.

APU = Ashton Potter
SSP = Sennet Security Products
AVR = Avery

On the APU stamps (Scott #s 4486 and 4487) the die cut is 9 1/2 (9 1/2 peaks per 2 centimeters) and the die cuts do not go all the way to the top and bottom of the stamp as can be seen in the picture.

On the SSP stamps (Scott #s 4488 and 4489) the die cuts do go all the way to the top and bottom of the stamp. The die cut is 11 (11 peaks per 2 centimeters)

On the Avery stamps (Scott#s 4490 and 4491), the die cuts do go all the way to the top and bottom of the stamp. The die cut is 8 1/2 (8 1/2 peaks per 2 centimeters). There are fewer peaks/valleys on the Avery stamps compared to the SSP stamps.

Here are some interesting tidbits...
On the Avery stamps with the large 8 1/2 die cutting, the stamps can be either "Peak/Valley" or "Valley/Peak". It depends on if the first feature on the upper left corner of the stamp is either a peak or a valley. In my pictures, the Liberyt stamp is a "peak/Valley" variety, and the Flag stamp is a "Valley/Peak" variety.

All 6 of the stamps have microprinting on them. The microprinting is a version of "4evr".
The microprinting is in the same location on the Liberty stamps and in the same location on the flag stamps. But each printer has their own version of the "4evr"
APU = "4evR"
SSP = "4eVr"
AVR = "4EVR"

Kind Regards,
Dave N.
<><

Thanks for all of the interesting information on this series. With all of the subtle differences, it's no wonder a lot of collectors give up on some of these modern issues. I did blow up the images of the stamps to see the microprinting and indeed I do have the Flag Stamp (AVR) #4491 and the Liberty (APU) #4486 varieties.

To complicate this even more, I understand the same designs will be used on upcoming booklet panes set for release later this year, so that will add even more varieties.

One final question: Is it a scanner issue or are there distinct color differences (especially in the red part of the flag, with the (AVR) variety having a bolder red color)?

Hi wt1,

I looked at the three different printings side by side and there are differences in the red color. I can't say that the scan is an accurate rendition of the different shades of the red though. But to my naked eye, the AVR did seem more "Red" than the others and the SSP seemed to be noticeably more "orange red" than the others.

Dave N.
<><

CENTRAL MA 015
26 JAN 2011 PM 4L

Sending Love
Through the Mail

Nice sentiment ... on a bill from a doctor's office.

Great info - thanks, Dave.

Lou

Hi Lou,

Glad to add some info. I consider myself a beginner and get alot of my info here at Stampcommunity, but also at some other sites like:
http://www.virtualstampclub.com/2010usnew.html

Oh, and welcome to Stampcommunity forum.

By the way, Yesterday a was able to go through several dozen more of these stamps. I found plenty of the AVR and APU versions, but only one of the SSP version, and the one SSP one I did find had a bad scuff. So I'm wondering if the population of the SSP version is less than the other printers'?

I was hoping to offer several complete sets of these on in the givaway section of Stampcommunity, but I don't have enough of the SSPs to do that yet.

Cheers,

Dave N.
<><

Just got my first postally used (SSP) Flag coil (Scott 4489) in yesterday's mail. The perf. 11 is the dead giveway as to identifying this variety from the others:

Hi wt1,

Now there's just one more thing...
Sometimes on stamps with this type of die cut, the slant at the top can be either "\" or "/". Yours is the "/" so be on the lookout for the other type.

Dave N.
<><

Yet another variety to look for?! (As in the past, do you suppose Scott will only provide catalog numbers for the different printers/perf. types and will ignore the "/" "\" varieties?