Help 1c Franklin #3-4

otto, Its hard to tell from the scan, could you post a larger scan of the full stamp?
The curls were created when a small "thread" of metal was pulled off during the lay down of the postion. This thread was pressed into the entry by the transfer roll creating a depression that would hold the ink and transfer it to the stamp.
Sometimes the curl would be only in the one position such as below


Type III (Scott 8) position 11R4 curl on the shoulder


Type Ic (Scott 19b) position 81R4 curl on the shoulder

On other occasions the thread would stick to the transfer roll and be entered in multiple plate locations


Type II (Scott 7) position 5L3 curl in the "S" of "POSTAGE"


Type II (Scott 7) position 7L3 curl in the "S" of "POSTAGE"
This is the same thread that produced the curl in position 5L3 and it was entered into several other positions

Here are a few more examples

Type II (Scott 7) position 23R3 curl over "C" in "CENT"


Type III (Scott 21) position 48L4 curl in "T" of "CENT"


Type Ic (Scott 6b) position 96R4 curl in "C" of "CENT"

Hope this helps
Edit Typo

Anyone else see Kilroy in the 23R3 detail scan?

Thanks, Russ, for the thorough low down on the subject of curls. From that, I feel confident that the little extra bit of ink on Ben's shoulder on my stamp is not the "Curl on shoulder" mentioned in the catalogue. Here it is quite a bit larger:

otto, After looking closely at the scan I do not think it is a curl either. There is some inking anomaly but I can't tell for sure but I think it is plate contamination (dirty plate). It could also be plate damage such as a small "ding" type impression.

Yeah, I see Kilroy,
havn't seen him since the 1960's!

It is amazing the odd varieties for this issue. Are there other U.S. stamps that track anomalies and miniscule plate variances like this?

The 1851-61 issues, of which the 1c blue Franklin is one, have lots of designs with intriguing variations, as they were issued imperforate and perforate.

There's the 1851 3c Red Washington, numbers 10, 11, 25, 26 and 26A. Numbers 11, 25 and 26 are shown below, each one links to a different site about the design, the middle one a plating site.



There's also the 1851 10c Green Washington which has a lot of the "how much of the image was scraped away" sorts of variations that the 1c blue has. Here's a 32 and a 35, again with links to some interesting information about the design:

There are 4 types of the 10 cent 1851-61 and it is also both perf and imperf. On the 3 cent there is also a 10A and 11A with the recut inner framelines. The first (imperf) 3 cent stamp looks like it might have the recuts.
No stamp issue from the U.S. has as many types and varieties as the 1851-61 1 cent. There are 8 types of imperf, 10 types of perforated and one special printing. Plus the double transfers, triple transfers, inverted transfers, recuts, misplaced reliefs, cracks, short transfers. rolled out postions, swing positions, etc.