Finding Scott Number?

Trying to find the scott's number for this stamp but got a little confused.
Could someone tell me what the number is?
Image: stamp.jpg
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Also how do you tell if a stamp is from a book or a coil?


Jser

Jser, I'm not expert enough to tell is that's a coil or a sheet or a serpentine cut or whatever. So, it's either 3466 or 3476 or 3476a or 3485 or 3485a or b or c or d -- anyway, somewhere in that range.

I'm sure someone can pin it down for you.

Good luck.

Jan

Perforations were originally added to sheets of stamps in order to make the stamps easier to separate without the need for scissors. At first the stamps located around the edge of the sheet would often have one edge without perforations, called a straight edge. Later on a paper margin was left around all edges of the stamp sheet, called selvage, so that every stamp from the sheet would have have perforations on all four edges of the stamp.

Coil stamps were first made in the early twentieth century for vending machines or coil dispensers. Since the stamps are pre-cut into long strips, perforations are only needed in one direction in order to separate the stamps easily. Therefore coil stamps have two straight edges on opposite sides, usually the top and bottom, but sometimes the left and right sides. They have perforations on the other two opposite sides.

Booklet panes are made with perforations between the stamps, but not on the edges of the pane. Therefore most booklet stamps have one straight edge, depending on the position of the stamp in the booklet pane. For vertical panes, stamps on the left hand side of the pane have a left straight edge, and stamps on the right hand side of the pane have a right straight edge. The other three sides of these stamps have perforations. The exceptions are the two stamps at the corners of the booklet pane, which have two adjacent straight edges, and two adjacent edges with perforations. A booklet stamp can have perforations all around, but only if the stamp comes from an internal position in the pane.

There can also be subtle differences in design between the sheet, coil and booklet versions of certain stamps which can be used to distinguish them.

Thanks
That is where I got confused also.
I had kind of pinned those numbers down.


Jser

Scott #3485 ?
Would that be right?
Thanks for all the help!


Jser

I am sorry I don't have a recent enough catalog to be absolutely sure. There may be some differences in the perforations at the corners of the stamps between the sheet and booklet versions of the stamps. I have been focused on the US oldies and haven't bought a new Scott US Specialized catalog for a while. I don't want to say it is a sheet stamp until I am absolutely sure. I am in the process of tooling up with new catalogs, and will help out as soon as I have a new catalog.

You are right, your stamp is #3485.

This stamp was issued in booklets only (no sheets). There were four different booklet pane sizes: 10, 20, 4, and 6.
All the panes have serpentine die cut 11 between the stamps in the pane so they can be separated. This is just a fancy name for the zig-zag scoring of the paper between the stamps, which serves the same purpose as perforations did for stamps that are not self-adhesive.

Scott #3485a is the entire booklet pane of 10.
Scott #3485b is the entire booklet pane of 20.
Scott #3485c is the entire booklet pane of 4.
Scott #3485d is the entire booklet pane of 6.
Scott #3485 is any single stamp from any of the above booklet panes.

The single stamps may have serpentine die cut 11 on 2, 3, or 4 sides, depending on the position of the stamp in the pane it came from. The remaining sides will be straight edges. Your stamp has serpentine die cut on all 4 sides. Therefore it must have come from an internal position in a booklet pane of 20, since all stamps from the panes containing 10, 6, or 4 stamps must have one or more straight edges. Regardless of which pane a single stamp came from, they are all cataloged as #3485.

Sorry for the delay in answering your question.

great thanks for the reply. I am not really a stamp collector, but I saw the link from coin community and thought I'd check it out.
I like tinkering around with stuff so am giving this a try for a while probably will get hooked like coin collecting.


Jser

OK just keep hanging out and asking questions, we will get you hooked!