BEP used the same plates to produce the sheet (perf and imperf) and coil the only difference was the way they were perfed and cut. The USPOD when to single line watermarks on or about Oct 1, 1910. The BEP would hand wind coil rolls and went to a motorized coil winder. The perf 12 was not strong enough to keep from separating in this winder. The POD and BEP went to a perf 8.5 coil so that the motorized winder could be used. The Scott 385 was repaced by the Scott 390 and the Scott 386 was replaced by the Scott 391. Scoot 390 was released Dec 12, 1910 (62 days max after the watermark change) and the Scott 391 was released Dec 23, 1910. This account for the rarity of these issues.
The POD kept records of plate impressions and press dates but did not keep records of when stamps were perforated so no one knows when the first 385 or 386 were actually made. Since they were in the process of changing perfs for the new winding process they would have made as few as possible to meet demand. The EDU fot Scott 385 is/was Jan 9, 1911 ans 386 is/was Dec 9, 1910.
The 1 cent and 2 cent single line watermark stamps were printed on 2 types of plates, the star plates and the "A" plates. The star plates were variable horizontal spacing with the inside 3 vertical rows spaced 2mm and the outer 7 vert rows spaced 3mm (this is where the 2mm and 3mm spacing comes from on the 1-5 cent values). The "A" plates were uniform horizontal spacing of 2.75mm. Sheet stamps from the 2.75mm and 3mm spacing were easily altered to resemble horizontal perf coils.
The stamps you posted look to have genuine perforations and the width would be within BEP coil standards. The knifed edges appear straight and parallel. I see nothing on the images that indicate that these stamps are altered. That does not mean that they are not altered only that they are either genuine or a high quality alteration.
Although these issues are scarce, they are not extremely rare but they are also widely faked. I would consider these stamps as candidates for expertization and certification.
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Posted 03/20/2011 5:35 pm
