US 24 Oddities

Something is odd about my U.S. 24 that I recently purchased.
1) If you take a look just above the "T" of postage you will see part of the border missing.
2) If you take a look at the "G" of postage you will see that the letter is smudged.
3) If you take a look at the "E" of cent, it looks like a piece of thread was left on the plate.


It was for these reasons that I bought the stamp in the 1st place.

No, I don't think its a double transfer, just a poor quality stamp.
Yes, there is a small tear just below the letter "N" of cent.

Art

Good eye! Never seen these things before.

Very cool, Art. Highly desirable.

The break over the "T" is textbook (literally) relief "E," along with the bottom outer curved line ending at the lower left tip of the E in one. Therefore, row 5 or 9. The center line (along with a bit of stamp to the west) makes it easy to tell it is column 1 of the right side of the plate, so positions 41R or 81R. Then there are 5 plates to choose from 5 and 7-10 (plate six was damaged before it's stamps could be postally used).

The curl over the E in cent, though, is the money shot. That makes it definitively 41R8.

I'm now actually looking at my Specialized and it indicates a variety, not type, called "Curl" over "E" of Cent (41R and 81R8).
Q: Is this what they are talking about? (Item 3)
If so, the value jumped from $40 to $82.50

Art

I was typing my observation when you posted yours Otto, Thanks!

Bingo! That's what the Specialized is talking about.

I stopped looking when I saw 41R8, but yeah, there's a similar curl on 81R8 (makes sense, the stamps were pressed into the plate from the same relief, and there was apparently a bit of stuff--even a human hair--caught on the relief). I'll stick with my original 41R8 call, though, that curl has a bit of concave arc on the left side and the 81R8 is more of a smooth semi-circle.

Congrats on the great find.