Identifying The Types Of Holiday Baubles

Since there are three different versions of the four designs of the Holiday Baubles now issued, I wondered if someone could pass on their observations on the identifying characteristics of each - microprinting, perf, etc. Appreciate your help.

The best resource I can suggest is the USPS printing data as it appears in The Postal Bulletin. Here are reprints of the technical data, with the highlighted information being what is probably most pertinent to you:





As for microprinting, here's the location from my APU Pane of 20:



Perforations aren't listed in the above data, but they come close to either 10.75 or 11.0. (It's only approximate on my part, as my perforation gauge doesn't show 0.25 gauge variances.)

WT1, thanks for the info. I think I have it figured out now on how to identify them if I'm holding just a single stamp rather than an entire booklet/sheetlet. In the absence of knowing the perfs of each, it looks like the most obvious differences are image size and overall stamp size. Based on past history, I imagined that the ATM stamp would be noticeably smaller. That's apparently true of this issue. The microprinting is also located in different places on the three printings. For example, on the green decoration, USPS is located in one of three places - on the top left hand side of the ball (ATM), on the top right hand side of the ball (SSP), or in the ribbon just above the ball (AP). In fact, the SSP printing is the only one that is consistent in the location of the microprinting - on all four designs, it's located in the same place. Hope this helps others.

I don't believe this is quite accurate. The Ashton Potter (APU) example shown in my previous scan has the microprint in the same location on each of the different stamps within the booklet.

Wt1, You are correct. The source that I found on the Internet had it as I indicated. Just after I hit the submit button on my last note, I checked my copies which are SSPs. It is the APUs that have the microprinting in the same location. Thanks for the correction

I have noticed an issue with microprinting on the SSP panes I have and I wonder if others are seeing this. On the bottom left stamp on the side of the pane with 12 stamps there appears to be doubled microprinting. The stamp above this stamp also seems to have shifted microprinting. Can someone verify this on other SSP panes?

waynefb!

Those offset microprintings are weird.
I never got any of these stamps.

Thanks for the info on the different types/ printers of these stamps and microprint locations.

I had just been sorting mine into two piles - the obviously smaller ATMs and the rest.
But now, I am going back to check the "larger" ones for the two different printers by checking the microprint location.
I am finding some of both. Will give some quantities of what I find when I'm done.

Dave N.
<><

Help!
Now I'm confused about the IDs of my copies of these stamps.

I've got my non ATM versions of these stamps sorted by the Microprint location.
It seems that all of them there are 4 different designs that all have the microprint in the location shown in
WT1's post with the large scan of the Red bauble where the microprint is on the "collar".
Then I have the other 4 designs where the microprint is in different locations.

The thing is, when I measure the ones with the microprint in the same location (on the "collar")
they are the ones with the larger design size compared to the other stamps whith the microprint in different locations.

According to the USPS postal data charts in WT1's post, that would make the stamps with the Microprint in the same location (on the "collar") from SSP, because they are the larger design size. And the ones with the microprint in the different locations would be APU because they are the smaller design size. But all this is just opposite of what WT1 and LPmiller are saying.

Please set me straight> Am I missing something?

For qtys I have:
Blue w/red ribbon (microprint in different location/smaller design size) qty 39
Blue w/green ribbon (microprint in different location/smaller design size) qty 25
Green bauble (microprint in different location/smaller design size) qty 25
Red bauble (microprint in different location/smaller design size) qty 43

Blue w/red ribbon (microprint in same location on collar/larger design size) qty 3
Blue w/green ribbon (microprint in same location on collar/larger design size) qty 1
Green bauble (microprint in same location on collar/larger design size) qty 6
Red bauble (microprint in same location on collar/larger design size) qty 2

As you can see, I have quite a bit more of one variety compared to the other so from my source for these, it
seems that one printer version is much more popular than the other.

WayneFB, I have noticed the same doubling of the microprint on many of my copies, so it seems that it is not uncommon for this series. Thanks for pointing it out though. I'll post copies of both the single and double microprint versions in my album.

Dave N.
<><

Check my previous post. The USPS microprint in the SAME locations are the (APU) printing varieties (4571-4574); the USPS microprint in DIFFERENT locations are the (SSP) varieties (4575-4578).

Thanks for setting me straight wt1.

I've got it now...

Dave N.
<><

These are not my illustrations, but I found them on the internet. It gives a much better definition of the microprint locations and how they relate to the (SSP) and (APU) varieties:

Thanks!

By the way, the 4571-4578 Ashton Potter versions are soakable!
Soak in plain warm water overnight.

Dave N.
<><

Does anyone have any more info on the double microprinting on the holiday baubles stamps?

Are there double micros on all 3 sets of baubles?

Not that I know of. In fact, the double microprinting shown in the post by waynefb seems to be rather unique, as I have not heard of it before. Interestingly, the item previously shown is currently being offered for sale on BidStart at a BIN price of $13.49 (with no bids presently) if anyone's interested:

http://stampwants-stamps.bidstart.c...30258/a.html