A US 4071 That Is Interesting

this is a us sct 4071 that seems blurry

it is more noticeable in the enlarged photo

Color mis-registration. Quite common on these modern issues. Collectible more as a conversation piece than anything else. Surprisingly they don't usually command much of a premium over a perfect specimen. Values aren't listed in any catalog, as generally there is no way to know how common or rare these examples might be out of the millions of copies printed.

Here's a recent one I encountered. Note the color mis-registration especially noticeable on the tiger cub image and the text in the lower right hand corner:



Another example:

Both of the Peck stamps look kind of blurry, one worse
than the other.

Are they printed by photogravure or offset? They look like
the former.

Who was the printer?

Gravure, according to this Postal Bulletin excerpt:

Thanks again wt1. So its Avery Denison .

When comparing the few US stamps I've seen in the last ten, fifteen years the photogravure printed ones are consistently of poorer quality (no matter who the printer) than offset by Ashton Potter USA.

I have never yet seen a US photogravure stamp which showed anywhere near the quality of lets say
Courvoisier or Harrison printings.

Poor registration. The printer should be ashamed and these should have been tossed out in the trash. No quality control.

Agreed. I mentioned the same thing in another post and was reminded that without their lack of quality control, we stamp collectors wouldn't have any of these minor sub-varieties to collect!

Here are a few other example of mis-registration through the modern era of US stamps:

wt1, I've worked in magazines and publishing for over 20 years. If my books come back from the printer looking like that (and on occasion they have) there is a major complaint filed, credit given or a redo, and ultimately you find a better printer.
I don't know who prints the USPS's stamps, but they need to rethink their suppliers.
Personally I thilk'lkfd;s,./..... oops, fell off my soap box.

There is more to stamp collecting than flyspecks.

I'd rather see better printing which for the most part is being
achieved by many printers today.

Look at the Canadian printer Lowe-Martin who has only been in
the security print business for about 10 years and produces
high quality stamps.

In my opinion Ashton-Potter Canada Ltd was one of the best printers worldwide but Lowe-Martin
is just as good, maybe even better.