Preferred Position For Plate Numbers On PNCs

Received my 25 stamp strip of the Spectrum Eagle presort issue from USPS today. Noticed that the plate number is on the eighth stamp on my strip. My question is whether serious collectors of PNCs would prefer a specific position for the plate number on a strip of six coils such as this? I'm not a PNC collector, but have noted that, for example on the transportation series, buyers seem to prefer the plate number in the third position on a strip of five. Since it's obviously impossible to center the plate number in the case of the Spectrum Eagle strip of six, where do PNC collectors prefer it?

I would guess that in that case, you would want the number to be on the center stamp of three.

A very interesting question, as I've wondering the same thing, too.

In the case of the Spectrum Eagle, the plate numbers are always on the purple to orange stamp. Also, the plate numbers appear on every 30th stamp. If you do order the Spectrum Eagles from the USPS, the philatelic purchase is only in strips of 25 stamps. Therefore, it would be impossible for the plate number stamp to fall in exactly the same place on every strip of 25. Also, if you were collecting mint stamps only, there are backnumbers on every 10th stamp to be considered that may or may not be within the strip of stamps that contain the plate number, so is it important that a strip of stamps with plate number extend to one stamp that contains a backnumber?

I have been reading up on other collector's experiences with these stamps and it seems that the USPS is making no distinction on where the PNC stamp falls within the spectrum. If you want what most collectors desire, ideally the PNC should be the central stamp with a strip of 6 stamps on either side of it for a complete strip of 13. However, a strip of 13 can be unmanageable for many collector's stockbooks, albums, etc. In fact, I understand the only way you could get that is to specifically request multiple strips of 25 from the USPS and ask them to ship them in roll form, all of which can become quite costly unless you meet the requirements to use the remaining stamps for Presort First Class postage.

As for my own collection, I have simply retained a plate number strip of 7 (3 different designs on each side of the plate number stamp). That way, I get all of the different designs in one strip, plus the plate number. Whether this is right or wrong according to the "experts" I don't know, but it satisfies my requirements and that's all that matters to me.

The other thing I have wondered about is collecting a strip of 6 stamps (even without the plate number). Does it matter at what range of the color spectrum the stamps start and stop at? If you use the USPS promotional material as a guide, the first stamp should be the purple to orange through to the last stamp being the blue to purple. However, in that these stamps are offered by the USPS in strips of 25, it is impossible that the same "spectrum" will be available on all examples purchased, so my question is: "Does it really matter?" In other words, as long as a "spectrum" of the six different varieties are shown, is there any reason why one stamp or another shouldn't be the start of a strip?

The same issue must have been raised with the 29c Herbs coil stamps from last year and the 45c Weathervane strips of 5 stamps that just came out this year. I also seem to recall that the Lady Liberty/Flag Se-Tenant Coil was also questioned, as the stamp is known as the Lady Liberty/Flag, but US protocol would suggest that the Flag stamp come before the Lady Liberty stamp, so does it matter in what position the stamp is collected? I believe I saw one reference that suggested that it did not matter, as long as one representative of each variety was included in the pair or strip of stamps involved.

I guess a lot of this comes down to personal preference as we anxiously await what the editors of the Scott Catalog will deem appropriate in future editions of their catalog.

Unfortunately by the time the Scott people render their decision on the "right" place for the plate number, most of us will have already made our decision and guessed wrong. As you also say, the best way to probably handle this whould be to retain a strip of seven with the plate numbered one in the fourth position. The only loss would be one stamp on one of the ends. wt1, thanks for your very thorough answer.

When checking some older Scott listings of multiple designs in coil formats I found that:

>> For strips of 4 [as in 3407a (Berries) and 3465a (Flowers)] the strip of 4 different designs has values listed for a strip of 5 with plate number AND a strip of 9 with plate number.

>> For strips of 5 [as in 4262a (Tropical Fruit)] the strip of 5 different designs has values listed as a plate number strip of 11 only.

>> For strips of 10 [as in the Eagle Presort First Class 3801b, 3801bc and 3853a] the strip of 10 different designs has values listed for a strip of 11 with plate number and a strip of 21 with plate number. However, for another strip of 10 different designs [as in the 4175a (Flowers) Coil], plate number strips of 11 are only listed.

I guess what it shows is that there is no one consistent format that seems to be used in all instances.