From The Collectors Percpective

What are possible reasoning's for segregating stamps or blocks from others when the print is mis-registered? My thinking on this is these are a result of poor quality control, allowing press "set-up" sheets to go through. Was there a thought that these were/are flaws in the stamp that create value? I am running into this a lot as I scan into my system.

Thanks again for any feedback.




Print in register


Red mis registered to the right

The US Post Office has historically tried to prevent the circulation of flawed stamps,and then has attempted to devalue those stamps when found in public hands.

I'm afraid I can't see a significant difference between the two blocks you've posted, which might explain how these things have found their way into public hands: the misregistration is small, and disappears into millions of copies of the stamp. And then only the truly motivated find them.

And when printing millions of copies of anything, a few mis-registrations, plate flaws, and dirt on paper or machinery is inevitable, especially when the images are minute.

I don't think there is any attempt to "create rarities". It's just stuff that slips through the cracks.

Sorry, I guess I should have done this before. Zoomed in on the register issue.

The multi-color stamps printed in the 1970's were notorious for color misregistrations. Most are noted to be "freaks" at best, not truly errors, but just poor quality control in the printing process. While some of these color misregistrations can be an enjoyable sideline to collect, the fact remains that few offer any great value over a "perfect" specimen.

Although some may find these "freaks" fun to uncover and collect (myself included), since they were quite common the premium value is little to none over that of a perfect example.

Thanks, eaglebub7 for posting the enlargement. The misregistration is visible, but could be easily missed by someone not paying attention.

You can easily see more of the misregistration on the blue window in the upper left corner. Also the blue "bleeds" ove at the upper right.