Joint Line Pairs

I very well could have my catalog numbers backwards. The pair I don't have and will probably never have is the expensive pair.....

I have closely examined the line imprint and it looks quite genuine to me. The color is is the same hue as the rest of the stamp(s). There appears to be some other anomaly which makes the line look darker than it should be, but I can'te tell what it is.

When the production was first started with the rotary press many of the plates did not have appropriate fit-up and produced excessive gap between the plates. Each plate was held in position with 2 gripper fingers on on the leading edge and 2 gripper fingers on on the trailing edge. The fingers wer located under positions 1 and 154 leading and 17 and 170 trailing for 170 subject plates. The inboard edges of the plate ofteb exhibited wider gaps.

The 2 cent Type I stamps were the first to go to press (453, 459) and many of there JLP show extremeely irregular line edges and excessive ink bleed (this is also common on the Type II 454 and somewhat less common on the Type III 455). Both the BEP and the POD found this condition to be objectionable and the BEP started placing metallic foil in the areas with excessive gaps.

The JLP on the unwatermaked stamps on all values exhibit a more uniform joint line but sometimes the foil would be improperly fitted or deformed in use and produce the irregular joint line from the edge of the foil. I believe that is what you see on the 495 JLP.

I believe that is the 491 which is the scarce stamp. I do not have even a single and probably never will.

Yes, it is the 491 that is the expensive one. I'm sure when I originally posted this I probably was looking at the catalog without my reading glasses. Russ, did you at one time operate these machines ? Your knowledge of the inner workings of the printing machines is exceptional.

Stallzer, Never worked in that industry. Joseph Ralph, Director of BEP 1908-1917, was active in promoting the BEP and gave numerous talks covering stamp production in great detail. One of the best accounts of the flat plate process was presented by Mr. Ralph to the 1913 APS Convention (the text is in the Aug Nov. 1913 American Philatelist and is well worth the read). With the introduction of the Stickney rotary press Mr. Ralph siezed every chance to promote the Bureau and spoke to groups from stamp collectors to engineers. Much of what we know about the details of stamp production was from his talks.

As for the technical operation of the rotary press, the Stickney patents contain detailed drawings of the machine and a good text explaination of its operation. Most people with a basic design background can easily understand the operation of the press.

Edit: Corrected publication date.

I only need the #497 used single to finish up that page. I don't collect JLP's but they look great!

Jeff, I'm pretty sure I have some extras lying around and I'd be more than happy to send one your way (Might be unused though) but I think I also have a few used also. Just let me know.

I don't have my local library Scotts cat available. Could one of the members here knowledgeable in this series point out which portion of the ribbon I should be looking at. Going from my bad memory it is the outer most portion (tip) above the number 2 on each side. I tried looking on swedishtiger site but the is not so easy for me either.

I borrowed stallzer image to paste here.

Thanks,
Eagle

Eagle, here's a great site for identification help on early issues - http://www.1847usa.com/SiteMap.htm

and more specific to your question - http://www.1847usa.com/washfrank/2c...1_03main.htm

Thanks Mike! I have been trying to use that site and neglected to state it. Even some of the images there look so similar I can't separate them from each other....like "fly specing", or It may be I can't see what I'm looking at as I stare at them so long till my eyes cross each other. I'm just trying for now to clarify which portion of the ribbon I should focus in on, like the tip, after the first curve etc.

On that second link I posted there's a pic of GW with a bunch of #s in boxes. If you click on the #2 box there, it will link you to a blowup of each type with more detail

Hope this helps

Awesome, thanks Mike!

2013 Scott : 492 JLP MNH : $55