Any Examples Of Double Transfers/Cracked Plate?

Hi All,

I see in the Scott catalog many entries for classic USA stamps that are listed as having a "Double Transfer" or "cracked plate". Does anyone know if there is a "Library" on line with photo examples of these varieties? As far as I know, I don't have any of these varieties, but then again, I wouldn't know what to look for in the first place.
Sure would be nice if a "library" could be started somewhere where people could post pictures of their specimens so folks like me could get a look.

Dave N.
<><

Dave, There are a large number of double transfers on U.S. stamps. A great resource for Bureau era is "Encyclopedia of Plate Varieties on U.S. Bureau Printed Stamps" by Loran C. French.

Here is a link to a small website that shows a few http://www.re-entries.com/usa_re-entries.html

You can also do a power search at Siegel Autions using keyword Double Transfer or Cracked Plate.

The PF cert search also allow you to search certs by keywords (pfsearch.org)

There are also some online plating archives particularly for the 1851 one and three cent stamps.

Another good resource is the Max Johl 4 vol. "U.S. Stamps of the 20th Century"

The National Postal Museum has digital images of many of the plate proofs from the Bureau printings. The Scott 372 is well known for it's numerous double transfers. You can search for "Certified Plate Proof 372" and pull up some of these images. Many of these double transfers are very evident.

Hi Russ,

Thanks for the link!

Dave N.

I Think these are cracked plates, let's start a visual library here.

R61C





R59C





R33C, This one I'm not 100% sure on, but I think it is a crack.

US Scott #26, plate position 71L18, plate crack across Washington's forehead - "The Big Crack"

Wow I really love both but the #26 screams "look at me" don't it?

May I suggest going to the source for the One Cent Stamps of 1851-1857 which would be Mortimer Neinken – United States One Cent Stamps of 1851 to 1861. He has the plate positions for all plates of this issue marked with the plate cracks and other notable markings. His work was built from Stanly Ashbrooks masterful work and is considered to be the finest work on the subject.

Best of all, its available for freee on line at the U.S. Clasics Philatelic Society (USPCS) http://www.uspcs.org/resource-cente...ic-library/.

Art

None of the revenues shown have cracked plates. Those would all be considered plate scratches.

They are both listed in Scott specialized as "Plate Cracks" and they even show the image for the first one.

The 50 cent mortgage plate crack is significantly larger than what is shown on the stamp posted above.
However, based on position dots this does appear to be the same plate position, so this is appears to be either a scratch in a weakened area that developed into the crack, or possibly the early stages of what became the major plate crack. No real way to know without more early in between examples.

Could very well be this as I never thought along that line. The line through the "O" of mortgage appears to be spot on with the example shown in Scott Specialized. I'll file the others as plate scratches.

Thanks for the clarification.

It is spot on, and there are two position dots on the top left and one position dot on each side of the bottom. They are in the exact same position (and the same basic shape) as the position dots on my example of the cracked plate.
Hence my reasons for being reasonably sure that this is from the same position.

US Scott #25, plate position 47R7, major cracked plate: "Spider Crack" on cover:

Detail of some of the double transfer diagnostics on US Scott #9, plate position 76L1L:

US Scott #11, major plate crack, plate positions 74L5L, 84L5l, and 94L5L. The crack runs from the bottom right corner of the top stamp, through the two right rosettes of the middle stamp, to the E in "CENTS" of the bottom stamp:

Is this a cracked plate or a scratch on the left edge? Found it when searching through my stamps.