A Scratched #24

Initially, I thought I had a cracked plate. Sometimes the eye sees more than what's actually there (Thanks Winston). On the right hand side of this #24 are a few extra lines. These are scratches resulting from the burnishing of the plate and no, I haven't plated this one yet. Keep in mind that the initial design was too big to fit on a 10x10 plate so they had to be somewhat reduced in size, thus the many varieties of the basic one cent Franklin.

Scott list 9 imperf varieties and 9 perforated varieties, not counting DT, broken lines, re-cutting etc. The perforated stamps used the plates of the imperf design.


Art

Art,

Those side scratches were actually on the transfer roll. The scratches were first created on what is called a laydown which was an intermediate step in making the six-relief transfer rolls and others as well.

The imperf plates were thoroughly warn out and discarded. They were replaced by Plates 4, 5, 7, and 8.

Winston,

Thanks for correcting me. You indicated that you are collecting individual reliefs, I'll be very happy to get one from each plate.
BTW, did anyone ever find a copy from plate 6 or was it just trashed and discarded?

Art

Plate 6 was apparently made but no imprints or stamps have been found or proven to come from Plate 6. For some reason the plate must not have been used.

Collecting the different reliefs is a worthy goal.