1922 "Portrait Series" Flat Plate Vs. Rotary Press

Some things in this hobby will just never make sense. For the first time I've finally decided to go into my US Stamps and separate the Flat plates (Scott 551 - 573) from the rotary press (Scott 653 - 701) and I noticed there is a discrepancy in catalog value. Why is the Flat plate printing more valued from the Rotary Press ?

In this particular series the Flat plates carry a higher catalog value than the Rotary press of the same design. it's not a matter of amount printed as the #564 (12¢ Cleveland) outnumbers the Rotary press of the same design (693). There were 447,511,177 of the flat plates stamps issued in comparison to 352,145,900 of the Rotary press, yet the Catalog value is more ($13) for the flat plate compared to $8 for the Rotary press.

The numbers would indicate that the rotary press issue would be scarcer by almost 100 Million. Why no love for the Rotary press ?

The differences outside of the Perf 11 compared to the Perf 11 X 10.5
as shown here are very minor, so what gives?

Flat plate Perf 11. Scott 568



Rotary Press Perf 11 X 10.5

Stallzer, Production numbers are very elusive. The BEP and POD clssified these as "Series of 1922" regarless of the method of printing and did not list production by press type. The 1847usa is a fantastic site with a wealth of info but don't trust all the production numbers listed.

I researching the 1-1/2 Harding profile stamp production using BEP and POD records show that between the introduction in Mar. 1925 and July 1, 1930 between 553, 576, 582 and 633 4.85 billion were issued (approx 1.8 billion flat and 3.05 billion rotary). 1847usa shows the total production of these issues to be about 1.2 billion.

It seems so wierd to me that we don't know everything there is to know about the stamps of this era . . . and so awesome that there are members of SCF that are doing the research.

While the rotary issues FIRST appeared in the late 20's 1930 era... they were available in some post offices
well through the presidential era. I suspect they were available from the Philatelic Agency even later and not so for the flats. Mint stamp prices usually depend on how many were acquired for dealer's stock.

I wonder where 1847usa gets it's numbers from. As you mentioned Russ, that is where I found that information and just used the 12¢ Grover Cleveland stamp as an example. With the Washington / Franklin series the Rotary press Stamps are wider than the Flat plate counterparts, so what is the easiest way to tell these 2 printing methods apart in this series ? Other than using a perforation gauge ?

Stallzer, the production number listed for the 11 cent thru 30 cent flat plate are close. My Bureau production numbers are only for 1906-1931 so I can't verify the rotary numbers. Some of the 1 - 10 cent production numbers appear in error.

Stallzer, I suppose that ease of identification is in the eye of the beholder. If you don't use a perf gauge, then now you are faced with comparing the size of the designs. Not an easy task if you are trying to actually measure the size using a straight edge ruler. You could also use a vernier caliper, but that is not a casual task.

You could alternatively cut off the corners of a common stamp and compare design sizes directly--again an exacting process.

There is certainly not enough differences in the designs to make an identification of the rotary vs. flat plate in the 1922 and following years designs possible.

All in all, the perforation is by far the easiest way of distinguishing.

Nice guide to 1922 to 1935 "Portrait" Series:

http://www.1847usa.com/1922identifier.htm

I think that of the two printings the plate version has more visual impact. Here are a couple photos of Chief Hollow Horn Bear, one of which was the reference for the stamp artwork.

Terry

Its not how many were produced, but how many were saved, or more accurately, how many have survived until now.

And how many good examples are available to buy. But then the penny black is hardly scarce and there are a lot available (1700 plus listings on ebay}, so why the high prices?

Terry

Because it is the first stamp, it gets this reputation, popularity and desirability that allows it to have such a price. The same can also occur with some dealers who are know to be experts in a certain philatelic area or field. They can sometimes get away with higher prices for some material than other dealers can because of their expertise and specialty in the area. Even with some material that is not in the same condition as someone else's, they can command higher prices because of their clients who are their followers or fans.