PNCs From Kiloware - US Flag # 3632

I got some kiloware that was heavy on the Flag stamps... decided to make lemonade from the lemons and found all the plate number varieties for Scott No. 3632.




I suppose now I have to try to get all the PNC's for the multiple versions of this stamp...and then for other definitive flag stamps... This can't be healthy.

Great collection! Ready for the Flag over Porch now ?

Peter

I dunno... it took me a looooong time sorting thru batches of kiloware to find all the varieties of the Porch stamps. Adding PNC varieties is probably more insane than I'm ready to go.

Not so sure about the insanity though! Some of these Scott # 3632 can be pretty pricy, up to $100.00 catalog depending on the die cuts and the tagging varieties that exist!

Peter

This set is lovely and I like it a lot. I also collect such stamps, but I now need the help of the experts in the Forum.

I have been treating these numbers as representing the set of gravure cylinders used, i.e., 1111 would be the 1st set of engraved cylinders, 2222 the 2nd set, etc. Once the first set wears out, the 2nd set is used and so on. Your sheet shows 15 sets of engravings were used, if my understanding is correct. Since there is one cylinder per color, then sets beyond 9999 need to have a letter suffix added. One cannot use 10101010 for the 10th set, etc., because that would mean eight colors/cylinders per set and there are only four colors in this stamp.

If "plate number" is the correct language to use, I'll be interested to learn that.

Donald

I use "plate number" without any specialized knowledge of the printing process, so I bet you are correct. This site also uses "plate number" http://www.apnss.org/37Flags.htm but again this may just be a term of art, not technically accurate description.

Donald - these were indeed printed by gravure cylinders, but it is still common practice to refer to them as plate numbers rather than cylinder numbers.
10101010 could have been used (in fact double digit numbers were used for one of the make up rate stamps - Scott 2877 if I recall correctly) - that was abandoned because it took up too much space and they switched to the shorter 1111A instead.

Peter - there are no expensive versions of Scott 3632. It is the 3632A that has an expensive tagging variety (same design as 3632, but different printer)

Last month, I just finish going through about at least 7,000 Flag over porch stamps along with 2-3,000 other definitives from the same era. I found plenty of pnc stamps but have not seriously attempted to see what I have. I don't want to look at FOP stamps for awhile. I saved 1,000s of the non pnc FOP and threw away at least as many as I kept.

Thank you, eyeonwall; I was not aware that this is a common practice. Also, thank you, Mr. Eos, for that link; it is very informative and I have saved it for future reference.

I worked for Dennison, later Avery Dennison, for 32 years and, at one time, was in charge of ten gravure presses ranging from 16 inches wide to 36 inches wide and from three print stations to ten stations, plus the supporting cylinder engraving and ink mixing departments. We printed labels only, but I had some peripheral interactions with the stamp printing people at a separate site. I guess my background has colored my way of thinking about the way sets of cylinders are identified.

When I get home in May (we are in FL until then), I will scrounge around and see if I have any SC 2877 with the double digit ID's. I doubt it, but will look; that would be interesting to see. Can you post a scan? Thanks...

Donald

That's certainly a nice collection of PNC's.

While it doesn't matter all that much, how did you come up with the reference that Scott No. 3632 is die cut 9.8 vertically, when the Scott Specialized Catalog suggests 9.75 vertically?

Wasn't "Lemons" after all. Turned out pretty nice!~!

I must have got that from apnss.org site. I see that my Minuteman album lists it as 9.75. Dagmattit.

Donald - I don't know how to post images on this site, but the numbers on the 2877 got up into the 20's.
Do you still know any of the Avery stamp printing people? I met some of them at stamp shows, but the only one I got to know has left Avery.

No, I don't know any of the present Avery people; all those that I knew have either retired or passed on.

It took me weeks to figure out how to post images; the tutorial is rather cryptic. I found that one can scan an image and save it in a Documents folder as a jpeg file, then go to the Image Optimizer by following the tutorial, then "Save" (the tutorial is silent on this step) when a message to "Open" or "Save" appears. The optimized image is saved in the Downloads file (the tutorial is also silent on this critical point). Then go back to Browse and pull forward the saved file from Downloads.

Donald