The Printing Of Modern Stamps?

I admit being totally ignorant regarding how modern stamps are printed. In the 2013 Scott Specialized, paging thru recent years, I see things like...

"Printed by Stamp Venturers" or, "Printed by Sterling Sommer for Ashton Potter (USA) Ltd." or, "Printed by Ashton Potter"...

What does all this mean? Is this telling me that the printing of US stamps at some point became privatized? If so, when did this begin? Boy, you all must think I'm really dumb!



-IBFS

It started back in the 1980s. The US Postal Service and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (who up to that point had produced all US stamps) didn't see eye-to-eye on cost and production issues, so approval was given to privatize the stamp printing and competitively bid out the work.

Today, most all stamps are printed by three (3) primary outside security printers: Ashton-Potter (APU); Sennett Security Products (SSP); and Avery Dennison (AVR). In fact, many definitive issues are printed, in part, by all three printers, which makes for a number of minor collecting varieties. The 3-letter abbreviations in parenthesis are generally accepted abbreviations used by the USPS and most stamp collectors when referring to the various printers.

According to this Washington Post article, the final stamps printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing was in 2005:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dy...1201253.html

Thanks alot wt!


-IBFS

Interestingly, there are several U.S. postage stamps that were printed by others besides the U.S. Government Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) between 1894 and 1980 such as Scott # 909-921 (printed and perforated 12 by American Bank Note Company), # 1335 (printed by Photogravure & Color Company and perforated 12 by American Bank Note), # 1355 (printed by Achrovure Division of Union-Camp Corporation and perforated 12 by American Bank Note), # 1410-1418 (printed by Guilford Gravure, Inc. and perforated 11.25 x 10.5, 10.5 x 11.25 by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing), # 1789, 1789A, 1789B (printed by J.W. Fergusson and Sons and perforated 11 x 12, 11 x 11, 12 x 12 by American Bank Note).

There are also several stamps -- some of which are still available today -- that were printed by Banknote Corporation of America (BCA) and Stamp Venturers (SVS).

jogil, thanks for your information. I immediately checked by holdings for those varieties and discovered that what I thought was a #1789 in my album turned out to be a #1789A. Same with my stock - all #1789As. I do love chasing varieties like these! Now I've got to find a #1789.

I wound up with a 1789a too! Someday...I might get a 1789.


-IBFS

You're talking about the John Paul Jones Commemorative Stamp, right? I acutally found just the opposite in my stockbook. I have 21 used copies of #1789 (11x12) and only five (5) used copy of #1789A (11x11).

Actually, I wondered why I never picked up on this before and I see that my Mystic Heirloom US Stamp Album only provides for one place for a #1789!

wt1, looks like both "I Brake For Stamps" and I are both missing the #1789. Any chance of a trade with you since it seems you've cornered the market on them? There's a fair chance that I have something that you might need. Do we need to take this to the trading/selling/buying area of SCF? I'd be more than happy with a used copy. Please advise.

E-mail me your address and I'll be glad to send a used #1789 off to you. No trade needed.

By the way, I just double-checked my 1979 Year Set from the USPS that included all mint stamps issued that year and the John Paul Jones stamp is the 11x12 variety (#1789), too.

Thanks, wt1. I'll send you an e-mail. This will be the second freebie you've sent me. Are you sure I can't reciprocate. I'm beginning to feel like a busker.

I am glad that my mention of these stamps resulted in you taking a closer look at this stamp and its different perforations with regards to your stamp collections.

The hardest to get is # 1789B (12 x 12) which was the original first perforation in which many were perforated, but so far very few have been found. Happy hunting for them.

The perforation 12 wheels for the horizontal perforations started to first wear down badly and needed to be replaced and the only replacement available were perforation 11 wheels so that # 1789 (11 x 12) were perforated making this the second perforation in this order of changes and events.

Then, eventually, the perforation 12 wheels for the vertical perforations also started to wear down badly so that they were replaced with perforation 11 wheels so that # 1789A (11 x 11) were perforated making this the third and final perforation in this order of changes and events.

Perforation 12 was used for a long time by the American Bank Note Company and they had to change at this point to perforation 11 which was the only one available and used for a long time by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.

Scott catalog lists them in the order in which they were discovered by collectors first and not in the order in which they occurred first. Scott # 1789 is an interesting compound perforation and all of them represent different progressive stages of interesting perforation changes.

Thanks for the information, jogil. I always wondered what the reason was behind these perforation varieties!

Call it wear and tear of perforating equipment such as perforating (pin and/or hole) wheels and their replacement. This totally ended the use of line perforated rotary perforating wheel perforation 12 (Kiusalas 66) on U.S. stamps which started around 1861 and ended in 1914 when the Bureau of Engraving and Printing officially stopped using it, but it was still used on a few U.S. stamp issues perforated by the American Bank Note Company until 1979. Interestingly, many Canadian stamps were also perforated 12 for some time by the Canadian Bank Note Company which was a subsidiary of the American Bank Note Company.

Here's a great video on how stamps are printed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KETwb4MLKVI

That's a fascinating video. $5.5 million per roll. I wish I could steal one and sell it back to them.


-IBFS