Watch Out For Rotary Printers Waste

A seller on ebay is offering some interesting stamp varieties that are sometimes represented as printing errors. If they were issued in this state they would be, but normally they were not.








Stamps like these are classed as "printer's waste." Russ can provide more details, I am sure, but these were rather normally produced when the paper web on a rotary press was changed for a new roll. For the first several feet of printing the plates on the drum were not fully inked and this was the condition of the impressions. Normally they were discarded when they came out of the machinery, but back in the 1920s numbers of these got out for private sale. None were issued, so they are technically stamp paper proofs and I believe they are collected as such by specialists in these issues.

[Added note: Come to think of it, some of these might have been generated at the end of a run as well when the roll was close to a change and they stopped the ink flow to the web in prep for the change. Not sure about that though. I am sure it was part of swapping out the web.]

Despite the appearance, don't be fooled into thinking these are printing errors. Most of the time these are gummed and imperforate, but some do exist gummed and fully perforated. The seller is offering one of those too. They are a good sidelight, but big bucks should not be required.

Since I am not a specialist or student of these issues, corrections to my comments are certainly welcome and advised.

They are sort of neat but they wouldn't fit real well in my proof collection however.

They look like dry impressions that result when the paper wasn't wet enough to absorb the ink from the printing plate.

Hi essayk,

Thank you for posting that info. I saw those and was tempted for a moment. Glad I decided against going for them.

Terry