Another Type VA Confirmed As 53r5

I'm fairly sure that Winston Sinclair is expecting this :) so I thought I'd post this one-- I received it in the mail today and it is a #24, Type Va, and I was able to plate it and confirm that it is from the right side of Plate #5, 53R5. It is the first Type Va, "F" Relief stamp that I've found, and the "F" are a little bit more difficult because many of the Plate 5 "F" reliefs are not Type Va.

What I really like about this stamp, other than it's Type Va, is check out the centering-- just a beautiful stamp altogether:


The "F" reliefs are found in the 6th and 10th rows of the plate, and it's easy to ID the "F" relief from 2 characteristics you can see easily on this stamp:

-- If you look at the top of the curve above "U.S. POSTAGE" in the very middle, you'll see some damage to the relief-- which is the most recognizable feature of the "F" reliefs.
-- Also, if you look at the curved line on the left side under the "ONE CENT" banner, you'll see that it ends in the middle of the letter "E".

If it ends in the middle of the letter "E" the stamp is either a "B" relief from row 2, or "F" relief from row 6 or 10. It's easier if you can see the top of the stamp to see the damage in the relief to then determine the difference between "B" and "F" relief.

If y'all would like me to post a little bit more on how to know the different reliefs of this stamp, please someone say so, and I'll be glad to do this.

Bottom line is that the 1c 1851-57 stamp whether imperf ('51) or perforated ('57), is one of the most studied and fascinating stamps in all of philately (along with the 3c imperf/perf 1851-57).

Thanks, Raty

An absolute stunner Ray ! Great acquisition.

Ray,

I would welcome your thoughts concerning this issue(s). Va are tough to find in any condition but when you do, you know its a Va. Also, the color is usually a bit more intense blue. That aspect is often difficult to determine as more often than not the stamp has had a hard life and faded. Your example is a nice bright blue and that could be your scanner or my terminal. I know you are a "F" guy but do you ever go after the Franklin curls?

Art

Woah! *gasp* Now that's a stamp I can truly appreciate! It's absolutely Beautiful in every respect, but you knew that already!

Art, when I scan the 1c 57's I do manipulate the contrast and brightness- stronger contrast and less brightness, so the plating marks have a better chance of showing up.

That said, the plate 5's were the earliest of the type 5 stamps and on a harder, whiter paper so they do tend to look darker and sharper.

So the stamp isn't as dark as in the image but still fairly dark, compared with a some of the other plates (I've plated a couple from plate 10, which are supposedly the worst printings and found that to be a fact!)

Still only have one curl and Winston pointed that one out on one of the other Va's.

Happy hunting! Ray

I'd appreciate a post on different reliefs. Thanks for the offer.

I have to agree, it is indeed a beautiful stamp!




I for one would be glad to hear anything you have to say about these stamps. If you'd like to start with the basics it would probably all be helpful to me. If you get too deep without the background first, you will lose me.

Cannot wait to learn more. Thanks for your time and knowledge ray.mac

Buck, to start with:

12 Plates were used during the life of the 1¢ Stamp. The first plate existed in 2 states, for a total of 2600 different positions from which the Stamps were printed. Out of these 2600 there were exactly 100 Stamps with the complete design and 2500 with incomplete designs.

All the imperforate Stamps were printed from 5 plates (1 plate had 2 conditions) 1E, 1L, 2, 3, & 4. The imperforate Stamps came from 11 plates.

Stallzer is exactly right.
And for the imperfs, the reliefs are different than the perforated stamps.

And, the reliefs are different for the plates which printed the Type V stamps, than the plates that the other perforated Types came from.

So, the bottom line is that you could study this stamp for the rest of your life, and still not know everything about it.

I became interested in the 1c perforated stamp, which is the 1c 1857, when I started trying to find a Type Va stamp, which is a variety of the Type V, but very scarce. The nice thing about the Type V stamps are that they are plentiful, collectable and you can find many of them very inexpensively. I've always liked the fact that 3 of the most studied US classics out there are inexpensive, so anyone that wants to collect or specialize in these stamps can afford to do that: 1c 1857 (Type V), 3c 1851 or 1857, 3c 1861.

So, the Type V is reasonably priced, and also was printed very poorly. It was a good thing for philately that the stamp was poorly printed because (almost) each unique position on each plate is identifiable to the exact position because of unintended plate marks, blisters, cracks and mottling. To be able to find the exact plate position of a 1c 1851 or 1857 stamp, 3 different references are a must:

"The US One Cent Stamp of 1851-1857" by Stanley Ashbrook, which is the book that started it all, and is the "Bible"

"The United States One Cent Stamp of 1851 - 1861" by Mortimer Neinken, which does not replace, but makes many corrections to the Ashbrook book.

AND a Great Website:
"The One Cent Franklin Plating Archive" by Richard Doporto, which is found at this URL:
http://www.slingshotvenus.com/Frank...hv_Main.html

Stallzer, feel free to continue! I'll start to talk about the Type V stamps specifically over the weekend, and will show an example of each relief.

I also want to point out that I'm still a beginner with the 1c 1857's. Art Launier specializes in this stamp, mostly specializing in finding "curls" which is where a hair or filament made its way onto the plate during the printing process. The person who posts on this website who has the most knowledge on this stamp is without a doubt, Winston Sinclair. And Winston has been a tremendous help to all of us, and he is an asset to the SCF community, the VSC community and the hobby of philately in general.

I'm not planning on getting into a lot of details, and will take some liberties-- if you want details, you should really consider first joining the US Philatelic Classics Society, and also consider finding a copy of Ashbrook's or Neinken's book.

So, have a great weekend!
Hope this is helpful-- Ray