#1204 Dag Hammarskjold Curiosities

While rummaging through eight pounds of used US mixed stamps in search of the elusive #554d, I came upon a #1204 that didn't quite look right. In comparison with the other I had in stock, the white portion on the left hand side of the stamp looked distinctly different. Immediately checked Scott Specialized, and found that there are actually three "types" - Scott doesn't differentiate between them, nor do they label them as three separate varieties. They're all just #1204s. The explanation provided is quite interesting since I revel in these types of curiosities. The result of the printer's work, as the catalogue explains, is that "Stamps of first vertical row of UL and UR panes show no-yellow at the left side for a space of 11-11 1/2 mm in from the perforations. Stamps of the first vertical row of UR and LR panes show vertical no-yellow strip 9 3/4 mm wide covering UN Building. On all others, the vertical no-yellow strip is 3 1/2 mm wide, and touches the UN Building." Learn something new everyday!

Yes, the 3-varieties of the Scott #1204s have been mentioned here before. Examples are even shown in this previous thread:

https://goscf.com/t/4938

[edit] By the way, you should correct the title of your post, as the name is Hammarskjold (ending with an "ld"). It will help in future searches.

wt1, thanks for the spelling catch. I imagine the reason I didn't notice the previous strand in archives was because it was titled #1203 vice #1204.

I have that exact album. That is a Scott Minuteman page. I always wondered why the USPS would go to so much trouble as to print a second set of those stamps, just to destroy the rarity of the original issue.


-IBFS

Edit...I screwed things up. Now that I want to share mine, this whole post should have gone into the original thread. Sorry. But I didn't know about the three different varieties and that Scott didn't differentiate between them. I always just thought mine was "weird" because the yellow was so off. Mine is evidently up the right side. Which positions could it be?...I don't know...




-IBFS