Need Help Identifying This Etched Copper Plate Of A 30c Due

Hello everyone,


I picked this up because I thought it was odd. A small copper plate with the a reversed 30 cent postage due.


I find it weird that,


A. It's reversed for printing
B. It's a single stamp with the perforations in the "die"
C. It's around 3 or more millimeters smaller in length and width than an average flat plate stamp, but I don't have any of this actual stamp to compare it to.

If you zoom in closely on the second pic, you can see the dots in the plate quite clearly. I don't know what this was made for or how it was made. Is it intaglio, photogravure? Was this some art project? A plate for faking? It's just so much smaller.

If anyone wants hq scans from my scanner, let me know.

Thanks!

There was something similar to this on an episode of "Pawn Stars" a couple of years back. A customer brought in a "die" for a 24c classic U.S. stamp, complete with perforations. I don't remember what the "expert" concluded. It may have been created for an advertisement.

Robert

Thanks! I just checked it out on youtube, and found a thread here about the episode. It's looking like a photo etch for print purposes, a book or advertising.

it's very cool

It was probably created for a catalog or a magazine article.

Neat item, coilfan!

These sort of items are also created by, and for, collectors to make facsimiles for fun or sale. The clearest sign that it is not an original die is the fact that the die impression has perforations. Still, it would look great on any collector's display case!