1973 Plate Blocks

Just sharing some of my collection. My intro to these forums can be found here: https://goscf.com/t/36990

I still remember my aunt giving these plate blocks to me as a kid. Sorry for the upside down images! I looked up the Scott numbers in the 2008 Scott catalog. I am not sure what all the gobblty-gook along sides means with numbers.

Scott No. A933 to A940 and A917


Scott No A921 and A931


Scott No A922 and A930


Scott No A954 and A901


Scott No A900 and another A921

Marmus, welcome to the forum. The stuff along the edges ( the numbers ) are the plate numbers. To keep this understandable, these stamps were printed using one plate per color. That is why each number is in a different color!
The lines you see in the selvedge ( the sides ) were used for positioning the sheets.
Boy, seems like a long time since we paid 8 cents to mail a letter!

Peter

welcome to the forum Marmus. I love the letters mingle souls stamps. A lost art.

Those 1973 plate blocks bring back memories, as it was about the time I first started collecting new issues and I remember buying those at my local post office. Fortunately, those multi-numbered plate blocks went away after awhile as they were expensive to buy (by the standards of that day) and created a real problem with mounting and storage of them by collectors.

Sadly, even after 40+ years the stamps aren't worth much as collectibles, but at least they retain their postage value.

Thanks for the warm welcome.

@Petert4522 - thank you for the descriptions. I have read about some of that stuff but it is nice to actually have an example and description from someone who knows about it. It is now much clearer.

@wt1 - your comment about size being an issue for collectors explains how I got them, LOL!

I realized after posting that I recorded the Image number from Scott catalog and not the true Scott number.

I also have a "sort of" block of 24 Lafayette US Bicentennial that was use to ship a large package to my family. Not sure if this would be called a "partial cover?" The top 15 look to be a intact block with side border...imaging licking that thing!