U436 Cut Square - Crease In Printing?

Does this appear to be a minor crease that was part of the printing process of this embossed envelope cut square? Since the back doesn't show the crease to extend beyond the indicia, it appears to me that the anomaly probably happened in the envelope printing process.

Comments?

Typical paper pinch as the paper was forced into the printing die on a rotary press. Often misrepresented as plate cracks with an attempt to achieve more money by ethically challenged sellers. The pinch usually presents as a white line across the colored area and with much less definition on the reverse.

Thomas, the EFO collector, should weigh in on this as well.

While wt1's example shows the die pinch crease entirely contained within the borders of the die, most do not. I like this example, which clearly shows the paper crease outside the die's border (view from inside the envelope):



The die interacts with the envelope blank from the top down. As the point of maximum pressure moves onto the head, the paper is pulled towards the center and is pushed down into the head. As the die rolls past the midpoint of the head that extra paper has no where to go, and a crease forms (or, is likely to form).

You can have a lot of fun collecting these. They are cheap efos (certain class of ebay sellers notwithstanding), they work for cut squares, and you can make up lots of ways of classifying them.

Thanks for the explanation. Interesting info., although I'm not sure I'm ready to specialize in collecting these EFOs exclusively.

That was interesting. Thank you.

". . . not sure I'm ready to specialize in collecting these EFOs exclusively."

No, no! Specialize in collecting as many areas of EFOs as you can.