546 Listed As A 500 ?

SC 500 - with good characteristics of the type 1A

Hi chasa... at first glance it would appear 500... however look at the right ribbon below the bust... appears to be Ty III = 546...

Looks like a Ia to me, left ribbon and right, although it would be nice to see a larger image for the right.

The image isn't very clear, of course, but from what I see on both my home screen and office screen, neither the left nor right ribbons are clearly type I/Ia ribbons...

I think left ribbon looks clearly Ia. Color and impression are other qualities too that seem to point to Ia, but I'm no expert.

The 500 isn't the only stamp with the "Ia" characteristics... it's only a Ia when it's basic characteristics are Ty I, perf 11, unwatermarked (plus) the Ia characteristics...

If I am seeing the same stamp as you it's a 540 rotary press stamp

wash500... it would be a 546... 540 is 11x10...
I believe we can all agree it (appears to be)
perf 11 all around...

That right hand ribbon (albeit a bit muddled)
sure appears to be Ty III... and the left one
is not clear either...

Many Type Ia stamps show fragments of an extra shading line in the ribbon where a Type III would have one. I think the Type Ia was prepared for longer plate usage and perhaps for multi-transfer rollers just like the three-cent type II before it. The three cent type II has extra shading lines in the ribbon and many additional hair lines, just like the two cent type Ia.

When the plate wears it's the toga and hair that weaken first, so it's logical that these areas be strengthened if a longer-lived plate is desired.

I believe the improved die for the two cent flat plate stamps (type Ia) followed the same steps for strengthening the three cent design. However, the added shading line in the ribbon was already done for the type III rotary stamps. I further think the shading line was a secret mark to identify the improved die for the type III (note how difficult it can be to discern differences between the two cent types I and II).

Realizing that mistake, possibly leading to production from the die we call type III to be confused with the die we call type Ia, the line was burnished from the ribbon on all ten positions, either on the plate or on the roller, prior to laying out the printing plates. Some shading lines were successfully removed while others had remaining fragments.

Given these lines are not on the Type I die proof, and that a line can only be added to a die or a plate (not to a roller), there had to have been a die made from a Type I roller that was worked into the Type Ia die, which is why differences in type Ia being attributed to increased pressure on a type I die or roller is fantasy.

#540 or 546 it's beside the point it's a rotary press not a flat plate I think we can all agree. So what ever, it's not a 500

The stamp is a type Ia Scott 500. A 546 will have a completely different look to it. Check http://item.ebay.com/251584008761 What is being seen are the partial extra lines reported by Richard Prothero in his 1997 USSS Journal article. It is not uncommon for some expertizers, even some of the best to have problems identifying some a type Ia examples. Over the last 30 years or so, I found about 80 #500 examples in mix, some #540 and only a couple #546, but a strip of three in one case.

It is likely that faint lines or partial lines exist on the multi-subject transfer rolls. How well they render on the stamp depends on how well inked the plate was. A few plate 10208 stamps appear to have relatively weak impressions. I have a scan of one somewhere showing a quite weak impression on the right side. There is no trace whatsoever of a partial second line on a well printed type I 409 or late printings of 499 produced after the end of World War I.

Clark

It may also look like a 546 because the aspect ratio of the scan is messed up making it look wider than it actually is. It is # 500.

I'm inclined to go with Tipzi's explanation...

"the line was burnished from the ribbon on all ten positions, either on the plate or on the roller, prior to laying out the printing plates. Some shading lines were successfully removed while others had remaining fragments.

Given these lines are not on the Type I die proof, and that a line can only be added to a die or a plate (not to a roller), there had to have been a die made from a Type I roller that was worked into the Type Ia die, which is why differences in type Ia being attributed to increased pressure on a type I die or roller is fantasy."

After considering the possible flaw in the aspect ratio & thanks for bringing that to my attention. Upon reexamination of the toga button, it does have the appearance of a type 1a. I would sure like to see the back of that stamp, all 35 of my 500's have dots of ink or impressions typical of flat plate printing. I'm not saying this is always the case but seems to be more often then not. There's nothing like having the item in hand. I find trying to ID from a scan very difficult. In person I'm pretty good at spotting them by eye, I'm still working on a hoard of 15 shoe boxes of pre-soaked 2c Wash. I bought from a dealer that didn't think it was worth his time, paid $20.00 thats where most of my 500's as well as 540's,546's 491.492, 453-55, sets of offsets, and many different imperf's. So I think my eye pretty keen to the different 2s Wash. but aspect ratio did not even enter my mind and again thanks for that.

wash_500... try requesting a backscan
from the seller... most will either
post to their listing or message one
when they receive a request...