US Scott 753 On Cover Front

This could be 733 or 753, no way to tell.... but it could never be SOLD as a 753 because there are no line gutters showing. Guidelines at the edge are immaterial because 733 and 753's will have them.

Got it! Thank you Kevin and Chasa for the clarification. So, both the 733 and 753 have the guidelines, but the only way to tell if it is a 753 is to have a guideline within a block (or larger) or pair, NOT at the edge. So this could be either, but can't confirm as 753, so must assume 733.

I do not see anything in the lower right corner that would hint of a guideline. I do see the left diagonal of the guide arrow in the upper right corner which would make this an upper left section (given the left selvage.) And why couldn't someone just take a bottle of mucilage (remember the bottles used for school projects way back when)and place on envelope. The application of adhesive was not exclusive to returning to post office (unless you wanted it neat). So what is that SC# again?????

eligies....really???

Really what?? I don't see the guide line?? I think I see the diagonal of an arrow guide? or it's hard to believe that someone could use store bought mucilage???

OKAY! I just magnified the Image to 500% now I FAINTLY see along the right perf line some inking?? and maybe the bottom perf line but it is very weak. The arrow diagonal is more pronounced.

The sheet had gum...it was a #733.
Guide arrows are present...
Poster posted a closeup of the LR 4 stamps....
clearly seen in there.

Kevin... in the short few months I've been on SCF,
I have become *firmly convinced* based upon some
of the responses I have observed by some people,
you could post an image of the Empire State Building,
and state...

"This is the Empire State Building"

and some people would debate it with responses
ranging from Cleopatra's Needle to the Washington
Monument to the Eiffel Tower... (as a figurative
example)...

Randall....TRUE!

the thread was confusing: The 753 has guidelines & gum, the 733 has neither therefore it defaults to the 753 because of the guideline (I need to leave the Captain Morgan in the cabinet when I read these). Is there any way to differentiate a single 733 from 753 on cover?? perfs?? size?? color??

Both have guidelines....
There is 1 way to differentiate once on cover.
It must be a position piece....
Horiz line pair, vert line pair, arrow block
or centerline block....
Singles are exactly the same.

After reading your post again....
#733 has GUM
#753 has NO GUM
BOTH HAVE GUIDE LINES....
#753 HAS POSITION PIECES...#733 DOES NOT.

Okay now -- to be a 753 it must be a position piece.. a position piece is a pair horizontal or vertical pair with guide lines or a block w/centerline (horizontal or vertical) or an arrow block. 733 has gum. since the guide arrow is partial and the guideline is on the outer edge does that validate a position piece (or do I need an adjoining vertical (or horizontal ) stamp to validate. I still can't figure out if it's a 733 or 753. The user could have bought an ungummed sheet (753), cut the sheet to produce the 50 section, applied mucilage (rather than send it or take it for adhesive application by PO) and stuck it on the mail piece. Off cover its a gum versus no gum mint. If I purchased a no gum from the PO (753) and sent it to the PO for application of adhesive, does that now make it a 733 (or did the PO issue this with gum early on?). In reading the Scotts guidelines were only found on 753 issues no gum (2010 pg88) SO the showing of the guidelines DEFAULTS to 753.

gee, this is where I came in!

This could be 733 or 753, no way to tell.... but it could never be SOLD as a 753 because there are no line gutters showing. Guidelines at the edge are immaterial because 733 and 753's will have them.



Edited by chasa - 07/27/2014 7:09 pm

according to Scott, the Post Office issues 756-765 & 769-770 only were accepted for gumming. (full sheets) (From Scott: "#753 is similar to #733. Positive identification is by blocks or pairs showing guide line between stamps. These lines between stamps are found only on #753"). So if I read this correctly there can be NO #733 with guide lines BUT if these were produced in sheets of 200 with 4-panes of 50, cutting the #733 into panes would require 'eyeballing' the complete sheet or all that was presented on the sheet was a guide arrow with no line running horizontal or vertical. If that is correct, then the sheet shown would be a #753 and if a #733 a partial arrow would/might show but w/no line. (still confused )

733 was printed in sheets of 200, gummed, perforated, including the guidelines, and split into panes of 50 along the vertical and horizontal guidelines. No straight edge copies were created. Most other flat plate issues were cut instead of perforated along the guidelines resulting in straight edge copies. The special printing 753 was printed in sheets of 200 from the same plates, perforated and sold in sheets of 200 without gum. The Bureau of Engraving and printing did not offer to add gum to perforated special printings. The offer was valid only for imperforate sheets.

Clark