Bob Proof Sets On Card

Rather than drag back up a three year old post, I thougth that I would begin a fresh thread on the five or six possible printings of the card proofs. The card proofs were produced by the American BNC between 1879 and 1894
This is the Agricultute P4 set that was sent in it's own envelope, mabe someone here can tell us which year that printing was. This set includes plate position 8 of 10 Cent stamp with it's large plate scratch through LTURE of AGRICULTURE and into the right margin.





















A close up detail of the plate scratch.




















And their original envelope.

These are Atlanta Proofs, all five colors of the 3 Cent Agriculture.

Wow amazing! I believe that little mark is either a plate scratch or more likely a "gripper crack" from someone wiping extra ink off the original plate since these are proofs and the plates haven't been used enough to acquire any wear or cracks. Just my opinion on te matter.

The scratch on the ten cent is a constant plate variety, caused by a dropped tool. There's another tool mark on the 90 cent war that is rather amusing, makes it look like the Commodore is having a cigar.

Actually these plates saw quite a bit of use, as there was only the one plate for each stamp. As they were used, each plate wore more and or picked up another mark.

Atlanta trial color Interior, the full set of the blue and a couple of the green. You will notice that there are two detail scans, one of the tool mark on the 2 cent and the other of the oddly shaped position dot and the extra color under Fuss n Feather's eye.

Phil these are gorgeous. So it looks like these were sold to the public as sets in an envelope in the regular colors. How did the color trials make it out into the public? Were they sold directly to collectors at that time?

Beautiful

The "Atlanta" set of card proofs were printed in five colors ( Black, Scarlet, Brown, Green, & Blue ) on thin card in 1881 for display at the International Cotton Exhibition in Atlanta, Ga. I don't know how many were printed, but they probably got into the philatelic market when Walter Scott purchased Henry Mandel's ( American BNC official ) proof collection. See Volume 214 of the Cronicle. When you concider that the whole issue of all of the Officials was concieved, approved, new plates engraved for 89 face different stamps as well as the frame and vignette of the dollar values, stamps printed and delivered in less than three months, it is an amazing body of work by the Continental Bank Note Company.

Executive set of Alanta Trial Color in Brown, anyone know where I can find nicer O10 P4 TC?

Very nice thread! Officials have always been among my favorite BOB material, but I don't know much about the proofs. These all appear to be printed in sheets on card and cut to size. Were there also individual proofs printed in the center of larger cards?

All of the Official proofs I have seen have been priced at $10-15 each. Is that a fair price for these?

Greg, these are all card proofs, P4s and Atlanta Trial color card proofs. There are Die proofs, large and small, Plate proofs on stamp paper, India Paper, and these card proofs. I know of no individual proofs printed in the center of a larger card.

IGEagle, for the card proofs, yes. About 3X that for a trial color. Wait for an auction, I got all of my Agriculture Brown trial color P4s as one auction lot.
The whitish blob on Mr. Clay's nose on the left stamp below is on the mount, didn't notice it before I scanned the 12 cent pair last month, or before I put them back in the stock book. My bad.

Phil you've got some amazing items and I enjoy seeing all these photos, I can see this is your passion. Thanks for the tips.

Yes, it is my passion. You're welcome for the tips, have plenty more, love telling folks about these stamps. :)

You are a bad influence on me. I took the plunge and bought a couple proofs today.

Great! Thats a nice pair to start with. When they arrive, tell me if the shade matches, they don't look to be the same shade on my monitor. If they don't match, they are probably from different printings. Which is quite common with the Official P4s. Keep after the special printings, like I said in an earlier post I picked up an O57 xs for under 10 bucks on StampstoGo this month. My latest Specialized is 1996, whats the catalogue price of O57s and O57xs in your newer catalogue? In the 1996 issue the American stamp is 12 times more, there are, or were only 1,672 of the 1881 American stamp, well make that 1,667, I'm holding 5 of them out of circulation. I gambled on this ebay lot because I thought it was the right yellow green and I got lucky. Now I have a "used' O57 xs in my Faked Cancel Specimen collection.

My catalog is 2012 so not the latest.