Trying To Determine 544, Please Look.

Another recent thread on the subject of #544 spurred me to look through a few of my own things. Is there a quick way by looking at these pictures someone can rule out the one on the left? Thanks in advance for looking.

Buy a perf gauge,that will help,speculating Scott is a time waste.

"1924 International Air Races" is an interesting caption on the left card. What is on the view side?

the stamp on the left is a perf 10 Scott 543.

Clark

If it has a single line watermark, it could be US #424.

If it is flat plate press rather than rotary it is a #462.


-IBFS

I'm not sure what you mean by your last statement but this is the perf gauge I'm rolling with. Don't laugh. Assuming it's the same age as the album it was housed in, it's from 1910. Actually, I like old things, but I say don't laugh because I'm not sure how practical it is by todays standards.

On a side note, when counting perfs, do you count the 'inside', or cavity, of the perf along the horizontal (top & bottom) of the stamp?






Per request. It says Curtiss Racing Plane.






I thought the 544 is also a perf 10? Or maybe I need to learn how to count perfs? (seriously)




This is way over my head.

Too many posts starting with "if". Look at the stamp. Compare color and appearance with the other two. No flat plate stamp would look like that. While it is true that differences in appearance between flat plate and rotary stamps may be more subtle for 1 cent stamps, most stamps can be immediately be placed in a rotary or flat plate pile based on appearance. In a pile of mixed 1 cent stamps, rotary press stamps will immediately stand out. An occasional dry print of a flat plate stamp may slip into the rotary pile, but size will give it away.

Clark

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In today's catalogs, 544 is the rare perf 11 variety made with flat plate perforators sheet waste left over from printing the perf 10 rotary press sheet stamp. If you catalog predates World War II, don't rely on it for correct Scott numbers.

Clark

Clark is, of course, 100% correct. A quick way to immediately identify that stamp as rotary or flat is that on most/many rotary-printed stamps of this period, there is a "streaking" effect, where you can clearly see traces of ink, especially in the white areas of the stamp. This is caused I believe, by imperfectly-wiped plates. And you can easily see the streaking on that #543 stamp. Flat plate stamps NEVER show this element. Conversely, flat plate stamps (off cover) can usually easily be identified by turning the stamp over and you will see ink set-off on the back, something rarely, if ever, seen on rotary stamps.

Great postcard. It's interesting that it actually reads Curtis not Curtiss...? I assumed it was a plane built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company. Then I noticed the Curtis. Hmmm

Yes, Once the letters on the tail hit the black they completely disappear... I suppose it's possible the person producing this postcard faced the same problem and, in haste and without knowing better, wrote Curtis.

Or maybe it's a different outfit all together. But probably not likely.

Here I fixed it. Now it's worth more. A lot more.

Inverted Curtis Jenny

Great stuff JessEm!

But is it an invert or an unvert? LOL!!

Haha glad you guys liked that. I'll be here all week.

Ok, let's see if I have this straight. The 544 is a flat plate stamp, and the consensus is, the stamp in question was done on a rotary? Is that correct? Thanks for your patience with me.