Scott 912 Overrun Countries Series: Luxembourg

Nothing earth shattering here, but I was going through some copies of Scott 912 and noticed one stamp I have has a blurred out "B" in the spelling of "LUXEMBOURG". Here's a scan (and a closeup) next to a normal example. Is this a known EFO?

Woefully behind the times, but my 1996 Scott's Specilized has a statement inserted above the Overrun Counties Issue listing that says;

"Due to the failure of the printers ( American Bank Note Company ) to divulge detailed informationas to printing processes used, the editots omit listing of irregularities, flaws, blemishes, and "errors" which are numerous in this issue. These include shifted prints (not true double prints), etc. An exception is made for the widely recognized KORPA variety"

My old catalogue also identifiys the stamp as 912

Thanks for the response.

The stamp is Scott 912 (I just fixed it in the text; I listed it correctly in the title). In any case a similar note is included in all later Scott catalogs but was modified a bit when the listings were expanded (as shown below):



In any event, I guess the example I posted must be one of those so-called "blemishes".

I have some of the overrun countries where the printing of the country name appears to have been made by different methods. I never received any clarification from The Scott Co. and never pursued it further. I don't think the information to make informed decisions is available.

Although not connected with the above referenced stamp, pages 3-8 at this link has some interesting information about the printing methods of some of the Overrun Countries stamps:

http://www.nwpl.org/documents/BookR..._Dec2012.pdf

The two most comprehensive resources for Overrun Nations plate/printing varieties are John Engel's catalogs from 1943-45 and Sol Glass's articles in the 1945 and 1948 issues of The Stamp Specialist. This variety is not listed in either.

My interest is in the Czechoslovakia issue (Sc 910). In preparing and researching my exhibit on this issue, I have identified several constant plate/printing varieties for the issue. It is helpful/important to have a reference collection of mint sheets (panes) of the issue and being able to identify which pane it is (upper or lower and right or left).

There is an excellent series of articles by Clark Crane in The United States Specialist. These articles (published June, 1974 thru April, 1980) deal specifically with the Luxembourg and Netherlands stamps. The Luxembourg stamp was printed in the upper two panes and Netherlands in the bottom two panes. These articles also have information on the Czechoslovakia and Norway stamps.

I've gone thru my accumulation (about 150) of Luxembourg stamps, plus two used sheets. I note a wide variety of clear to blurred "B"s. The blurred Bs range from just slightly blurry to fully blurred, looking virtually solid. The blurred Bs do not occur in any particular plate position. This indicates an inconsistent printing, not plate, variation.