Overrun Countries Errors

is there a site anywhere that gives clear examples of the different errors such as Belgium double impression? or is this example a double impression?

mac, I don't know of any one site that explains/pictures all of the errors. Most were reverse printings, if I remember correctly. I wish they had used a better description, as reverse printing is a confusing term. The situation was actually mistakenly ordered color runs.

Those stamps were contracted out to a private company to make them, quality was not priority 1, they dont even stick well if your mailing them

KGB wrote: "The situation was actually mistakenly ordered color runs." This is incorrect. All flag colors and the country name were printed in one pass through the press. Up to four colors were applied to the printing blanket from four different ink fountains. The printer (ABNC) experimented with different order of colors in the ink fountains, trying to obtain the best looking results. Different ordering of the ink colors resulted in the "normal", "reverse", and "partial reverse" printings.

The printing process was complex. The intaglio (engraved) frames were printed first, followed by the printing of the flag and country name. The process of aligning up to four different colors for simultaneous printing was no simple matter. I have examined in excess of 60,000 Overrun Nations stamps and believe ABNC did a excellent job in consistently producing quality stamps.

The best sources for the plate and printing varieties are the booklets published by Engle in 1944 and 1945 and the Sol Glass articles published in the The Stamp Specialist in 1945 and 1948. Ken Lawrence's article in the January, 1998 American Philatelist is also worthwhile. James Kloetzel's Editor's columns in Scott Stamp Monthly (September, 2005;October, 2005; April, 2006; & March, 2009) are invaluable. The March, 2009 article includes an excellent description and diagram of the printing process. Between June, 1974 and April, 1980, Clark Crane wrote a extensive series of articles in The United States Specialist. Crane's series dealt primarily with the Luxembourg & Netherlands issues but also contains valuable information on some other countries, too.

rug, thank you for the clarification. I assumed that the colors were done in separate runs, but it seems that the reordering of fountains would result in the same effect. I still feel that 'reverse printing' is not the best way of describing the stamps.

KGB, I agree completely that 'reverse printing' is not an ideal description. I have no suggestions for an alternative; since the term is now well-established, I doubt there's any point in trying to change it. It is further misleading because 'normal' prints are not necessarily the most common. My specialty is the Czechoslovakia flag stamp (Scott 910). The 'reverse printing' is by far the most common on this stamp, based on my examination of perhaps 10,000 copies. I haven't attempted to specifically identify the breakdown but I would guess about two-thirds, perhaps three-fourths, are 'reverse', with the rest roughly evenly divided between 'normal' and "partial reverse'.

I believe 'normal' always refers to black (or other color) shading over flag colors for consistency purposes, even when it is not the most common variety for an issue. It would be impossibly confusing otherwise.

When I was a kid starting collecting (mid- to late-1950s), this was my favorite U.S. set of stamps. Assembling my collection/exhibit of the Czech stamp has been great fun and quite educational. I've got some odds 'n' ends of the whole series but have only specialized in depth on the Czech stamp.

rug, very interesting! Have you ever seen one of the Korea errors?

KGB: I assume by "one of the Korea errors" you mean the 'KORPA' name variety. The Korea stamp was printed in sheets of 200, four panes of 50 each. The 'KORPA' error occurs only in plate position 26 of the lower left pane. Thus, theoretically, one of every 200 Korea stamps should be the 'KORPA' variety. In practice, they're not that common but I don't think they're all that difficult to find. The Scott catalog value is $19 mint, $12.50 used. Earlier this week, I sold a complete sheet, used, with the 'KORPA' error at our local club auction; it went for $15.50.

That was quite a good deal. I wish I had been there!

By the way, the 60 page book is entitled, "ENGEL'S FLAG STAMP VARIETIES CATALOG 1945." Another source for varieties is the 'ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PLATE VARIETIES ON U.S. BUREAU-PRINTED POSTAGE STAMPS" by Loren C. French.

Hal is correct in mentioning the French book; it is excellent. There is also a 1944 edition of the Engel catalog.

One thing that is important to be aware of: Some, perhaps most, of the varieties identified in the various references noted in these posts are not truly "plate" errors but are more accurately "printing" varieties. A plate error would be consistent throughout the print run, occurring in every stamp from a particular pane position or positions. A printing variety would not be consistent throughout the print run. It could be caused by a piece of debris on the printing plate, damage to the plate at some point in the print run, etc., etc.

For the Czechoslovakia stamp, Crane identifies three printing plates (A, B, C). He also suggests there was an experimental plate but I have not been able to verify this. The Czechoslovakia stamp was printed at the same time as the Norway stamp--Czechoslovakia was printed in the top two panes and Norway was printed in the bottom two panes of the print sheet. Some of the Czechoslovakia errors/varieties occur on one plate, some on two plates, or some on all three plates. Some occur on only the left pane, some on only the right pane, and some on both panes. This adds some substantial complexity to identifying/studying the Czechoslovakia stamp. From my reference collection of mint panes (I have at least 3 panes from each plate as well as left and right pane), I've been able to identify several constant varieties that were not listed in the above references. Since the Norway stamp was printed at the same time, it would also have the same number of plates. I have not studied the other stamps, so I don't know how many plates were used for printing other countries. This is an area ripe for study and new discoveries.

Today I saw a pair of the Albania with a PSAG cert (that will be in the January Harmer-Schau auction) where one of the two stamps had the Albania - the second Albania was weaker and shifted about half a letter. What I don't understand is how only one of the two stamps could have the doubling!

Eyeonwall: In the upcoming Harmer-Schu auction, is it a horizontal pair or vertical pair of the Albania stamp?

I want to say horiz, but I can not recall for sure

Thanks, Eye! That's what I pretty much expected. It is believed by some researchers that the doubling of country names is a result of a stutter/pause/hesitation in the press during the print run. As such, it would only affect one, perhaps two, column(s). In a horizontal pair, only one stamp having the name doubled would be consistent with that understanding.

[/img]I found a 909c with a lock of hair hanging down on the woman's face, probably a scratched plate.