Help With Plating #11

Gary, unfortunately I think the only solution is to replace my scanner. Problem being...my wife just purchased it less than a year ago.

Maybe a change of scanner settings would help. Image clarity will be vital for this project.

Don,

1. The 26 panes (13 plate states) are a complete list.
2. All 2600 positions are known/identified/illustrated on the Smithsonian Chase prints.
3. We will need to display more than one image per plate position, since some specimens will have important plating diagnostics cut off.

As can be seen on Steve's site, images are missing from many positions due to various reasons. Stamps from some of the "orange brown plates" are scarcer and can be more difficult to plate. Likewise, stamps from plate 6 and 7 can be difficult to plate because of more consistent recuts.

It would be good to set some image standards as soon as possible. Scanning a single stamp and cropping it can take me up to 15 minutes, and I have hundreds of plated 3-cent stamps to scan. Here are some suggested standards:

1. Use 1200 DPI for all images. Ten years ago 300 DPI was pretty much standard for illustrating stamps on ebay, etc, but now it seems too low. Steven used 600 DPI, but now that seems too low. Looking forward another 10 years, 1200 DPI may be low, but asking for higher resolution from contributors may be prohibitive now. Below is an 800 DPI image of 3L3 followed by a 1200 DPI image. I scanned 3L3 because it has a sheet margin, which factors into image size considerations. For comparison, the 600 DPI version of this stamp is currently the first 3L3 linked on Steven's site.

800 DPI image of 3L3


1200 DPI image of 3L3


2. Align stamps on the scanner as close as possible to perfectly straight. Realigning an image in an image editor does result in some loss in resolution. Aligned images can be downloaded and compressed in one dimension in an image editor to help visualize curves in frame lines as with the 95R2L example below:

Two examples of 95R2L vertically compressed to match side frame line curves

Here is an old photo of the Smithsonian Chase prints for plates 1L 2L and 3 that I took when I sold duplicate prints in 2005. There are six 11 X 14 prints on photo paper representing left and right panes of 100 stamps for each of the three plates. All 2600 positions are represented in the full set:

Classic,
Thank you very much for spending time of this and your great input. You are absolutely right about the need to have an image spec, the one you outline works for me. The good news is that I can build a database which automatically generates a thumbnail when the high resolution image is uploaded. So the final design will present users with just the thumbnails at first, if the user clicks on the thumbnail it will only then present the high resolution image.

I have completed the initial database design and would like input. Please note it is far easier to architect this with 'room for growth' then it is to go back after the fact and try to add to the database design. Here is what I have so far…

USE [DB]
GO

/****** Object:  Table [dbo].[SCF_Plate]    Script Date: 01/18/2016 12:02:17 ******/
SET ANSI_NULLS ON
GO

SET QUOTED_IDENTIFIER ON
GO

SET ANSI_PADDING ON
GO

CREATE TABLE [dbo].[SCF_Plate](
	[counter] [nchar](50) not NULL,
	[plate] [varchar](100) not NULL,
	[position] [varchar](100) not NULL,
	[comments] [varchar](max) NULL,
	[image1] [varchar](max) NULL,
	[image2] [varchar](max) NULL,
	[image3] [varchar](max) NULL,
	[image4] [varchar](max) NULL,
	[image5] [varchar](max) NULL,
		 
PRIMARY KEY CLUSTERED 
(
	[counter] ASC
)WITH (PAD_INDEX  = OFF, STATISTICS_NORECOMPUTE  = OFF, IGNORE_DUP_KEY = OFF, ALLOW_ROW_LOCKS  = ON,  
ALLOW_PAGE_LOCKS  = ON) ON [PRIMARY]
) ON [PRIMARY]

GO

SET ANSI_PADDING OFF
GO

Note that this design contains the following fields (think of them as columns in a spreadsheet).
The 'counter' field is a database thing, it is set to be the index for the database, it will go from 1 to 2600.
The 'plate' field will contain the plate description such as Plate 0 Left or Plate 8 Right.
The 'position' field will contain the position such as 1L1 or 83R1.
The 'comments' field will contain any extraneous info.
Each 'image' field will hold the path to an image.

I intentionally used two separate fields for 'plate' and 'position'; this will allow users to sort/filter based upon either field. In other words, they might want to compare Plate 2-Early Right 33R1 with Plate 2-Early Left 33R1. Or perhaps a user might want to filter or sort by the plate positions. As can be seen, I have included up to 5 images per record, do we think this is enough or should I add more?

I have completed the list for all of 2600 plates/positions and am ready to populate the database if folks think that the database design is good to go.
Thanks for any input or suggestions,
Don

Don,

Stampcrow posted a diagram of the two-pane, 200-stamp plate layout in this post, although I think you've got this visualized already:

https://goscf.com/t/46147&whichpage=2#393912

Don, is there anyway for users to search using key words. Actually in the case of these stamps it could just be a list of key characteristics.

Example: "Three lines recut upper left triangle". If I could toggle that characteristic 'on', then view a given plate, only positions with that recut will be highlighted.

This might be way to intensive. I'm ignorant when it comes to building web sites. Folks reading this might be rolling their eyes and muttering 'obviously'....

stampcrow,
Yes, users will be able to search the 'comments' field. It will also have a 'filter as you type' feature which will display any matching records, So for example, a user might type position 1L1 into the filter and the page will automatically update itself with the following;
Plate 0 Left
Plate 1-Early Left
Plate 1-Intermediate Left
Plate 1-Late Left
Plate 2-Early Left
Plate 2-Late Left
Plate 3 Left
Plate 4 Left
Plate 5-Early Left
Plate 5-Late Left
Plate 6 Left
Plate 7 Left
Plate 8 Left
Users will then be able to compare and contrast all 1L1 position records with their info and images.
Don

New Question...
I notice that on the Ruecker site he used and 'e' or 'l' as part of the position number for early and late plates. Is it best to add position number in that fashion? For example, 1L2L? (I am not sure if the 'e' and 'l' designation is something that just Steve did or if that is standard nomenclature.)
Thanks
Don

I'm not clear what you're referring to. I see he used 1L2L with the second L (late) being slightly smaller then the first. He uses lower case e and also lower case I for early and intermediate states respectively. I wonder if he uses upper case l to avoid confusion with the number 1?

stampcrow,
Yes, I am referring to the lower case 'L' and 'E'. Are the 'L' and 'E' used by everyone or just by Mr. Ruecker? In other words if I said to a knowledgeable #11 plater "23L2L" would they understand the second 'L'?
Thanks
Don

Don, Yes.

With "e" for early and "i" for intermediate

To sum it it up, the notation order is: position number (1 to 100), pane (left or right), plate (0 through 8), and plate state (early, intermediate, or late).

The pane is always represented by an upper case L or R. The plate state is a lower-case e or i, but an upper case L to avoid confusion with a 1 or an upper-case I. Some plates have only one state, so none is mentioned, as with the 3L3 example above.

The USPCS web site puts the plate state in parentheses, but it is more common practice not to use parentheses:

http://www.uspcs.org/the-1851-1860-...2%A2-plates/

Classic,
Well rats, I just started to upload the database but it contains upper case for the state. But thank you for the info, I'll see about fixing my error.
Don