1934 National Parks One Cent Plate Blocks - What Does The "F" Indicate?

This is my first post - but have enjoyed the forum for several years. I am having a wonderful time building a collection based on my favorite stamp, the 1934-35 one cent green Yosemite National Parks design. So many interesting possiblities with the regular issue, the souvenir sheet, and the Farley issues. I do have a question. As I gather the plate blocks for #740 and #756, I am finding upper position blocks that have an "F" preceding the plate number, as well as blocks with the same plate number without an "F". What does the "F" indicate? Do the lower position blocks occur with the "F"? I have yet to find one if they do. Thanks!

Camper40,

Welcome aboard. The "F" indicates that the plate, upon which the stamps are printed, has been hardened. This generally occurred during the 20's and 30's. The markings were found to the left of the plate number in the upper right position.

Jack Kelley

By the way,Camper40, nice choice on your stamp selection. I personally love the engraved stamps 30's to 50's. You may be interested to know that MYSTIC Stamp Co. sells an album devoted to Farley's Follies. Most, of course, were from the National Parks issues.

Jack Kelley

Dear Jack - thanks so much for the information on the F plate blocks. I'll add this to the page descriptions in my album. Thanks also for the information about the Farley album; I'm enjoying creating my own album using Scott National pages and Pagemaker. It took a bit to figure out the correct settings on my printer...

'Stamp Romances - Lore and Legend Associated with the 1934 National Parks Series of Stamps -
http://www.glassblower.info/751-fir...Edition.html

There are no F plates for the Park bottoms.

Another way to collect this issue is to try to put together a matched set. In this case a matched set for #740 Plate Number 21246 consists of 3 plates, 2 Tops(Upper Left and Upper Right(F)) and 1 Bottom. To complete a matched set for #740 you need 24 positions(8 numbers times 3 positions). One can collect plate blocks of 6(plate number in the middle of the block) or singles. This is a big, expensive and labor intensive job for the whole run of Parks but can be a very rewarding experience and make a very handsome presentation.

Bob

Dear Molokai, thanks for the link, interesting reading. Regarding the plate blocks, yes, I am working on sets of the plate numbers. Thanks for the information on the different positions. I've started with the one cent because it's affordable and a really cool stamp. My eventual goal is the entire series, but this will take a while. Nothing like prolonging the enjoyment!

Camper40 - The National Parks stamps are some of my favorites too. I had seen the F on these plate number singles but never knew. Thanks for the lesson jkelley.