What Happened To This Stamp?

Any thoughts about what happened here?

I have a theory but I'd like to see what the group thinks.

What an interesting cover you have. It appears to be a misalignment of the perforating machine. I do not know how rare this is for that particular stamp, but used on cover has to be more interesting than unused or mint never hinged.
Of course, it could just have been a careless postal employee. LOL

looks like it was miscut to me but then again im still in the stamp learning process

Hello Danstamp........

It's difficult to see on this stamp.....but.....many like this have a sort of zip-edge similar to a tape dispenser in place of perfs....and careless handling causes the "freak perf" appearance....but the actual perfing is in the right area between the stamps. Somewhere here I have an envelope with a half dozen or more different edges.

Are the left & right edges of the stamp perfed or cut?

David

Happy scissors?

Someone in the archdiocese office got into the alter wine!

Ziggy9... LOL That was my second theory!
Here is a close up of the stamp.




My theory is like Nr's. I think it was part of a bulk mailing and some stamp dispenser went haywire. Both sides appear to be cut. There wouldn't be any reason to cut it like that unless it was a mechanical error or too much sacramental wine!

I concur with NR... the automatic stamp dispenser went haywire!

David

I'm not quite sure, but for me it seems that the bottom of the stamp is slightly narrower than the top part. If so, then I'd say "happy scissors"...

[EDIT: to include scan]

In this particular case, the machine that automatically cut and affixed the stamp was not calibrated correctly. What you see is that the stamp is not being advanced the proper distance, as you will notice that the combined partial stamps are actually SMALLER than the single stamp. This is why you do not see the "rof" of "Nonprofit" and the "S" of "USA" at either end of the stamp.

While the roll was probably placed into the machine correctly, the machine was advancing the roll a slightly shorter distance than required. The resulting cuts slowly shifted, producing the miscut stamp shown. Eventually, the miscut stamp would be recentered, and then slowly advance toward the 50% miscut again and so on...

Since the spacing is not calibrate correctly, ALL the stamps dispensed and applied would be damaged (have at least one straight edge).

Note that this is not considered an "error", in the normal philatelic usage, because it was not created during the stamp production process. Rather, it was created by the user.

While these problems are common, especially during the early Transportation Coil Series, your particular example is rather dramatic. It's a nice cover to have in your collection!

k

maybe it was cut in a hurry..

Very nice post khj.

Balf

Thank you, Balf!

k

I believe that is an optical illusion caused by the fact that the stamp is slightly tilted. If you measure the picture on your screen, I think you will find that the stamp is the same width at top and bottom.

k

Nice guess, technically possible, but very unlikely. It was almost certainly cut by the affixing machinery. The reason is as follows:

That stamp is a special service class stamp. It is usually used by a permit holder mailing material for a non-profit organization. While technically, it can be used for first class postage by a collector with the proper permit (yes, I have one), the example shown on cover clearly indicates use by a non-profit organization. The stamp shows the base rate of 5c per piece. The mailer paid an additional rate (probably by check) to cover the actual cost of the mailing, which is determined by the weight and total number of pieces submitted. In proper use, there is a minimum mailing volume of several hundred. So they use automatic affixing devices/machines to do the mailing. The Archdiocese is probably not a super-high volume mailer, so they likely used a hand-held affixing device. Could someone have done a few hundred by hand using scissors? Possible. But it would be much easier/faster to just tear the stamps along the perforation (you'll have to trust me, I do volume non-bulk mailing of 100s at a time; scissors will only slow you down).

Could this cover be someone just using the Archdiocese envelope to mail something? Not possible based on the cover shown. For private use with proper permit, you still have to put the full first-class postage on the envelope (which at that time was 29c) and you must write certain class/permit phrases on the envelope indicating you are authorized to use it on first-class mailings (none of these words are on the envelope).

k