Stickney Rotary Press Printed Stamp Listing For US And Other Countries

The Stickney rotary press was a web-fed wet paper intaglio (recess engraved) printing press that was invented by Benjamin R. Stickney who was an employee of the U.S. Government Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) in Washington DC.

There were two different sizes of presses: The small size with U.S. patent # 1,115,127 which was used to print U.S. coil stamps and the large size press with U.S. patent # 1,378,386 which was used to print U.S. sheet and booklet stamps.

In addition to printing U.S. stamps, the Stickney press was used to print the stamps of Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia and Sweden. The Scott numbers are arranged by consecutive sequence rather than by stamp sets in that a group of numbers may cover several sets or part sets depending on the stamps.

The purpose of this posting is to list all of the different stamps printed by the Stickney press from the U.S. and these aforementioned countries since all of these stamps are not listed together in one place.

The Stickney rotary press was used to print United States postage stamps from 1914 to 1962. This listing is divided by postage stamp type and perforation gauge. Scott catalogue numbers are used.


Coil imperforate stamp: 459 (first Stickney rotary press printed coil stamp from June 30, 1914)

Coil stamps line perforated gauge 10 horizontal: 448-450, 486-489, 604-606, 722, 848-851, C37, C41, (RF23, RF27, 2G9-2G10)

Coil stamps line perforated gauge 10 vertical: 452-458, 490-497, 597-603, 656, 686-687, 721, 723, 839-847, 1054c, 1055d, 1057c, 1058b, (RF20, RF26, WS12-WS13)

Coil waste stamps line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 10 vertical: 538-541, 579-579

Coil waste stamps line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 11 vertical: 545-546, 594-595


Booklet pane line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 583a (first Stickney rotary press printed booklet pane from 1926)

Booklet panes line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 10.5 vertical: 632a, 634d, 720b, 804b, 806b, 807a, 1035a, C25a, (PSI1b, PSI1c, PSI2b, RI14a-RI18a, S1a-S2a, WS7b-WS8b, 1G1-1G5)

Booklet pane line perforated gauge 10.5 horizontal by 11 vertical: C39a


Sheet stamp line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 11 vertical: 542 (first Stickney rotary press printed sheet stamp from May 26, 1920), (RF29)

Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 543, 581-591, 612

Sheet waste stamps line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 11 vertical: 544, 596, 613

Sheet imperforate stamp: 631

Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 10.5 vertical: 632-642, 646-648, 653, 655, 658-679, 684-685, 692-696, 704-715, 717-720, 737, 772-773, 775-777, 782-795, 798, 800-831, 835, 837-838, 855, 858, 894, 896, 898-901, 903-908, 922-928, 930-944, 946-947, 949-951, 954-959, 961-964, 967-968, 970-974, 977-978, 981-985, 987, 990-1010, 1012-1015, 1017-1029, 1030a, 1031b, 1035e, 1036c, 1039a, 1049a, 1050a, 1051a, 1052a, 1060-1061, 1065-1067, 1069-1071, 1074, 1077-1078, 1080, C25-C32, C34-C36, C38, C40, C42-C48, E15-E20, J79, J80b, J81b, J82b, J83b, J84b, J85-J86, (PN1-PN18, PS11-PS14, RI14-RI18, S1-S3, WS7-WS10, 2G5-2G7)

Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 10.5 horizontal by 11 vertical: 697-701, 727-729, 732, 752, 799, 852-853, 857, 859-893, 895, 897, 902, 929, 945, 952-953, 960, 965-966, 969, 975-976, 979-980, 986, 988-989, 1011, 1062, 1064, 1068, 1073, C16-C17, C19, C33, C39, J87, (FA1)


Canal Zone (U.S. Possession)
Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 97-99
Booklet pane line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 97b
Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 10.5 vertical: 100-104, 115-116, 118-119
Booklet pane line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 10.5 vertical: 101a-102a, 115c

Philippines (U.S. Possession)
Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 11 horizontal by 10.5 vertical: 461, 464, 497, (503), O37, O39, O44, N1, NO1

The Stickney rotary press was used to print Belgium postage stamps from 1936 to 1950. This listing is divided by postage stamp type and perforation gauge. Scott catalogue numbers are used.

Some engraved sheet stamps line perforated gauge 14 horizontal by 13.5 vertical: 283-292, 296, 305


The Stickney rotary press was used to print Canada postage stamps from 1930 to 1935. This listing is divided by postage stamp type and perforation gauge. Scott catalogue numbers are used.

Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 11.25 horizontal by 11 vertical: 162, 163, 163b, 164, 165, 165a, 166, 166b, 167, 169, 191, 191a, 192, 195, (195d), 196, 197, 197c
Booklet pane line perforated gauge 11.25 horizontal by 11 vertical: (164ai)
Coil stamps line perforated gauge 8.5 vertical: 178-183, 205-207


The Stickney rotary press was used to print Cuba postage stamps from 1930 to 1953. This listing is divided by postage stamp type and perforation gauge. Scott catalogue numbers are used.

Some engraved sheet stamps line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 308-310, 317-318, 356-358, 420-422, 445-451, 510, 512, RA4-RA7, RA9-RA43


The Stickney rotary press was used to print Czechoslovakia postage stamps from 1925 to 1958. This listing is divided by postage stamp type and perforation gauge. Scott catalogue numbers are used.

Engraved sheet stamps line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 105-106, 109-118, 126-136, 152-157, 164, 168-170, 184-211
Engraved coil stamps line perforated gauge 10 vertical: 123-125, 141, 158, 171
Engraved sheet stamps line perforated gauge 12.5 horizontal by 12.5 vertical: 212-238, 240-250, 252-256, 259-262, 293-300A, 305-306, 315-337, 343-349, 351-366, 369-371, 373, 378-401, 403-437, 440-444, 448-449, 452-474, 477-481, 483-485, 487-492, 497-498, 507-513, 523-528, 532-539, 544-545, 548-551, 557-559, 564, 600, 602, 607-608, 618, 780, 870, 871, B144-B151, B154-B157, B166-B169, C19-C35, J82-J94

Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia) engraved sheet stamps line perforated gauge 12.5 horizontal by 12.5 vertical: 1-19, 27-55, 60-61, 68-83, 88-90, B9-B12, B18-B19, B27-B28
Carpatho-Ukraine (Czechoslovakia) engraved sheet stamp line perforated gauge 12.5 horizontal by 12.5 vertical: 1
Slovakia (Czechoslovakia) engraved sheet stamps line perforated gauge 12.5 horizontal by 12.5 vertical: 1-23


The Stickney rotary press was used to print Sweden postage stamps from 1920 to 1936. This listing is divided by postage stamp type and perforation gauge. Scott catalogue numbers are used.

Engraved coil stamps line perforated gauge 10 vertical: 115-125, 139-141, 145-165, 167-189A, 194-196, 232-235, 237-238, 242-247, 251-263, B32-B36
Engraved sheet stamps line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 126-131, 142-144, 166, 190-193, 197-231, 236, 239-241, 248-250
Engraved booklet panes line perforated gauge 10 horizontal by 10 vertical: 127a-128a, 131a, 143a, 166a, 190a-193a, 229a-231a, 236a, 239a-241a, 248a-250a, B32a-B34a

If you have any corrections and/or additions to the above listings, please post them here under this topic. Thanks.

Jojil, You state that "The Stickney rotary press was used to print [say, Belgium, etc] postage stamps from [year]....."

Just so that I am clear.... was the Stickney press only ever installed at BEP USA from where these foreign stamps were printed, or were the Stickney presses that printed the stamps of Belgium, Cuba, Sweden, etc., bought by and used in all of the countries that you list? GLENN

Glenn,

all stamps mentioned were printed on Stickney presses in the stamp printing houses of the countries mentioned as far as I know with a possible exception of Cuba... And Canal Zone and Philippines of course.

pozdrawiam, Rein

The Belgian stamps printed on a Stickney have comb perforations which means they overcame the problem of wetting the paper before printing and then suffering from the shrinking of that paper... The perforation gauge was quite different and the perforation was not appplied in-line but on a separate machine.

The correct catalogue numbers for the Belgium stamps are Scott 294-308, 312, 317 since I used an older Scott catalogue with earlier wrong numbers.

The confusion surrounding where the stamps are printed could have been avoided if the poster had written "A Stickney Press" rather than "The Stickney Press".

True, that is what I got from cutting and pasting "the" there. Several different countries did buy the press to print their own stamps in their own country like Belgium, Canada, Cuba, Czechoslovakia and Sweden. The BEP only Stickney press printed U.S., Canal Zone and Philippine stamps. Cuba printed its own Stickney press stamps. Interestingly, when the German protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was issuing stamps, this press was used since it was used to print Czechoslovakia stamps before and also after WWII. Thus, there are Hitler stamps that were printed by the Stickney rotary press from Bohemia and Moravia (Czechoslovakia). I don't know if Benjamin R. Stickney would have approved of these Hitler stamps since he lived past WWII (1871-1946) and many pro U.S. war related WWII U.S. stamps were printed by his press by the BEP.

Here is an article relating to the Belgium Stickney press stamps: http://www.philatelicdatabase.com/b...ckney-press/

Here is an article relating to the Sweden Stickney press stamps: http://www.scc-online.org/old/ph04may.pdf

Canada stamps Images and more printed on Stickney Press - Thanks jogil for this very informative topic !
Rene

https://www.google.ca/search?q=Sick...1366&bih=643

North Korea from old Stickney printing and perforating equipment donated by Czechoslovakia:

Sheet stamps line perforated gauge 12.5 horizontally by 12.5 vertically: 298, 300, 302-302a, 304-305, 309-315, 396-404, 425, 448-450, 459, 477-484, 491-494, 503-505, 507, 512-514, 517, 521-523, 537-538, 544-548, 554-557, 565, 569-571, 577-578, 586, 589-592, 602, 614-615, 622-627, 632-633, 639-645, 677, 682, 688-689, 709-711, 719-721, 726, 739-742, 759-762, 4540 (645 surcharged in 2006).

Some sheet stamps perforated gauge 10.75 horizontally by 10.75 vertically: 395, 772-777, 796-799, 808-812, 819-822, 827-830, 863-864, 877-880, 896-897, 916, 934-935, 942-944, 951-953.

Thank you for the very useful topic, Jogil.
The rotary, flat, wet, dry printing differences are really something to look for in any album. I have a large amount of Canadian stamps to sort and it is even more interesting when you can understand those aspects.

Here's a picture from the inside of the BEP in 1938:
I particularly like this photo as it shows one of the engineeers actually working "inside" the Stickney press.

(Obviously there were many Stickney presses in operation at the BEP, not just one. Space was limited so you can see even the Stickney presses were crammed inside a room).

Sweden:
B32-B36 are sheet stamps, sold I sheets of 40 perf 10 vert x perf 10 horiz

132-138 vertical coils perf 13 missing (the perf 13 stamps were intended for vending and affixing machines)

C6-C7 missing

238 is perf 13