US 1857 3c Washington - S.c. #26 Or #26A?

Good Morning,

I have a U.S. 1857 3c Washington that I'm trying to identify as either a S.C. #26 or #26A... As you can see there are lines on both sides of the stamp but they are completely different.

Left side - Line stops

Right side - Line keeps going



NOTES:

#26 "No outer frame lines at the top or bottom. The side frame lines extend beyond the top and bottom of the design."
https://www.theswedishtiger.com/26-scotts.html

#26A "Frame lines do not extend beyond the design."
https://www.theswedishtiger.com/26A-scotts.html

Thanks for looking and helping!

Quickly, it is a Type IV, Scott #26A.

Thanks again sinclair2010!!! You rock!

I thought if even one vertical line extends beyond the design it is a 26? How is this a 26a?

It looks like the right side line breaks at the top and is not continuous. At any rate, you can also tell it's type IV 26A because the frame lines wander. Here is an example of what I mean.


The other way to know it's a 26A is because sinclair2010 identified it as such

I am often intrigued by particular words and their context. Chase coined a name for what stampcrow just did in his last post. In order to see the crooked lines on a 26A you hold the stamp at an angle and sight down the lines just as stampcrow did - correctly.

For the record, Chase calls this act: "foreshortening".

I hereby dub that - word of the day.

Foreshortening was shown to me by ClassicCoins on this site!!

Regrading the Type IV, the Scott catalogue states: "As type III, but the side frame lines extend only to the top and bottom of the stamp design".

That is a very general description of the Type IV and is contradicted by the very image of a block of Type IV stamps shown above the description. The image clearly shows that the frame lines do sometimes extend beyond the design. In fact, probably a majority of the stamps exhibit at least one longish frame line. For many stamps, the catalogue is only good enough to get you started.

Thank you all for your help - very informative I'm sure for future stamp searches.




I completely agree!

Good to see the "frame lines wander" approach. That means I should scan the image and collapse the image vertically in my photo editing software probably to tell the difference.

Very interesting.

Greetings. Further to this subject this stamp which I recently purchased is on a piece and appears most likely Scott 26 top row. I have two questions. First there appears to be no left line, or perhaps a very partial double line near to the top left; is that unusual? Also if we look at the rosettes, they are very blurred and appear to almost have a top layer of ink which blurs the pattern. I don't see that the bullet in the middle of the rosette is misformed like on a double transfer. Perhaps it is just an ink blur. Maybe someone can comment if the look of these rosettes is also unusual. Thanks!

This simple concept has been the hardest part for me to understand in dealing with these old issues.

Is the process of foreshortening necessary to determine or confirm whether the frame lines wander? Looking at the stamp on this cover I can not detect any type of deviation in the frame lines.

Similar question 26 or 26a or both (left stamp may be disconnected from other two). Side lines appear straight (foreshortened view). Also, cancellation appears Philadelphia - what do you think? Thanks for help -- I'm pretty new to this.

dongeej1010, Those are Scott #26 from the top row of the sheet. All of the stamps were printed from plate positions entered with a damaged transfer roll, as indicated by the white area above and to the left of the lower-left rosette where the tesselated design should be.

The first stamp also shows a plate flaw (damage) on Washington's neck below the ear.

Please post a larger image if you can, as this is a very interesting multiple, and someone here should be able to provide the plate positions.

Thanks for the info; there's a lot more there than I imagined. Here's a larger image. If there is any particular part of the image that you'd like to see larger, let me know. Thanks again for looking at this.

dongeej1010, the stamp with the neck flaw appears to be position 2L26. See the fourth lot on this page for another specimen:

http://www.smpiller.com/US_Singles_...ps_No12.html