Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

Hard to say for sure but a legible town cancel was a necessary part of showing that all of the postage was paid.

Here are a couple of stamps for the thread. They have been plated and the color is described.






The second stamp with the blue CDS has a fingerprint on the left margin which appears to have been left by the operator who picked it up while moving sheets. I think the guy who was removing printed sheets from the press put his finger on a rosette with wet ink, then touched the margin of the sheet with the same finger and left the fingerprint. Having the two stamps side by side makes it easier to see the subtle difference in their respective shades.

Chipshot, that plate 6 stamp is great!!

Now I am posting images of position 45R5L using the Chase book list of rusty positions. The rust spots resulted from plate 5 getting rusty while it was in storage for three and a half years.





The closeup image shows a comparison with the 45R5L image from the Chase print. Had some trouble getting the entire stamp image with the size restrictions. But this shows what the rust on the plate did to the finished product.

Nice scans. Plate 5L is pretty interesting.

Here is one that I have been trying to plate. I think it is 96R3. Included are the compressed image and the 4 corners. The upper right diamond block appears to be recut at top and partially down the right side. The triangles and the rosette positioning appears to match.

Interesting, jaxom100. I agree that your stamp is 96R3, and I can see what you mean about the upper-right diamond block. Maybe a clearer printing would help confirm the possible vertical recut.

Here's another 96R3 (1200 DPI), but not a clear printing.

Hello All --

This thread has been idle far too long now -- and needs a boost. Thought I'd show a July 8, 1851 (i.e., an "8th day of use") folded letter sheet that I snagged on eBay a few weeks ago for the ridiculously low price of $31.

Stamp is a Scott #10A -- position 84L1E -- with a 13 bar NY square grid killer (reference: Skinner / Eno # SD-G93).

The body of the inside of the FLS is a very simple receipt for a $123.27 payment made by a person in Albany (last name Townsend) to a firm by the name of Sanderson Bros. & Co. in NYC.

Most interesting are the handwritten notations on the back of the FLS -- made some time before the Scott catalogue number changed from #33 to #10 (and then in 2008 changed again from #10 to #10A). There are two distinctive notations -- as follows:

-- one which is very short and says "Early orange-brown color per Ashbrook 11-57". I know I have seen this distinctive handwriting a few times in the past, but have no idea whose it is?

-- the other annotation is quite lengthy -- and written in an almost "calligraphic" style -- (see the image posted below). There is also a notation in the same hand at the extreme lower left corner of the back of the FLS with what looks like some initials and a date of "Jan '28" -- not sure what it means -- but perhaps an owners mark or cost code and the date acquired? Likewise, I have no idea why the same collector made a reference to "?_gd_?, Troy, NY" (maybe the name of a dealer or auction house from which the FLS was acquired?)

In any event, if anybody out there recognizes any of the handwriting on the back of this FLS, I would be interested in knowing more.

Regards // ioagoa

Nice find. I really like those first month covers.

I'm not sure whose writing that is.

To help with the bump, here is a #7, type II.
position 31L2
ex Ashbrook

Stampsmarter's guidance on this is very helpful to better understanding this plating, the selvage (which drew me to this one) makes this pretty straightforward even for someone like me who is not a veteran plater.



Now back to quietly wrapping my Valentines' present for my wife.

Wow what a great imprint copy.

That is a curious rouletting in the left margin.
Someone debated removing the selvedge but didn't.

ioagoa, Nice pickup regarding the FLS with the 84L1E tied by a 13 bar NY square grid killer. That's a really neat cancel to have on an 1851-57 cover. Thanks for showing it!

So far, I don't recognize the handwriting on the back of your FLS, but I agree that the annotations add a lot of interest from a postal history perspective.

Here are two plate 1 #10A from my collection with the square grid cancel. The second one has the scarce bright orange brown color with some interesting annotations on the back. I think the "bright OB" and "9L1e" annotations could be Cabeen's, but I have no idea about the annotation in the middle.

63L1i - Orange brown

9L1e - Bright orange brown

Thanks, txstmp.
I am increasingly fond of imprints and plate numbers in selvedge.

There is a light score running vertically at the left margin as you observed. It shows up in this scan and under magnification with indirect light, but is so slight it is not visible under most conditions. Although it appears continuous at the bottom of the stamp, it doesn't seem to continue all the way up. It also is not a deep score, more a scratch, and it does not seem to me to be the product of being folded.

So I, too, had hypothesized that there was some thought, at some point in the history of this stamp, to slice off the selvedge. But not with scissors....

I'm glad that person did not carry through on his or her thought.
It is nice (I think) to have a good bit of the name of the printing firm displayed on the page with their stamps.

jleb - nice, WIDE margin!

Hi Classic Coins --

Those NY square grid cancel stamps are very nice examples.

Regarding the annotations on the back of the 9L1E -- I do not recognize any of the handwriting -- although I can tell you that the plate mark itself is not Cabeen's -- as he had a very distinctive style of handwriting (as per the reference scan below).

Again -- nice stamps and nice cancels - I especially like the color on that bright OB that is very striking.

Regards // ioagoa