C137 - Two Noticeable Differences

I have two U.S. Air Mail C137's. The difference I found was up by the silver plane next to the value under the left wing.

It has to do with a piece of the sky between the mountain and the fuselauge of the aircraft below the left wing. One has a barely a small sliver of sky, barely a sliver next to the fuselage, the other has quite a bit of sky between the mountain and fuselage.

These two different "variations" that are not shown in the Scott Catalog. I ordered both Stamps from the USPS Phalitic Catalog. The first Stamp with a "barely a small sliver of sky" was USPS Catalog Item #561500, and the second Stamp with quite a bit of sky was ordered via Catalog Item #501500. I'm guessing the second is a "reprint", but Scott Catalog does not list it like they do with other "reprints" (i.e.: Scott Stamp 3118 - Hanukkah 1996 & 1997 reissue where both are 1996 and you can only tell the difference from the backing paper).

I would appreciate any insight.

Be happy to give insight if you can show us pictures!


Peter

May just be a color shift.

Probably is but........


Peter

Bardo only has the one printing:

I agree with a color shift, likely of the silver. It is not an Error nor really even a Freak (using the EFO terms of art); rather a likely within registration variation printing tolerance during the printing process.

Welcome to the world of philatelic fly specking.

Edited to change speaking to specking. As well as to say thank you for not listing this at some outrageous sum of money on ebay.

EFO Collector's Club: https://www.efocc.org/
EFO Terms of art examples: https://www.efocc.org/Resources/Hot...AA_Cover.php

JWL, thank you for following up and posting the scans. A picture is worth a thousand words and we love 'em. Alsofor a very clear original title for your post. Well done.

Certainly prompted me to take a close look at my C137 which resembles your second pic.

I would second Parcelpost's thought that this is an example of color misregistration, #60 in the Hotchner taxonomy of EFOs. But as he puts it, in effect, the more startling the effect, the more attention it will garner, both from the market and Scott catalog.

I think this one is more a tribute to your close comparative examination of the patients you have inyour collection.


And welcometo the forum.

My first impression is "not so fast"
I fully agree that looking only at the plane, that this is almost certainly a case of printing registration well within production tolerance and of no interest to Scott.
However the fact that the USPS has two product numbers may indicate something beyond the plane area. It would be good to have full images of both stamps to see if there are some slight differences which would indicate a second printing - such as die cut, copyright, security priting, marginal inscriptions, etc.

561500 is verified, there is no record of a 501500 for the stamp. One suggestion is that for ordering the stamp order number was changed from 561500 to 501500 after it was generally recalled from sale except at the USPS Philatelic center, AKA the cave.

The 561500 is the bar code on all the sheets.

I will work on taking a pic of the USPS Order Sheets that USPS sends when I ordered both of these two Stamps if that will help. Wonder if anybody at Amos Press would be able to address this issue as well?

According to "USA Philatelic," there was a reprint in April 2003. This scan depicts the reprint's marketing, still available in the 2011 Quarter 1 edition (the second-last edition to offer it).


I lack intimate knowledge of SCOTT #C137.

BlueJay posted what I have. The Stamp with the "extra blue" I believe is the reissued Stamp. I guess for now, I have been marking both in my book as C137-1 and C137-2 and have them next to each other. If there is another identifying thing I will look some more at each one with a more powerful magnifying glass. Right now, the blue sky next to the fuselage is the only difference I have been able to find.

JWL,
My apologies in advance for being blunt, but why not post full images of both stamps as I requested several posts ago. You ask us for our opinions and expertise, yet withhold information which you so readily have at hand. Show us "ALL the evidence", whether you find it meaningful or not and let us try to provide a fully informed response. Otherwise we are all wasting our time here. Just saying.....

That item number matches neither.

Well I am glad I did not find anything listed for 501500 since the correct order number as later shown was 501540.

So yes there seems to have been a second, "reprinted" print run. What needs to be done now is to clearly ID examples of the first print run and the second one. Then compare the two, get an expertizing service to agree (APEX would be best) and forward the successful out come to Scott for listing the second run.

Identifying the first printing is easy if one uses the first day covers or CTO FDC panes. That establishes the first version. As a reprint I would not expect the bar code item number on the panes to be different. However, if the cave can tell 1st from 2nd, a USPS FOIA request may get an answer regarding differing the two print runs.

That all said, good eye JWL and good willingness to be curious. Differences can take days, weeks, years or decades to be noted even when standing in plain sight.

Finding new discoveries is one area of great fun in philately.

Edited to add: JWL go to the other thread you started to find a compliment.
https://goscf.com/t/89517