#231 Broken Hat?

I think I found a #231 Broken hat in my extras?

what do you think?

Yeah, that be one of the stages of the broken hat variety.

For those who aren't sure what to look at, the blue line in the picture below points to the plate flaw.

Yes it is a broken hat. I have one of those in MNH condition. The seller sold it as a regular stamp, didn't see the broken hat. plus a regular used, another mint and a closed "C" variety (from Harry). I have 4 of these 231's.

I had forgotten the Broken Hat commanded such a premium over the standard design.
My latest U.S. Specialized Catalogue is 2007:


KirkS

MNH prices current.
231 $47.50 VF
231 broken hat $150.00 VF

Wow SV.

They've really jumped.
KirkS

Used VF .30
Used Broken hat VF 3.50

Hey thanks SV... was wondering if you'd gotten one.

When I first saw Edwin's post I said to myself "Self, you don't know anything about a broken hat." Then Kirk put on his info re Scott #231 from his US 2007 Specialized Catalogue and I saw a a plethora of information.

I decided to see what my Scott catalogues said about #231.

This is from my 1976 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue:
231 2c brown violet
a gray violet
b imperf.(pair)

From my 2003 Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers of the World Including U.S.:
231 2c brown violet
never hinged
on cover

Prior to finding and then eventually joining SCF I had no literal or virtual connection with other stamp collectors. Ironically, when I mentioned SCF in my morning coffee group it turned out that 3 of us were closet stamp collectors and not one of us was aware of the others.

However, since joining SCF I began to feel that I was falling down a rabbit hole. Over these many decades of blissful ignorance I was lumping colour phases and whatever into one number because of the catalogues that I was using. For anyone who needs an example go to my Sweden King Oscar II thread where the difference between Scott and the unknown to me Facit catalogue were pointed out in relation to stamp images I had placed there.

No question, I have to make a sea-change.

Wow, I had no Idea that the used value went up to 3.50 I was just excited to notice mine since I only have 4 used copies.

and cynical don't worry I only learned about them here and have just finally gotten enough confidence thanks to this board to start working on my early US stamps.

Hi All,

I see that the Scott cat says there are a number of different versions of the broken hat variety.
Does anyone have some pics? I'd like to see some of the different versions of the broken hat.
Scott also lists: Broken Frame Line, Recut Frame Lines, and Cracked Plate varieties for this stamps - again, does anyone have pics of these?

Dave N.
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Here is a scan showing the progressive broken fromeline

Edit: I will post some recuts and other varities later today.

Here's one of mine. Hope the scan is good enough to show difference between regular and broken.

Russ,... anyone... can you explain the broken line post a little more; I can't see what you are referencing.

Barb,
This variety was caused by a progressive failure of the relief on the transfer roll. That is why there are so many of these out there, they were produced my several plate positions and perhaps on several plates.

Scott 231 Broken Frameline at Bottom Right caused by relief break on transfer roll.
1 shows complete frameline, 2 shows two short breaks, 3 shows a small section connecting three shade line left, 4 shows a small section connecting two shade line left, 5 shows final breakage.

This is my favorite 231 variety it is a broken hat with a major double transfer on the entire right side.


The scans don't do justice to the stamp the entire right side is doubled especially noticable in the lower right where the frameline is doubled.

I like the sparkles! lol