2 Cents - Scott #613 Harding Identification

I first separate my stamps by perforation measurements such as perf. 10 x 10 for # 612 rotary press printings and then perf. 11 x 11 for # 610 flat plate printings. Then for looking for any # 613 rotary press printing with flat plate perf. 11 x 11, I take my 612 stamps and directly compare stamp (610) over stamp (612) in their design heights here since the rotary press design heights are slightly higher hoping that one of the perf. 11 x 11 ones will match one of the perf. 10 x 10 ones. I get the hang of this by seeing most of them not match as I compare them. If you find one of such a design height, compare against all your rotary perf. 10 x 10 and if the match is good then get it expertized by an expert. Also, rotary press stamps tend to have horizontal lines going across their backs (gum breakers) which are also found on used copies which have no gum on them.

[navy]I was going through my collection tonight - first time in years - and found 3 of the Harding 6xx, all 11 perf. I'm not a very technical collector, so even after reading this forum I'm not so sure either. Maybe someone would like to take a peek at my pics... and give an opinion. The only thing that got me was I read somewhere that the 613 has a non-perf side (which you'll note one of mine has), but not sure if that applies to the other 6xx's
as well. As to size, well, my eyes have gone dim, so I snapped some photos with scales... Maybe someone can have fun with my Hardings!
--- Dave

There will be many Hardings with a straight edge as they come from a cut line. These were printed from 400 subject plates and then cut into 4 sheets of 100 Stamps. So 19 Stamps per sheet fall on that cut line so 76 of the 400 Stamps will have at least 1 straight edge and 4 will have 2 straight edges as the were corner Stamps that fell on both the vertical and Horizontal cut lines.

Out of the three stamps that you show in the picture, the one on the leftmost looks like a different printing which may be the rarer one, but the (larger) size (horizontally or vertically) of the stamp design is the key for rotary press (wet) printings (vs flat plate (wet) printings).

To add more confusion, I did my own investigation and took part of image from left stamp
and over laid other two to see are they different.

This is what I found ------------->



Most certainly image taken with camera at angle in stead of scanner and it is imposible to tell which one can be candidate for #613!!

My recommendation - send in for a cert or produce scanned image :D

Doesn't the leftmost one look longer in design from the overlap? The cut line occurs on flat plate printings and the straight edge from the flat plate perforator center cutting wheel.

Just bumping this old thread up to ask a question. Why on earth does Mystic provide a space for #613 in their Heirloom album? This is a stamp probably none of their users will ever be able to own. If it were on a separate page from the main set I wouldn't mind, but there it is, right on the page with the common issues.

Because if you want one, and if you phone Mystic to tell them so, and if one is available on the market--they do come up at auction from time to time--Don Sundman would be more than happy to obtain it and resell it to you.

They elected not to produce an abridged album, end of story. And once you do elect to make an abridged album, where to draw the line at which rare stamps to drop becomes a difficult question; there always will be buyers who are unhappy with the decision.

Checking the Siegel Census, as of 2004 there were 43 used stamps: 39 singles & 2 pairs.
As of the recent Wingate sale, the population totals 50: 45 singles,1 pair, 1 strip of 3.
All are certificated. So, 7 found in 14 years, including the amazing 3 strip.

I do not think you can assume that these were all new 'finds'. Many of them could have been previously known and sitting in collections but not logged in any census.
Don

Something just happened that upsets and puzzles me. I was making a reply to this post and when sending got back a message that I was attempting something prohibited. For the ife of me I don't understand what I did. I mentioned the name of the company publishing the album I use and the name of another album publishing company for comparison purposes. It looks like someone thinks I am 'spamming'. I was warned not to do it again, whatever it was that I did. I clicked to go back to fix the message and it was lost. Any ideas what gives?

FWIW, this is the third message I've posted on here this week that got totally tossed in attempting to post. Is there a security system that is flagging me?

That is true re: "found" . I got carried away by Siegel in 2013 - "records show 43 used singles, one used pair and the 'recently-discovered' used strip of three.

Stamps1962,
Please see this thread
https://goscf.com/t/59218
Don

Don, OK I read the linked thread and still do not get what I did that was so awful. I mentioned two album publishing companies by name. One begins with 'S" and also is the name of the most widely used catalog mentioned on here. (If that is a trigger to delete a post, then we're all in trouble). The other was a company previously mentioned beginning with 'M". That one was also mentioned previously.

Would I be able to message you or another mod with the approximate text of my post so we cann figure out where I went wrong? Because right now I am not getting it.