USA George Washington 3 Cents.

Guys, what is it with both these stamps?Same stamps but different colours.Are they two different series or is one faded?

Technically, not the same stamp.

The left stamp is from a horizontal coil roll, and corresponds to US #721(1932) in the Scott catalog. The right stamp is from the sheet, and is Scott #720(1932).

Both stamps will have minor color variations, from deep violet (normal color) to light violet.

However, the stamp at right is clearly a color changeling (bleached, either in the water or by the sun). My guess is water bleached, based on the appearance of the paper and the cancel.

I found this older thread when looking for an answer to the same question. Obviously, the bluer stamp (my left example) is either bleached or a little too much sun.

As long as we're on the subject of these George Washington Stamps, here's something I've always wondered about:

Why is it that the stamps have very odd shading behind George Washington's coat? It's not over-inking or an error or freak, etc., as every stamp issued has the same feature, but it seems kind of strange that the engraver's didn't think to fine tune that aspect of the design ... or was there a legitimate reason for it?

As an example of what I'm talking about, I used the previous scan and circled the areas in question:

I am guessing that it was actually part of the coat ... the style of the day. Here is my US 17 with a similar look:

Good answer.

There was some kind of a ribbon or decoration on the back of the coat that carried over into the stamp design. I never thought of that before!

I was thinking a ribbon on the pony tale from the wig that was worn in the day?

That is also a strong possibility as there are several other stamps which clearly show a quite length pony tail on both Washington and Jefferson.

I Googled George Washington, the pictures. That ribbon (?) or decoration (?) is on a whole bunch of pictures.
A first I thought he might have had very long, braided hair with a ribbon in it as was common at the time.

Peter

A lot of the old Revolution people like judges and statesmen to presidents wore the long white wigs and everyone that I have ever seen to a point in history that I can not date had a ribbon in the ponytail at just about the same length. I'm still learning a lot here with you gurus. Thanks

just to get better view , I used my off-set dental mirror to view the back of the neck and yes indeed there is a bow about 1/4 the way up from the bottom of the 'pig-tail' on George's wig. Seriously...! There are several large statues of Washington in the Boston-Cambridge area and if one were to gaze upon the statue as a whole (all around) you would see a bow on the pig-tail and I believe that the perspective of the portrait (Stewart) is just that.