Scott #657 - Dirt On Plate Spot.

Hi guys...Take a look at this Scott #657 Stamp...There is a spot just above the diver's..well you know what...I was a printer in my younger years and this was some what of a common thing to happen...To start the press rolling, you had to turn it on after the plate was installed and take a clean rag with a solvent to remove any grease, dust, dirt, etc...If it was missed this would be the end result...If you want an example, that would make it easy to understand...Go into your basement and put a coin on the floor..Take a stiff paint roller and run it over the coin...the floor will be painted and the spot will be painted, but as the paint roller road up over the spot the parts of the floor closes to the coin would not receive the paint..It would cause a halo affect around the coin...Does that make sense...???..NOW..Another common way this could happen is when burning a plate, and if there was a speck of dust while the process was being developed..Then you get the spot etched into the plate....See pictures below.

Looks like a woman's lips coming down to kiss his . . .

I've seen exactly this donut before on an UR non-inscription block of 4. It is position 4.

I don't remember where I saw the first one - this forum or an auction site.

If there are actually two of these in circulation, perhaps it's a constant variety instead of just an EFO.

Blackjag...You are a smart man...This is what I have been trying to get across the people on this forum that just because it does not appear in Unitrade or any other catalog it doesn't mean that it does not exist...That is why at the end of every tread I start on these flyspecking oddities, I expect input to whether or not Constants are available...I am still thinking of starting a massive database, based on inputs from forum members as to this very subject.

I already have a database (listings and original or simulated examples) of almost all known Canadian varieties, constant or not, that I've ever come across, from catalogues, forums, my own collection, auctions, etc.

To the best of my knowledge, this variety is called a 'hickey'. It is not a constant variety, more a freak.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Bujutsu...To my point...When a printer begins a trial run of approx. 10 page or so to check for alignment, colour distribution, etc...they would normally pick this up..That's what I did as a printer.Scanning a sheet with human eyes leaves something to be desired...IF, and that is a big IF, the guy that checked the sheet for mistakes, etc, did not see the obvious, then YES the HICKEY, could very well be a constant..That is why i ALWAYS ask at the end of my tread whether or not another person can or could find the same oddity to confirm it as a constant...Blackjag has told us he has an extensive database with this in mind...I almost put up a web page about a year ago called "stamp oddities", but did not...wish I had done it.

Blackjag, your database interests me, not that I am requesting you send me a copy, but keep up the good work...i like you way of thinking.

Donut or hickey etc. I have always thought that it was caused by a droplet of ink dropping on the stamp during printing. Some what like dropping a stone into a pool of water. Maybe those with printing background or knowledge can state that this cannot happen.

serious collector...I was a lithographer (printer) when I was young, but there is no problem if you do not take my word for it..Maybe we will wait for other printers to come answer your question, hope there are more of us out there.

Hickies, Donuts or whatever you want to call.

I found this one on the 1968 Xmas stamp when I got
it from the Philatelic Center.

I put it away, then scanned it when I got my
Epson 4490 and now it's gone.

Looks like I used it up for make up postage rates.

Personally I wouldn't pay two cents for any one of these
so called varieties, even though they probably are
of interest to some people.

To me they're just examples of bad, sloppy printing.

lithograving...Hey, I look at it this way...if it WAS a constant on one stamp out of 100 then there would be lots available to collectors..BUT, yours lithograving is one of a kind, only one person in the whole world has that exact stamp..YOU...haha

Actually wert, NO, I don' have it anymore.
Somehow I must have included it with an envelope
where I keep stamps for outgoing mail.

I don't believe that any hickey/donut could be considered
a CONSTANT variety.

Don't get me wrong wert, I'm glad to see someone like yourself getting
something out of these seventies Canadian stamps.
For myself though I wish I had bought only one of each instead
of numerous Plate blocks, matching plate blocks, even the odd sheet
and all those FDC. What a bloody waste of paper and my money.

If only I would have bought some Red China instead I'd be a millionaire now.

But, C'est la vie

Your right lithograving..I to bought too much including booklets from the 50's stitched and stapled...There was a baseball card dealer in the States who once said.."don't buy 10,000 baseball cards..buy one expensive baseball card"..Wish I had listened to his advice, like beaver stamps, large queens, etc.

Wert's comment to my suggestion of what causes a donut or hickey........serious collector...I was a lithographer (printer) when I was young, but there is no problem if you do not take my word for it.

Boy are you guys touchy. I wasn't suggesting you were wrong Wert I was offering a different reason for a donut and was expecting some one to say I was out in left field with my theory.

Unlike lithograving comment....which he is allowed to make.....Personally I wouldn't pay two cents for any one of these
so called varieties, even though they probably are
of interest to some people.To me they're just examples of bad, sloppy printing.

I find the misprints of more interest than having one perfect copy out of a million other perfect copies that are in the hands of collectors. The errors have character, they have a story to tell about their beginning as a constant, non constant or an EFO in the stamp world or just a plain old donut.

wert, I agree with you 100%.

I should have concentrated on quality not quantity.

I don't know what you're getting at here?
Of course I'm allowed to say what I believe,
don't you?
As I said some people might find it of interest, I don't.

End of story.