Bolivia Printing Flaw --Anyone Else Seen One Of These?

Note the stamp on the right and the "scalped" effect on the back of head of the individual with his back to the viewer. The normal stamp is on the left. This is Bolivia Sc #C180.

Is this the result of a piece of debris on the printing plate? Is there more than one of these? The scalped example is postally used, but magnification does not show any signs of scuffing from being in the mail stream.

Any opinions or observations appreciated.

Don

Hi DonSellos

My guess would be some foreign matter on the paper blocking the application of ink. Said foreign matter fell off after printing, most probably.

Jerry B

Agreed. If the surface of the paper is intact then something got between the ink and the paper I think. The fact that it makes a novel 'scalping' effect must make it of particular interest.

Thanks, JB & Ringo.

Don

Paper mills being messy & dusty, I'd expect that the debris came in on the paper.

That having been said, there are several possible sequences of events.

One is that the debris was carried off of the paper, and remained on the plate.

Some area of the stamp would then be devoid of ink, as in your example, and the inky bit of paper would have been scraped-off of the plate before it was re-inked. Probably.

But if the debris remained on the plate after re-inking, you'd get an ink splotch (<== technical term) on the back of of somebody's head.

Depends on the press, the luck, the moisture content of the paper, etc.

If I had a proper catalog, I might know why nobody asked if there were plate impressions in the scalped area :(

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey