Here, Have A Headache!

Try getting this one to focus.

These aren't rare by any means, but I like to try and get them in blocks, since the visual effect of the double impression is heightened.

Note: some of the ones you see offered have the doubling offset only a minimal amount (likely only kiss impressions), such that the doubling is barely noticible (like many of the front-of-book so-called "double impressions"). The larger the separation and dramatic the effect, the more desirable the double impression.

I thought I was seeing double--oh wait I was. Very nice.

This is a stunning example. I'm still looking for a first issue double impression in good condition that's within the realm of affordability!

Very nice. For some reason Foreigner's song "Double Vision" popped in my head.

First issue double impressions which were engraved are MUCH scarcer than 1917 issues double impressions which were offset lithography.

Dang thought I had tooo many cold beers.

Doesn't exist. Very few examples are close to sound, and all of them have populations in single digits, so there really isn't the opportunity to be choosy. The two most common are the R28e and R40ce, and even with those I have yet to see a perfectly sound example come up for sale/auction since I have been collecting. Outside of those two, 1st issue double impressions only come to market once every decade or so, and catalog values are so obsolete you have no idea what something will sell for.

The R18e that is out there (Richard has it) is affordable, but it is an ugly stamp. It is an overinked stamp with details so mushy (as many R18 were) that it really doesn't look (to me or to some others that have examined it) like a double impression. There's just too much obfuscation of detail. It may technically be a double impression, but I wouldn't touch it with a 10-foot pole. There's a reason it's so affordable...