Questions About Sheets From BEP A Press (Revised)

I'm curious about sheets produced on the BEP A Press, like the one in this image:



I don't have a sheet of my own to copy and this was the best I could find to grab off ebay. I think it sufficient for the questions I have.

The plate number '1' is in the lower right corner. This stamp has four plate blocks described in Durland as "UL UR LL LR". Does that also mean that before cutting into sheets, that there would have been four 100 stamp panes, of which the one shown was the pane from the lower right quadrant of the four? Or would this pane actually be from the lower left quadrant, with the plate numbers and selvage markings actually passing through the middle of the four panes? I'm presuming -- please correct me if I am wrong -- that the markings along the fourth row from the bottom are for aligning the sheets for perforation.

Linn's 1988 Yearbook for this stamp describes the format further as "Printing sleeve of 800 subjects (20 across, 40 around)." I think I understand that, in which case there would be 2 sets of "UL UR LL LR" blocks per sleeve. Does that sound right?

Is "sleeve" here comparable to what today is called a "press sheet?" Were such sleeves ever sold to collectors as such, the way modern press sheets are now sometimes sold?

Finally, a sleeve would consist of 8 panes. This is a common definitive, and I assume others were produced in similar fashion. Would anyone know of a source that would depict, either by photograph, or a sketch, of what a sleeve/sheet of these 8 panes would look like?

TIA for helping me out with this. Any standard references for further reading about this would also be appreciated.

blcjr, I think you are pretty much on target here. The pane you show is the lower right pane. A complete sheet of 400 is shown on page 287 in Linn's Plate Number Handbook by Ken Lawrence, 1990. The picture in the book is pretty poor and loses a lot when scanned.
The proof that this would be a lower right hand pane lies in the electric eye markings. They would have to be on the outside of the pane to do any good!

Peter

Thanks. I've ordered a copy of Ken's book. I may not care much for his personality, but he does know philately.

Are the angular selvage markings actually electric eye markings? I've only read of electric eye markings being dashes in the margin.

Basil

Yes, they are. There must be a reason why one of them is under an angle, but I am not aware of that!

Peter

Here's an image of four matching strips of 10 from four sheets:


Gives a better idea of how the electric eye markings would appear in the gutter between the bottom two panes of a 2x2 sheet with 400 stamps.

Basil

Basil, where did you get this picture? If you see a picture of the whole sheet, that is not how it is. The E-E markings are on the outside, not in the gutter! Again, a picture of the whole sheet will show you this. See the above book by Ken Lawrence!

peter

This is the image used by the seller. I understand what you are saying, I think. The right two strips should be reversed, and the left two strips should be reversed. Thanks for noticing that for me. I think the seller was trying to "match" the plate block numbers, not depict how the stamps would appear on a press sheet. And the latter is what I've been asking about. When I get Ken's book, I'll look at the picture in it.

Basil

My copy of Ken's book arrived today, and the image on page 287 is quite helpful. Once they moved to this format on Press A, there were 2x4 panes on each sleeve, so with each rotation of the press, two of these sheets, with four panes each, would be printed.