How Does One Distinguish The Various Liberty Revenues, E.g., R217 From R257?

I know that some of these stamps have different prefs, but R217 & R257 are both 10. Similarly, R240 and and R257 are both pref 11.

My Scott catalog says of 217 and the following stamps, "inscribed Series 1914," but my Scott album doesn't say a word about an inscription. My $30 stamp in this series has no inscription. amd R217's on ebay have no inscription that I can see.

I am perplexed and need help.

Thanks.

Don

The R217 has "Series 1914" split in two lines to either side of the numeral, Series under United and 1914 under Revenue. R240 and R257 do not.

In the ribbon.

Images courtesy of ebay. Note the difference in ribbons at base.

R 221:




R245:

Oh My. Neither album nor catalog gives a hint of this secret location. Odd, when they're both so good at locating secret marks, differences in postal stationary dies, and so forth. Thanks, guys.

Don

But those are postage differences. Revenues have always been a poor sister in the Scott Specialized. BTW, the $30-$1000 values also come both ways, with the Series 1914 in various locations around the stamps. Looking up the Scott numbers on Eric Jackson's site is a good way to look for them.