What's Up With This A140 Stamp ?

You think someone cut halfway ?? why.. small scissors?

Bobone, it is not an A140 stamp. A140 is the Scott designation for the drawing - has nothing to do with the catalog number. Why anyone would cut a stamp this way? Who knows, lots of weirdos in this world.


Peter

Your stamp went through a vending machine, likely in a post office or railroad depot lobby. Note the row of indentions starting in the left margin and coming across Washington's forehead. The right side was knifed-off by the vending machine. It is fairly common on coil stamps to see this cutting and indenting damage.
The knife left a small bit the stamp attached to the next unsold stamp in the machine so the purchaser pulled it apart as the customer "took his purchase" - otherwise if the knife cut all the way across the coil, the purchased strip would fall on the floor.

Thanks guys, John are you saying that they were cut as they passed through the vending machine...

Sure, put in your dime, turn the crank, out comes 5 stamps. In this case the knife wasn't adjusted to hit the perfs very well.

Now I got it.. that's why a lot of vending machine stamps weren't lined up right. Can't you get 1 stamp at a time ?

There were multiple vending machine manufacturers. Each would have slightly different mechanisms and capabilities. Not to derail the thread on a tangent, but these would be different from the affixing machines used by businesses to stamp their mail which were specifically designed to advance one stamp at a time with each down-stroke of a plunger and knife-through the perforations, often a bit misaligned too.

Thank's John

Is that a gripper mark on the stamp (left margin)?
Don

Yes, here is a coil stamp with stronger indentions make by some sort of dispensing mechanism within the machine.

What about this one ?

The one cent Franklin is a vertical coil applied with an affixer which was slightly misadjusted. Note the top and bottom cuts have a slight arc to them from the knife mechanism of the affixer.

John, Vending machine ?

No, not a vending machine.
Vending machines and affixing machines are two different animals.

Got it ,, Imperf coil cut on a misaligned affixing machine.