1c 1851 Plate 3 Stamps

I had 125 different positions on plate 3, with about 135 different stamps on and off cover.

I had 7 centerline positions including both known vertical centerline strips of 3 (which don't intersect), and the Ashbrook 1R3 with centerline. I also found another 1R3 with centerline sold to me as just a #7 at Westpex one year.

I had the 4 imprints I mentioned in the other thread: 41L, 61L, 40R, 50R. The 41L3 I had was one of 3 known stamps showing any part of "No 3".

I reconstructed the 3 forked lightning crack positions (took 8 years) .. also had that 7-8-9R3 strip which shows 2 great cracks. I had almost all of the known double transfers on the plate, except for 68R3 I never had. I had: 10R, 20R, 30R, 90R, 100R, 2R (a discovery I made its a DT).

I had one of the 3 known unused blocks from plate 3. The well known Armitage block, illustrated in Neinken, used to be a block of 15, but 3 stamps were removed in the early 1900s, then the lower block of 4 was removed -- became the block I had, and the Armitage block as it stands is down to 8. Wagshal had that forever. Cipolla had the other unused block (4).

I had put together a decent color and impression chart covering different shades and levels of ink-film on the plate. I've discussed some of that in this thread, as I wanted to document some of what I noticed in doing this. You see things, when you have 135 plate 3 stamps in front of you, that you simply cannot grasp when looking at only one or two stamps. Patterns emerge.

I had planned to work on an update to plate 3 drawings and so on, but, I guess I just failed at that. There is at least one person now that I know of, who has a similarly large plate 3 holding, and I know he's made some good progress. He is also retired, unlike me.

Gotta run .. I'll think of what other tidbits I had after awhile.

Simply awesome!

Finally located this thread. Awesome material & examples! I'm still waiting to receive my stamps back from plating, especially the #7 Type II from position 60R3. I currently don't have the stamp in my possession, but I take photos of the stamps I'm sending. I cropped an image from the photo, of the stamp I'm pretty sure is the stamp(was told it had a black New York CDS). Sorry the pic is poor & I'll share more pics of stamp & cert upon arrival.

Here is 88-89-90R3.
This is an important item not just that it is a Plate 3 strip, but that 90R3 is a notable double transfer from Plate 3.
In addition, there is an accidental guide dot visible up high between 89 and 90R. This would correspond to 79R3, which, being an A-relief, should not have a guide dot. The 10R column was the first column entered on the plate, and it had a lot of problems, Witness double transfers on 10-20-30R and 90-100R.
I bought this item from a dealer, in the mid 1990s, and I don't know what its provenance is.

txstamp, you may find this of some interest........

Al E Gator - Thank you very much for the reference. In my post, I was focused on the stamp production issues, and I neglected postal history. I had not looked up the marking - or the correspondence - and I wasn't sure, until your post, whether it was a private forwarder or simply an advertising corner card. Cotton was certainly big business in New Orleans. Thanks!

I have a big to-do, to write up and mount (somehow) all of my covers over time. This will help.

jmt - thanks for the pic of your 60R3. Definitely post a higher resolution one when you get the stamp. That will provide a record of it here.

One thing that I meant to comment on, with the 88-89-90R3 strip above, is that the 79R3 accidental guide dot clearly is related to the 90 & 100R3 double transfers. The 10R column was the first one they entered on the new plate that they were making. With transfer roll #1 previously, they had reset the roller for the 10th row typically. So you'd get:

Pos Relief
10 T
20 A
30 B
40 A
50 B
60 A
70 B
80 A
90 B
100 B <--- transfer roll reset

So guide dots related to this would show up to the right side of the column 9 stamps. So above 9R, and below right of 29R, 49R, 69R, 89R. For one to show at 79R, means they forgot about their usual 10th row adjustment, or decided to do something different, and it failed, resulting in 90 and 100R DTs. They corrected it and re-entered both with B reliefs - 90 and 100R.

This is 69L3 per the Neinken book.
Ex-Ishikawa

This general area of the left pane of Plate 3 has some mistakes on it in Neinken, in the form of drawings not in the right plate position. I'm not aware of any issues with 69L, but the drawing of 66L, as I recall was not 66L. I figured that out when, at the PF, I was handed an unused (OG I think) pristine strip of three #7's to expertise. There were small cracks all over the strip, and it was pretty easy to nail down as positions 66-67-68L3. My notes in my Neinken book to myself about this say that 67-68L matched, no doubt, but 66L did not match the drawing in the book.

I "think" that strip of 3 has been broken up as, since I made that discovery, I've seen a few gem plate 3 stamps pretty clearly from that strip offered at auction as singles.

I mean, you guys had to have seen that strip to believe it -- it was one of the most incredible 1c items I've ever seen. It was literally Post Office fresh. Just ridiculous.

txstamp,

Thanks for the wealth of information you're posting. I have a modest collection of 1-cent imperforates, including four that are unplated, but none of my plated stamps are from plate 3, unfortunately.

Classic Coins - thanks, I'm very happy if you are enjoying this thread.

I have a couple more plate 3 items which I'll post over time.

I definitely encourage others to post as well. I do recognize that the material is scarce, which is why I think its worth writing down whatever we know about it.

Regarding that strip of 3 - 66-68L3 that I was discussing earlier, I did some searching on the PF website.

I'm pretty sure that PFC #475585 is the 66L3.

PFC #354502 was probably the PFC for the original strip. No photo.

I might have an old poor quality scan/copy of the strip ... somewhere in my notes (archives ) which, if I find it, I'll post someday. It was such an amazing item that it deserved to be widely illustrated and promoted for all to see, prior to its apparent desecration.

Found the strip. Fortunately, Siegel keeps great records, and they sold the strip prior to it being broken up.

Siegel Sale 863 Lot 230. 66-68L3. So that was 5/2003.

The 66L3 was cut and sold in Sale 895 Lot 67. 6/2005.

The 68L3 was sold in Sale 902 Lot 1008. 10/2005.

It looks like the 67L3 was at least partially sacrificed for the benefit of the two end stamps.

Ok, now that I found it I'll cut to the chase.

From Siegel Sale 863 Lot 230. 66-68L3.

Image Courtesy of Siegel Auction Galleries.
- I had to shrink it to be able to upload here.
- The original on their website will be better than this one.

"The 66L3 was cut and sold in Sale 895 Lot 67. 6/2005.

The 68L3 was sold in Sale 902 Lot 1008. 10/2005.

It looks like the 67L3 was at least partially sacrificed for the benefit of the two end stamps."

That is an effin' crime.