Russian Empire: 4k Rose With Curious Background

Can anyone tell me what's gone wrong with the background on this 4k definitive (vertically laid paper)? Is it inverted? Inverted and reversed? Shifted sideways? I have no idea what's happened. The stumbling block for me is that the SW and SE corners are not symmetrical. There is a simple dot or polka dot design present in the SW corner (and in much of the left margin) that is not seen on the other side of the stamp.

Opinion:
Background is just shifted to the left. (presumably, I am unsure on which was printed first, backgound or centre)
Not Inverted
(The two dots in the rhombus are middle and below, as per normal)

What the SW corner suggests is that the network has been shifted down and to the left. But I can't see equivalent displacement in any of the other three corners. For example, the SE corner should show also the pattern shifted down and to the left, but I cannot see that it does.

I see your point.
Shall need specialist, I still feel it's a fairly normal mis-registration.
Happy to be proved wrong.
What about a scan of the back? You should be able to tell the vert laid paper.

Yes, it's on vertically laid paper.

I think I would need to see a scan of a sheet with just the background printed to figure this out.

I've found an example for the 7k blue, which is nice to look at , but, so far, not one for the 4k rose.

https://www.raritanstamps.com/Catol...tImg/551.jpg

jimjamtwo wrote:




I agree that the background has been shifted down and to the left.

We don't see an obvious shift at the bottom right because of this shift in two directions.

For example if the shift had just been downwards we would have seen dots appearing below the design on both sides.

With the added shift to the left these dots on the right-hand side disappear behind the design.

'We don't see an obvious shift at the bottom right because of this shift in two directions.'

That would only make sense if the shift on the bottom right was more extreme that on the left. The bottom left is so clear that you can see exactly how far the shift is, and there is no corresponding shift visible on the bottom right.

And why is the design at the top continuous?

Hi,




I don't agree. The shift is the same on both sides.

The lines, dots and diamond pattern have all been been moved to the left and down. The area of background moved into the area of the visible stamp from the right is the same as what would have been there without a shift.

Basically, the background that would have been at the left of the stamp to the right of this one is now at the right side of this one but these two areas have the same diamond pattern so no change is visible on the right.




Similarly, the area of background moved down into the area of the visible stamp at the top is the same as what would have been there without a shift.

The background that would have been at the bottom of the stamp above is now at the top of this one but this just gave the same pattern that would have been there anyway.

You see the changed pattern at the bottom of this stamp.

Over the complete sheet all the stamps would show the same displacement down and to the left.

Hi nigelc! You write, 'The shift is the same on both sides.'

I just can't see this. You see how there is a gap between the rhombus pattern and the polka dot pattern in the SW corner?

There should be exactly the same thing further over to the right (obviously not all the way to the SE corner, as there's been a shift to the left), only in reverse (with a distinct arc pointing the other way). If there is, I simply cannot see it.

Hi jimjamtwo,




It seems reasonable to me that if the white boundary area at the bottom left is deliberate part of the background design then there should be a similar area for the right side of the design.

I agree that such an area would bend in the opposite direction but it would also be displaced to the left and would fall under the main stamp design.