Reason For Different Widths Of 554 Stamps

Hello,

I read somewhere here in the forum once a reason why the 554 stamps appear in different widths. I think it was about booklet panes or different paper shrinking?

Why I ask this question: I show this stamp I have for long time in my album which is a 554 (flat with setoff, perf 11).

In Micarelli it says the design size should be:
18.5 - 19mm x 22mm.

My stamp has:
19.5mm x 22mm.

So the width is much more than the 19mm, no doubt, quite exactly 19.5mm.

That's why I just want to know what caused this differences (and why it is not mentioned by Micarelli / Scott) ?



PS: Yes :), I know measuring is not the necessary thing for identifying this stamp... but the size difference is just there.

For wet printed stamps, the wet paper shirks across the grain after drying. Sheet stamps have a vertical paper grain so that they shrink horizontally and booklet stamps have a horizontal paper grain so that they shrink vertically.

Well, I have no idea why you ask this because this is a used stamp. It has been soaked in water and dried at least once.
Now if it was post office fresh I could understand your concern

Peter

The paper can be either horizontal mesh or vertical mesh paper (mesh = grain). Flat plate booklet pane stamps were printed on the horizontal mesh because this allowed for better accuracy for cutting them into the panes. So the booklet stamps are slightly wider and typically shorter than the flat plate sheet stamps.
Don

As I understand the shrinkage, it occurs after the initial print run, any wetting and drying after the stamps have been finished, ( Soaking used stamps) would result in very minor shrinkage, if even measurable.
The above is only my own opinion. Your mileage may differ.

Good ideas.

Stampmaster

My experience with papers is that they expand across the grain when wetted. When you prepare end papers for a book, you actually trim a bit off the width of the paper.

Thank you all - so I was in the right way with my guesses. Still I am not sure if I understood everything. Is the following then correct:

a. the design (flat printing) is on the plate about 19x22mm
b. it's printed about 19x22mm
c. in case of booklet panes, there is vertical paper shrinkage so that they are a bit wider (more than 19mm) and less high (less than 22mm).

I didn't know that paper increases its width if it shrinks in its height :).

Still I think all this should have been mentioned in Scott and Micarelli, as it is a really obvious (also without measuring) size difference.

I am not sure it needs to mentioned in the Scott or other catalogs. As you said the measurement is NOT needed for identification. If the catalog mentioned all the details that are NOT need for identification it would get too bloated with unnecessary information.

Sheet stamps shrink in the horizontal direction and booklet pane stamps shrink in the vertical direction. The width of a booklet pane stamp is the original width when printed, same as the sheet stamp was. After shrinkage sheet stamps are a bit narrower and booklet pane (or special paper stamps) are a bit shorter. This may create the illusion that booklet pane stamps expanded while drying.

Good articles about special paper used for booklet pane and higher value Fourth Bureau issue and some back of the book stamps after flat plate booklet pane production ceased can be found in the "Bureau Specialist" published in print and on-line by the United States Stamp Society. Joining would be a good investment.