Can Anyone Indentify This Please. Can't Find Anything!

I have this steel plate, I understand it may have been used to print some of the first stamps but I am unsure. Anyone clarify? Or maybe even tell me what it could be worth.
Thanks!

I believe this printing plate is from an old Scott Catalog/Amos Publishing. Value: ??

Awesome thankyou! Are these common place?

Wow - cool item! I completely agree - it looks like a plate from a Scott catalog. I've never seen one before - certainly not a common item. Where did you get it? How long have you had it?

You can search ebay to see if anything similar. Any value would be just a pure guess, but if I had to guess I would say a couple hundred $ at least??

It was found at a flea market in the UK! I've been searching all night and can't find anything ! Thanks for the info guys

This is a printing plate for a catalog or book. Scott and others would sell them when they were worn or changed. The Scott ones came in a blue or green box. The last ones I saw sold for about $5-10.

You could print your own stamps - but post office might not accept for postage.

A philatelic friend has six different single stamp plates, U.S. and Foreign stamp-types, mounted on wooden backing-blocks, which I believe your plate (reverse side) has to prevent the plate from warping. My friend thought he purchased his at INTERPHIL 1976(???) at the SCOTTs/LINNs Booth. This could be wrong show and year… but it is the correct booth.

I seem to remember Scott selling the original dies they had used for decades as they updated each section of their catalogs. I want to say this occurred in the 1980's or early 1990's.

The pieces are mounted on wooden blocks to bring them up to the correct height for letterpress (typographic) printing. So, if these are Illustration blocks for Scott catalogs, I believe they would have to be a lot older than 1980's or '90's.

Any one have a catalogue page that matches?

I'm going to out on a limb here and speculate that older Scott catalogues were printed on an old-style Heidelberg (or Heidleberg-type) Newspaper Press that would use printing plates created of graphical art plates (i.e.; stamp art) on wooden backers placed between typeset line slugs (see below) locked in place on a printing plate.



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I hope that makes sense.

P.S. If you look closely between the plates you will see "Locking Keys" that hold everything tightly in place during the printing process.