1c 1851 Plate 1-Late Stamps

Chapel Hill?

I think you are right NJS.
Found these early postmarks from Chapel Hill.

Here is a hard one to plate.
I think I found a match in 28L1L from the recut lines and the blur between the "O" and "S" of "postage". It is relief B but guide dot is cut off. I also checked the other orns with Doporto's site. They all seem to match well. I can see more of a blur effect in the letters at the bottom. It looks more like a printing error than plating marks.

Opinions appreciated.

I would agree, 28L1L.

How about 64L1L.

Rust marks and the dot in the O agree.
Also a heavy bottom recut.

Here is an image of one of Ray Vogel's 64L1L's from Siegel Auctions for reference.

Txstamp, after spending a few hours looking at 64L1L, I think you are correct.
I do not like how the top line seems to match up, but the marks at the bottom look good.
There is the mark in the "O" and another below the "O and N" that are consistent.
The rust marks at top match.
The blur marks at right bottom are faint but there.
Thank you, txstamp.

Here's an early impression of position 89R1L. This position is usually noted for the break in the bottom frame line that occurs in later printings, but this is the strongest bottom frame line I can recall seeing on this position. It shows the double guide dots and marks in the O of ONE clearly.

dudley - That's a very nice item.

89R1L usually has either a very weak or completely broken bottom line. Yours would clearly be an 1852 impression - quite early.

I had a number of 89R's showing the progression of the break - but it was hard finding one with no break. I finally did, but the one I had was no-where near as solid as yours.

The stamp you have is at least a scarce item, if not downright rare. In light of that, its worth double/triple-checking the plating. I know you know what you are doing , I'm just being thorough. I took a quick look and it appeared to match 89R1L quite well, but I didn't look at all the other 1L positions to eliminate them - I just looked at 89R. Maybe later.

Very nice stamp!!

I know what you mean, tx. There seems to be some variation in the published/online sources as to the shape of the guide dot on 89R1L, for example. If you look at the entry for this position at the Doporto Plating Archive, the guide dot in the large picture looks like a single blob, whereas the close-up clearly shows two dots one on top of the other, kind of like a two-thirds-built snowman (see photo below). My copy clearly shows the latter. The Neinken drawings for this position on pages 129 and 162 are not consistent in this regard, either (129 shows a single dot, while 162 shows two dots with an exaggerated degree of separation). My copy here also has the plating marks in the O of ONE shown in Neinken p 162 (but not p 129). Two other copies of this position that I have do not show these marks. Lots of variation over time for this position, I think.

Here is a nice one that I just got in.
It was listed as mint, regummed, 2 repaired tears.
It is plate position 3R1L showing full top and bottom.
Image is nice and clear, probably an early print.
A little short on the right side where someone removed the 4R1L for margins.

Pretty nice impression.

I have noticed that the right side was cut from 4R1L with precision. Someone knew what they were doing. They left the full plume at bottom, minus the edge, took some from the center where there is not a lot of detail, just clipped the top ornament and left the plating dot. They took as large of a margin as they could for 4R1L (the only type II on the plate) without taking the main parts of 3R1L. They should have left the pair together.

I just got in two more top row right pane late stamps.
The first is a pos 2R1L (that was listed as a type IV, plate 2)(lol).
It shows the two dots above "OS" so it must be late plate.

The second image is 6R1L.
A little weak in the background but not a bad copy.
It appears to have a green cancel, maybe the word "FREE"?

The bottom stamp shows the vertical plate bruises - in terms of vertical blurs of color toward the top left and right. These show up very prominently on later impressions from Plate 1L. You can plate stamps easily using them, often, as they are consistent. Particularly the top row right pane stamps have quite a few of these.

The plate was in use from June 1852 until mid 1857. That's 5 years, and a lot of impressions. It was the workhorse plate for the first contract of Toppan Carpenter (1851 contract) to print stamps.

edit: The same steel of course, was Plate 1-Early from 7/1/1851 until about June 1852 when it was re-entered and positions recut. So it got a lot of use.

Here is a stamp that only a plater could love.
Position 71L1L Inverted transfer.
Has an obvious flaw at top but still a good find.