1c 1851 Plate 8 Stamps

Love these references!

Are submissions for missing or better quality examples wanted? If so, to whom should they be sent, and how?

dudley - Thanks for the correction on the stamp that I thought was position 80L8. I had looked at the width of the centerline, and stopped there because, for some reason, I was confident that it was slightly narrower than those of Plate 7. On actual measurement, I can see that the centerline is the same width as another Plate 7 example I own.

I can see now that the stamp matches both the Neinken map and Doporto's example for 40L7 perfectly. It's interesting that this example is perforated along the centerline. Neinken mentions that this is much scarcer on both Plates 5, 7 and 8, and very rare on Platee 9.

I picked up another vertical pair at a recent auction that I'm pretty sure is from Plate 8, but I'm having trouble plating it. It is a Relief "E"/"F" pair from the 5th and 6th row - that much I'm sure of. There is also a guide dot visible in the left lower corner of the 6th row stamp, originating from the stamp one position to the left. There are only a few positions that have the guide dot so far out in the right margin (most are much closer to plume), so I thought with that clue plus the 5th row stamp above, I could find a match. I think it is probably 50/60R8, based on the a pretty good match of 50R8, but I'm not so sure of 60R8. I welcome confirmation or correction.

widglo, lovely piece as usual. For myself the photos are not close-up enough to enable plating, but my first reaction, based on the completeness of Ornament R especially on the bottom stamp, would be to investigate the possibility that these are Type Va stamps.

71L8 ?





40R8 ?

Stallzer: no in the first case, yes in the second.

stallzer - Those are both nice imprint examples. I think you have the position and plate number correct on both of them.

dudley - I think you are right again. The "R" ornament on the bottom stamp of my pair is too complete to be from Plate 8. I looked for possibilities from Plate 5 and there may be more than one candidate. I think the best match, however, is 44/54R5 (they are both Type Va). Doporto unfortunately doesn't have an example of either position, so I'm basing my match on the Neinken maps and the examples on StampSmarter. If you give me your email, I can send you uncompressed images of both stamps.

widglo46 - Like Dudley, I felt the lower stamp looked like a 5A, but was unsure about the upper one. If I were to provide my best guess I'd vote for 42 & 52R5, making them both actually type Va!

My bad. 61L8.

stallzer, just missed the top one by a row!

stallzer - I counted like you did - with some experience, I should be making fewer mistakes, yet I seem to be making more.

Caper123 - You are probably right with 42/52R5. It was my second choice. The guide dot on the bottom is certainly easiest to explain by that pair, but I just couldn't find other supporting plate marks, and I thought 44R5 matched the top stamp better than 42R5. It is fun to discover that I have a Type Va pair!

This one with a Cincinnati duplex cancel, I believe, is position 82L8. It appears to be an excellent match with both Neinken's map and with Doporto's example.

I believe you are correct, widglo!

A splendidly centered specim, widglo46!

This stamp appears to be from plate 8, and the guide dot in the upper right corner (from the row above) limits the choices to the 7th row. Neinken didn't find distinguishing marks on many of the 7th row positions, but Doporto's 69R8 example matches better than any other I could find.