"Washington Crying" Seeking An Identification Of What This Is.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/U260-Washi...132905210138
I want to know what this thing is? Thanks for any response.

Hi,

Seems to be pretty well described by the seller.

Not sure what else you are looking for?

It's just some random ink that creates the illusion of a tear in Washington's eye.

Jim

In case the terminology is unfamiliar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cut_s..._(philately)

Looks more like pink eye to me.

It is a known variety on this die. If I remember correctly, it is described in both Thorp-Bartels Catalogue of United States Stamped Envelopes as well as the latest UPSS Catalog on the same.

What prompted George to cry? The cherry tree? Money problems? Martha?

To see the state of the city that is his name sake.
Don

George must be bipolar. Just check my avatar.

I with Don!

I believe the "tears" effect that the OP is inquiring about is a result of a worn die. The surface of the die wears down to a point where the inking mechanism imparts some ink to the engraved part of the die.

You see this effect in other heavily used dies. U311, and its siblings of different paper colors, come to mind.

"If I remember correctly, it is described in both Thorp-Bartels Catalogue of United States Stamped Envelopes as well as the latest UPSS Catalog on the same."

I'm not near my library right now, but it wouldn't surprise me to see this variety listed in either Bartel's or Thorp's catalogs, as they were stationery dealers and their catalogs also served as price lists. Once the UPSS purchased the Thorp cataloging IP, we started weeding out things of this nature.

Thanks for helping me understand this, worn die sounds about right.