1851 3c Plating Help

Thanks. Didn't know EOB was different from OB. As you can see the two images have rather different colors. The second one looks to me more like the stamp.

If your new image is closer to actual color it might be better to call it somewhere between early '52 claret and a '52 brownish carmine, with more BC. It is definitely hard to reproduce color accurately. The impression of the stamp still looks solidly like an early '52 printing, whatever the color is.

@rlsny - No worries I too was WAY OFF and actually seeing things, LOL! I really enjoyed this thread (exercise) as we both are learning a lot from it. I am still trying to figure out where the cues for Relief B are though. Most definitely coloring seem to be the hardest to get right... some people have an excellent eye for shades and Sinclair2010 has the eye of an esteemed oil painter, the lucky dog!

The stamp in this thread is a pretty early Plate 1L impression.

The B relief characteristics, especially on this position show up a lot better on later impressions. Particularly at the top of the colorless oval, the break becomes clearer later on.

The link below shows a good comparison of earlier vs later impressions - the b/w chase photo on the left being earlier, and the stamp on the right being later, and showing the top oval break better.

http://stampplating.com/stamps/448

@txstamp - thank you for that. I am seeing it now as well as seeing the difference you spoke of. Lesson well learned ;-)