1c Franklin ID Help Needed - 19B?

Here's our dilemma: I recently purchased this Franklin as a Scott #22. However, upon examining the stamp, initially, my wife and I believed that it could have been, in fact, a Scott #21.

Then, while trying to identify the plate number, we noticed a "faint curl" at the bottom of the "C" in Cent, which caused us to "dig" a little deeper. We found that this "curl" seemed to correspond to plate position 96R4, which would, if true, make it a Scott 19b.

Any help in identifying this Franklin, would be greatly appreciated.




This photo of the upper left corner shows the stamp is Relief F as indicated under the U. of U.S.



This photo shows a faint "curl" in the C of Cent.

The scans a little small for making plating ID, and it's a GIF image which doesn't scale in some applications. Can you send a higher resolution scan, or a higher resolution photo of the front?

Thanks, as requested, I've updated the photos of my original Posting with photos at a higher resolution. James

It look like F relief based on flaw below U.

Looks like curl in C

96R4 makes sense

But top line looks a bit different than known copies and lower left plume doesn't appear as complete as expected

However this could be scanning issues?

Plate 4 always tough to plate due to changes during its life.

It is 58L4, which is supposed to be a Type IIIa position. There appears to be a break at bottom (which wouldn't happen on bottom row F-relief stamps) but it also appears to be reperfed along the bottom, so it is possible the stamp has been altered to resemble a Type III, Scott #21. Without a good examination, it should be considered a Type IIIa.

I agree with sinclair--Relief F, pos. 58L4 (see marks under N of ONE, in S of US, and in Ornament FG). It doesn't show the vertical scribe line at right.

One more question: What about the stamp's centering? Any ideas? Thanks.

We now have a copy of Mortimer Neinken's "The United States One Cent Stamp of 1851-1861" on it way to us. That should help us understand this Franklin series better. Thanks for your suggestions.

I suggest not using the Neinken book as a catalog until you've read it. I made that mistake and all I ended up doing was going backwards. Learning the reliefs is key to these.

Neinken's One Cent book is available in PDF on the U. S. Philatelic Classics Society website (Resources, Books & Monographs, Electronic Library) at www.uspcs.org.

Stallzer, you're right, of course, learning the Reliefs is paramount! My wife and I plan to do that first.

Rhett, we had already downloaded Neinken's pdf from the USPCS website. Still, having the actually book frees us from the sundry confinements sometimes proffered by our iPads and computers. We like the idea of a book-in-hand, especially a rare and invaluable book like this one!