Another 3c 1851-57 Washington To Plate - Green Cancel, Clear Impression.

I'm really interested in this one because of the green cancel, but I've gotten nowhere so far in trying to plate it.

- Type II - this is an 11A
- I see no guide dots, but I still think it is a B-Relief. Maybe there are guide dots that got trimmed off the top?
- The UR triangle has been recut (recut #11)
- The left inner frame line goes too high (recut #23)
- The right inner frame line goes down too far (recut #25)
- The right inner frame line goes all the way up (does not seem to be a numbered Chase or McDaniel recut)
- The UR diamond block looks wide
- The UR triangle looks short
- The spacing between the right inner and outer frame lines looks wide.

I looked through about 200 positions and none seemed to match these characteristics. . .maybe I am off somewhere?

When I plate 3c stamps I first consider shade, apparent plate and impression characteristics, and even cancel. Using that first filter, I assume that the stamp was printed from either Plate 2L or 3. This stamp is an obvious bottom row stamp with 2 lines recut in ULT. That should narrow the search to a small handful of positions.

I figure a March 1854 usage...

Plug in the characteristics on the stampplating site -- 11A, 2 inner lines, 2 lines recut ULT, B relief, plate 2L and 3, etc, and it really narrows down your possibilities. And since you are looking at a bottom row position, it gets narrowed even further. 97L2L looks pretty close to me. What say y'all? Nice stamp by the way.

In the other thread, I should have mentioned that bottom row stamps typically don't have guide dots. They are usually B reliefs, with some notable exceptions.

I'd say 97L2L too . ..There were only 6 possible positions given the two plates to look at and the DOUBLE recut in the RL triangle (and being a bottom-row stamp). Single vs double recuts in the UL triangle is tough to distinguish. Thanks for the help on this one!

You may already know, but the cancel appears to be that of the town of Washington, either Massachusetts or Mississippi. There is a book on Berkshire County postmarks for the Massachusetts town, and a Helbock cancel book including Mississippi that would likely settle that question if not known.

Thanks for the tip on the cancellation. I have not yet learned much about cancellations. I'll see if I can find the Helbock book.