Printing Errors - Questions

Could be a short transfer but I kind of doubt it. Could be plate wear but I doubt that too. It could also be an inking issue since this stamp is from the bottom row of the plate. Short transfers are not very likely to happen along the bottom of a stamp that is on the bottom row.

OK. That is good information. Thanks.

Here is a stamp I recently purchased. I am pretty certain this is a short transfer [S.147] but would like other opinions.

It seems pretty clear that the lower left part of the design is missing which I believe is the definition of a short transfer.

I know people have been looking at this thread since I put up the previous image but no one has commented -- please let me know what you think!

Also what about the orange CDS. Is it genuine or was it added later? I am not certain as I don't know much about cancels. It is a rare color according to Scott.

Yes you are correct, it is a short transfer. I have the same stamp on cover. I can't say about the cancel not my field.

OK, thank you 3193zd for confirming. Can you post an image of your example? I would be interested in seeing how identical it is.

I have another 3c Green banknote that I have questions about -- image below. In the image there are parts of two stamps. The upper stamp has been heavily inked and the lower one seems pretty normal.

My questions are related to the 3 red arrows. They are pointing at white areas where it should be dark particularly on a heavily inked plate (I think). In this example I see white that could be lettering or other un-inked parts of the design. Note that in the normally inked example, these are all shaded.

Is this evidence of a double transfer? Or something else? Or nothing at all?

The used stamp above unfortunately does not have an orange cancel. The orange the references call orange is the typical color of the ripe fruit. All things that affect color perception aside, this is vermilion or bright red depending on terminology; since it's a New York CDS of the period, the color they used is well known.

The one below it has nothing to do with a double transfer. The white spots are more due to overinking the whole more than anything else, so nothing to be concerned about. Absolute perfection was not a requirement then or is it now.

Below is a Sc.219 with some kind of printing error. Does anyone know what this kind of printing issue is called? Or how it happened? I am assuming this a one off printing error rather than a plate error. Am I correct?

Looks like someone mowed the lawn! I think that is a plate wiping issue kind of like this one...

OK, unless someone says different - plate wiping - but unmowed lawn sounds better.

As alluded to earlier, stamps printed from margin positions can show the effects of the plate being wiped too clean when excess ink was removed from the edge of the plate with a rag. Stamps printed from plates with finer lines in the design likely would be more susceptible to wiping effects.

The bottom third of this #11A, from bottom row position 99L3 shows this effect, especially in the dark inner oval:

Interesting stamp.

The cancel hides it a bit, but that is a pretty dramatic example.

banknoteguy, The parts of your stamp that have ink missing likely resulted from a dry printing. The paper typically was dampened and stacked before the printing process. Dampening the paper helped it receive the ink because when pressure was applied by the printing press, paper that was damp would get pressed into the recesses of the design on the plate better. If the paper dried out before going to the press, it tended to pick up less ink.

As can be expected, the edges of the paper dried out quicker than the middle, so dry printings are more common at margin positions.

Very interesting stamp. The cancel definitely hides it some but comparing the top label to the bottom label show a pretty dramatic difference. I like the triple recut frame lines on the left and recut inner (?) frame line on the right.

The 99L3 comes from the famous "Three Rows" of plate 3 left. The last two vertical columns of stamp designs were transferred to the plate with the transfer roll out of alignment. This resulted in the spacing being too wide between the eighth and ninth columns, and too narrow between the ninth and tenth columns.

To improve the appearance, extra frame lines were added to some positions in the space between eighth and ninth columns, and frame lines were omitted from some positions in the space between the ninth and tenth columns (there should be two frame lines on each side).