Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

I find it interesting to find CDS cancels that have the day or month (or both) inverted because the postal clerk inserted one or both of the plugs upside down. Presumably they quickly corrected the situation when this happened, because these error cancels seem pretty scarce for the 1851-57 series.

BakerJ had one of these in his group image.

Inverted day and month:


Inverted day only:


Inverted month only:


. . . And one clerk completely forgot to put the date plugs in:

This is one imperf that has baffled me. It certainly looks like what would have been a very nice 26A had it any perfs, separated border line (see upper left) and no top and bottom frame. But who would have done such a thing as trim it?

Some of the plate 6/7 #11s have very weak or missing top frame lines, but I would think part of the bottom frame line would show if this was from 6 or 7.

I can't tell if both frame lines go all the way to the bottom. If they do, could this be a trimmed top row #26 from position 10?

My first thought was top row plate 6 or 7 also, and I would put it in the 10 position due to the large right side margin. Might be 10R6. The 10R6 example on the plating page shows a lite bottom frame line though.

The frame line for the stamp above shows in the upper left corner - separated from the lower of course.

I see that I have an example of the gash on the shoulder and will ask for any comments as to its' other characteristics and another 3 cent version. I am also going to attach some of the 1 cent stamps that any information on would be appreciated. Last a 12 cent image. This is a most interesting topic, thank you all.

Thanks. I couldn't see that. To me that confirms, as you suspected, that your stamp a trimmed 26a. What a shame. It's a nice-looking stamp with a story to tell, though.

Thanks for your feedback, Chipshot.

Your two one-centers are #9s. The second one looks like it could be a double transfer, but it's very difficult to tell without clearer images.

That's a nice blue cancel on your #11A. The #11 with the gash on shoulder is a beautiful stamp from plate 6, 7, or 8. It has excellent, rich color that could be claret or rose brown (can't tell for sure).

That's a nice #17, too, with three balanced margins, and part of a fourth.

I commented earlier in this topic about the blackening effects of oxidation on one of the stamps illustrated. Restoring oxidized stamp ink to close to its original color with hydrogen peroxide (H2o2) has been widely discussed on SCF.

I haven't worked with H2o2 much, but I experimented a bit this week by soaking two batches of stamps in 3 percent hydrogen peroxide. Each batch was soaked in two sequential bowls of distilled water for 30 total minutes after the peroxide to neutralize the effects of the peroxide as much as possible.

I soaked the first batch for five minutes, and saw little, if any, change.

I soaked the second batch for 50 minutes, and saw good results with lightly oxidized stamps. On the heavily oxidized stamp below (91R4), I was thrilled to see the color restored to a beautiful pale claret. Out of approximately 1,000 3-cent imperforates in my collection, this stamp, which I was on the verge of selling, is now one of the nicest stamps in my color collection.

GASP..., you ruined your Plum stamp!!

Edit: forgot the LOL

LOL! Or my #10! I've seen hundreds of oxidized #11/11A advertised on ebay as #10/10A because of the dark color.

Great tip CC
Thank you
I use Lindner Erni A & B to clean my stamps, would that have the same effect?
I've never used it on any classic USA stamps as yet

You're welcome, Laurie.

I've never heard of Lindner Erni A & B, so I don't know.

Chipshot, I make the second #9 to be position 20L1L (not categorized as a DT), based on the recuts and on its apparently 10th vertical row position.

I noticed the lower left corner of the # 9 has some thing different and am trying to provide a good image of that corner here. I am hoping to understand the cause of this anomaly? Comments?