Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

Hi rogcam,yes I remember,and I changed,for #15,with the moving I get mess up,nice hear from you

This is a writeup that I did for this cover when I posted it on other social media outlets a year ago. I thought you guys wouldn't mind if I just cut and pasted it here. ~Stan Shepp

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night (Nor sticky newspapers?) stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds."

I have an interesting cover to share today. Here is how this piece was described in the Siegel Auction:

"3c Brownish Carmine, Type II (11A). Deep rich color, tied by clear strike of "East Boston Ms. Apr. 14" (1852) circular datestamp on buff cover to Peacham Vt., misdirected to Rochdale, England, manuscript explanation for the misdirection written in England, states "this letter adhered to the cover of an American newspaper received at," "Rochdale Ap. 28, 1852" blue circular datestamp completes the explanation, two Liverpool and additional transit backstamps, stamp with minor internal wrinkle, still Very Fine, one of the most unusual misdirected covers we have ever seen, a wonderful exhibition piece."

Sent from East Boston, Massachusetts on April 14, 1852, this letter stuck to an American newspaper being sent to England. Received there 2 weeks later, on April 28, 1852, The postmaster realized that instead of taking the more direct 185 mile trip due north to Peacham Vermont by stage coach, this letter had sailed 3,270 miles across the North Atlantic stuck to a newspaper and ended up in Rochdale England. It was also postmarked on April 28, 1852 in Liverpool and we are left to assume that the postmaster, after writing the explanation on the front, sent it from Rochdale (about 40 miles inland) back to Liverpool (along the coast) so that it could get on a ship and get sent back to Vermont.

After another 3,270 miles back across the North Atlantic, it would have arrived in Boston and finally taken the 185 miles north to get to the intended recipient.

This letter travel approximately 6,725 miles over the course of a month - the last half of April & the first half of May - in 1852.

I collect postal history, and specifically this 3c Washington Stamp design, as used from July 1, 1851 to mid 1861, when the design was changed and these issues were demonetized so that the South would not be able to use them during the US Civil War.

This copy of this stamp is an impressive 4 margin copy with beautiful color and a nice crisp cancel. The markings from England are clear on the front and legible on the the reverse.

This cover is phenomenal. I rarely use the word Unique, because I know what it means. One of a kind. This one is truly a one of a kind addition to my collection. I thought that some of you might also enjoy it, so here it is. Enjoy!

PS -
The recipient, Hazen Merrill, a farmer, was born in 1797 to Jesse & Pricilla R. Merril and died Oct. 25, 1868 at the ripe old age of 72 years and 16 days. There are at least three marriage dates listed in Peacham for a Hazen Merrill. Without further research, I can't tell if they were all the same guy or not, but there doesn't appear to be any other Hazen Merrills living in Peacham at the time.

@ stan, yes please...

and send some of yesterdays lots as well, you have to many




just kidding, this is a great very rare cover, congrats on this one!

That is a very neat cover, thanks for sharing.

I have, I believe, 4 complete dated cancel calendars on (mostly) #11/As. There are a couple #10's mixed in. This one was purchased as assembled by an old timer. It has some #10's in it and I don't want to swap them out as I find it has more eye appeal as completed.

This one is missing Feb. 29, but I have (4) Feb 29 cancels. One is on a piece, so it makes it more difficult to display with the others.

I just purchased another couple hundred #11/A's with dated cancels. Maybe I will complete calendar #5!

1852, 1856, & 1860 were leap years.

Sharing this image for your enjoyment.

That's a really nice calendar display, Stan. Thanks for showing it!

I am working with this new scanner and I am not quite as pleased as I was with my previous one. These colors just don't pop like they should, but I am sharing them anyway. Could be that my monitor needs adjusted, or the scanner.

First, a Mint NH, (Ungraded), Scott #24.

Second, a used #9, position 31L1L, graded XF90.
31L1L is a double transfer example.

stanshepp - You are not alone when it comes to the finding the ideal settings for your scanner for 1¢ Franklins. I've decided that if I want to really get the color right, I use Vuescan with essentially no processing, and then I rotate the image in Photoshop to make it horizontal. Only then to I adjust the color and sharpening. From what I've read, ideally the sharpening should be done depending upon the resolution you will ultimately display. For use on the forum, your images look fine.
Your 31L1L is a nice double transfer. Neinken mentions 51 double transfers in his book, and although I'm not trying to plate all of 1L, looking at your stamp is motivating me to collect a few more of them.

I have this image of my # 9 and would like to ask for comments on its' properties and possible plating. TIA and will see how this earlier scan of mine looks now as I continue to learn about imaging with help of participating in this thread.

While I am at it I will also add this pen cancelled stamp again asking for comments. I am away from the stamps for a while and know I would be able to achieve better images now. If warranted I will get some better scans. Thanks again.

I have found using my Epson V550 that the background will impact the overall color. Here is the same stamp with the scanner lid background and then a black background. I seem to have read somewhere that scanners are calibrated with the scanner lid as background but would need to go back and do a little research on that.

Edit: The image with white background looks more like the actual stamp.

We have covered this issue a number of times over the years in this community, i.e. posted this back in 2015
https://goscf.com/t/44202

And here are images with and without the scanner lid closed
https://stampsmarter.org/features/C..._Images.html

The reason is simple and obvious. Many desktop scanner use CCDs to capture the image and this incudes ambient light. When the scanner lid is open, the ambient lighting enters the CCD (along with the items to be scanned) and this light impacts how the software calculates the rendering of the image.

Scanner comes from the factory with a white background and this is how it is calibrated. If you change it to a black background, you can buy a target and recalibrate your scanner if desired. But there is no calibrating a scanner with teh lid open, whatever the ambient lighting is at that moment is what the CCD and software will respond to.
Don

I wanted to take a moment away from my busy day to scan and share something new from my collection - And a couple of double transfers happened to be next to my desk!

A double transfer is where the plate position has been entered two (Triple Transfer for 3) times and the original transfer was only partially erased before the fresh entry was made. The result is that some of the old entry shows along with the new entry - which results in a doubling effect of some characteristics of the stamp.

I was going to post a #10A and an #11A together, but decided that they deserved their own post. So - here is the #10A.
#11A on its way.

On this first stamp, Position 83L1i, with the Small Black Boston PAID in a Circle with 6 horizontal lines, the Doubling shows up most clearly in the Upper Left diamond Block and into the "U.S. POSTAGE" at the top. It also shows well in the Lower Left Diamond Block and into the "THREE CENTS" at the bottom. This example also shows a doubling of the Lower Left Rosette along with a nice doubling of the tessellations between the Left Inner and Left Outer Frame Lines. There is also a nice run of printed ink outside the Left Outer Frame Line. The Upper Left Rosette is also doubled onto the Left Outer Frame Line.

Neat manuscript address to:
Mr. John Eliot
Care Messers Halsted, Brokaw & Co.
New York,
N.Y.

Overall, I think that this is a wonderful example of this double transfer and a beautiful stamp. The bold Orange-Brown color just pops off the paper. It comes on a clean cover dated September 29, 1851 in a 30mm Red "BOSTON, MAS" Circular Date Stamp. 4 full margins, in a bit, to close, at the Upper right. Guide dot in the lower right corner. B-relief. Tied to the cover on the left by the red CDS and on the right by the black PAID. Washington's eye peaking out through the black bars of the PAID cancel. I don't remember what I paid for this, (I do) but it was not as much as I would have paid for it.

Plate 1 intermediate had only 20,251 impressions. This is surely one of the finer survivors.

Shared for your viewing pleasure.

Stan Shepp

SECONDLY - #11A Double Transfer -

Another on cover example of a double transfer, and a famous position. Not as spectacular, but with 308,475 impressions, this stamp is over 15 times more common than the Plate 1i example I just shared.

It is still very collectible, don't get me wrong. It has it's own listing in Scott's Specialized Catalogue. Listed as "Double Transfer Line through "THREE CENTS" and Rosettes Doubled" it jumps the catalogue value from $15 for a normal #11A to $70 for this double transfer.
I am not going to spend as much time describing this one, but the line through the "THREE CENTS" is clear. It extends into the Lower Right diamond Block. The Rosettes are doubled at high noon compared to the main rosettes. Notice how the center of the Rosettes are clearly doubled. From strongest to weakest - in the Lower Right Rosette, The Upper Right Rosette, the Upper Left Rosette - and the Lower Left Rosette is obscured by the cancel on this example.

It has only 3.5 margins with the top frame line being cut in to on the right half. Again a B relief. Again, on cover, tied by a Jan 24, (1854) PHILADELPHIA, Pa CDS.

Addressed to:
Messers Seth Low & Co.
129 Water Street
New York

This is still a nice example, but certainly not the best. Probably not even the best that I have. It is just the one that I have handy enough to scan.

And...

I really dislike when people write on the front of a cover things like "LINE THROUGH THREE CENTS". I am very accepting of pencil notes on the reverse (Not every collector is) but those big capital letters rile me slightly.

Again, shared for your viewing pleasure.

Enjoy!

Stan Shepp