Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

Example recuts on the 1c stamp -

Focus on the top and/or bottom lines - above US POSTAGE and below ONE CENT.

Here is position 74R1E - plate 1-early, prior to being recut. Notice the top and bottom lines are getting worn, and becoming weak. This stamp is Type II, #7:

https://stampsmarter.org/plate/hire...s2/31940.jpg

Here is position 74R1L - plate 1-late, after being re-entered and recut. They went in and re-entered each position, and then took an instrument and manually recut / strengthened the top and bottom lines. This stamp is Type IV, #9:

https://stampsmarter.org/plate/hire...92326116.jpg

Hi 3193zd,

Regarding Harper1249's stamp from position 34R1L, the below diagram shows what areas of the design were typically recut on entries on plate 1 late, including all four frame lines, the inner lines on the sides, and gouging out of the tops of the upper label block and the upper diamond blocks. The heavy inking in the upper-right corner of Harper's stamp was caused by gouging out that area of the design with an engraving tool, and this is a pretty reliable way of telling whether a stamp was printed from plate 1 in the late state.

Source: The 3c Stamp of the United States 1851-1857 Issue, by Carroll Chase



Edit: Corrected misspelled word

Here are some more examples of the heavy inking resulting from deep recutting/gouging in the upper-right corner typical of stamps printed from plate 1L. The positions, from top to bottom, are 53L1L, 49R1L, and 5R1L.

Boston to Washington w/ Due 6 cent on cover pair. (beater cover)
Left stamp is pure "A" relief, while the right is a mixture of A and B. A on top, B on bottom.
Haven't had luck plating these yet, but my initial guess is plates 2L or 3.
I'm still convinced that there is a date range of ink used that oxidized.

Left stamp A Relief

Right stamp mixture of A and B

Boston to Washington cover with 6 cent Due

Is there enough detail on this to plate it? Previous seller believed it was a type II, but with no bottom edge, I'll need to attempt to plate it. Suggestions?

Hi Moyock --

That pair of 3c imperfs on your Boston to Washington w/ 6 cent Due "beater cover" looks like 36-37L3. Check it out and see what you think.

Interestingly, the 37L3 seems to have some sort of a plate flaw running through the medallion white oval directly below the PO of POSTAGE. Has to be stray inking or a "one-off" anomaly as it is not present on any of the half dozen reference copies I looked at.

Regards // ioaoga

Thanks ioagoa, I concur, 36-37L3.

On 37L3 I did look at it under the digital microscope, but that little plate flaw or stray inking anomaly faded as I magnified. So I wasn't able to post a closer picture. Could it be a particular period in the life of the plate? It almost looks like there was a foreign object present when this stamp was printed, a small piece of debris in the ink maybe?

I get such a kick out of these split frame line stamps!
Here's 75L2L with a split Left Frame Line. Chase calls this one out as the best example of a split frame line.

So on Moyock's cover, what would require 9 cents postage from Boston to DC? Is the likely scenario that the original stamped envelope was sent/dropped at a Boston PO where it was then determined an additional 6 cents was required and so the two 11s were added?

An underpaid 5x rate by weight (15c) most likely

That's a beautiful 75L2L, Moyock! Nice impression, with balanced margins.

75L2L - that is an interesting position, thanks for posting.

Tx I agree and seeing a nice copy… it almost makes me cross eyed looking at it.
The RFL's are so nicely recut and the left side is barely there and split and… cool stamp.

Thanks ya'll. I tend to collect a bunch of 3 center's and then sort through them and try to plate. I have about 100 or so in a Vario stock sheet, periodically I scan through them to see what I can find. And during this last pass the 75L2L popped up.

rlsny - I'm pretty sure that carrier cancel didn't come into play before 1856, which, unfortunately puts plates 1E/1L/2 and 3 all in play.

My sense is it will be a Ty II, most likely.