Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

Yet another scan, with stamps reversed. Much more red for the Type I.

Hi, NicholasC,

Your Nov 11 stamp is an 11, and the May 16 stamp is an 11A. Neither appears to have the ink consistency or impression that would indicate printing from one of the orange brown plates. Orange brown stamps (10, 10A) normally have a rich, rust-like color, and the ink doesn't tend to discolor as much as the 11/11A colors do.

Are either of the stamps plated? The 11 has a guide dot below the lower-right diamond block that will greatly aid in plating it. The 11A has one line recut along the top of the upper-right diamond block, indicating a plate 2L, 3, or 5L printing. If you can post larger scans (preferrably 1200 DPI) of both seperately, we may be able to plate them to absolutely confirm their Scott numbers.

It's imposssible for us to confirm the color of either stamp due to variations in how scanners, camers, and monitors render color. To make matters more challenging, some colors like dull red, orange red, and rose red may look very similar to those that don't have solid, verified color reference sets, and experience with studying the issue.

Below is a scan of several of the 3-cent imperforate colors from my collection. With the disclaimer about scanners and monitors I mentioned above, it still may be helpful to see the color contrast between them.

Feel free to contact me by email through SCF if you'd like to discuss this issue further offline.

Hi Classic, thanks. No idea as to the plating. I'll see what I can do as far as a more detailed scan.

This is the best I could get for the 11A. My scanner only goes up to 600 dpi.

NicholasC, your #11 is most likely from Plate 8 and position 84L8. Strong outer frame lines combined with no recutting in the top label block point to Plate 8. I'd want a higher resolution image to confirm it though.

Regards
Harper

This is the best image of the 11 that I can get. Max 600 dpi for my scanner.

Nice job, Harper1249. I also confirmed the #11 is position 84L8.

I want to officially say thank you to Harper1249 and Classic_Coins for help in identifying the #11. I'm going to try to see what I can find regarding the #11A, but I need some help on what "recut" means. Are there some comparison images someone can post or point me to that clearly shows what this means? As for outer frame lines on the #11A, would I be correct in that they are NOT strong? They don't appear to be very weak either, so perhaps there is a middle ground.

You're welcome, NicholasC.

Many of the design lines on the master die for the 3-cent stamp were very thin and shallow. By the time the design went through several transfer stages including the final transfer from the transfer roll to the plate, many of these lines transferred extremely weakly to the plate, and some line segments didn't transfer at all on some positions.

There are a total of 2,600 positions on the 13 plates/plate states, and every one of the positions had at least some lines, primarily the frame lines, recut by hand to strengthen them before the plate entered service. Since every position was recut by hand, often without a straight-edge, every position has unique recuts, equivalent to a fingerprint, and each printed stamp, if it shows enough of the design, can be plated to one of those positions.

The below diagram from page 68 of the Carroll Chase book, downloadable for free at the following link, shows which lines can be found recut.

https://www.uspcs.org/resource-cent...nic-library/

Here is a diagram from the Chase book showing typical plate 1 late (1L) recuts, which were so heavy in some areas that "gouging" is used to describe the recutting on this plate.

The second image shows some examples of what the ink looks like on these stamps printed from plate 1L after some plate wear. The more worn the plates became, the more the recuts stood out with ink buildup.

The upper-left triangle was recut on hundreds of the 2,600 positions with one, two, three, or five vertical lines. Here is an example of one of each of these recuts; positions 93R3, 100R2L, 41L2L, and 95L1L, from left to right.

The intersection of the frame lines often shows lines that don't meet, or that run beyond the intersection, as can be seen in the below image. These are some of the many clues that are useful in solving this 2,600-piece puzzle!

Each of the four triangles is known to have been recut at least once during the production of this issue.

A list of all the recut varieties and at what positions they occur can be found here:

https://www.uspcs.org/stamps-covers...amp-plating/

A special thanks to ioagoa for contributing to this composite image.

This detail of a plate 1L printing from sheet position 13R1L shows the typical gouging of the top half of the upper-right diamond block.

But perhaps more interesting is that it shows a trace of the original right frame line from the master die just to the left of the recut right frame line. Actually, this is about as strong as the frame lines from the master die appear on printed stamps of this issue. This example makes it apparent why the frame lines needed to be strengthened by hand after the designs were entered on the plates.

The "Gash on Shoulder" variety can be fun to find. They are common, occurring on C-relief positions. They come in many shapes and sizes.

Here is position 52L2L, an example of the top of the upper label block being connected to the UR diamond block when the plate worker pushed the engraving burin too far when he was strengthening the top of the design.

Double transfers, or "shifts" can be found at many positions, like 19L2L shown in detail here. These occurred on the plate when the transfer roll shifted when the design was being rocked in, so the doubling or tripling of lines occur on all stamps printed from the position where the shift occurred.