Stamp Smarter Plate # Lookup

Hi. Although I've hung around here for a while this is my first post There will be many more because there is a lot I don't know.

I was on ebay and saw a US Scott# 267 typeIII with the plate# 470. So I went over to Stamp Smarter to look it up. It came back with two different stamps #s 210 & 267. The same plate could not be used for both stamps. Did Stamp Smarter simply make a mistake or is there more to the story?

Thanks

It is correct, plate numbers were reused frequency.
Don

Different printers.
The American Bank Note Company's plate #470 makes Scott #210.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing's plate #470 makes Scott #267.

Also in this era and fully through the 1910's, many plates were used with different change-overs of watermarks and perforations - thus appearing now as the same plate with different Scott numbers.

Thanks, I knew about different watermarks and perfs but I did not that ABN & BEP could overlap.

Thanks for clearing this up for me.

It is more than simply the printer company. For example, plate #1 was used on over 240 different stamps spanning over 100 years.
Don

"Plate 1" on modern U.S. issues means nothing compared to the true sequential plate numbering of a century ago. To get a feel, how many plate 1 examples are there from before the USPOD/USPS switchover in 1971?

There are 27 different Scott numbered stamps pre-1971 with plate #1.
Don

Much more meaning back then.