1851-1861 3c Washington Compression Charts

Here are the compression charts for the right pane of Plate 1 Late. The A relief chart is compressed at 90%, B relief chart is compressed at 80% and the full pane chart is compressed at 60% as needed to post here. There are two C relief stamps on this pane. 600 images complete, only 2000 more to go. Work is going slow but still progressing. I plan to do plate 2L next and then plate 5L to complete all 11A stamps. These charts have been uploaded to the database at full size for your use. Comments appreciated.

Here is the guide dot chart for the left pane of plate 2 late. I had to scale it 48% to fit here. If anyone has a copy of one of the three positions showing the left guide dot, I would appreciate a copy to fill in the holes. Full size image has been uploaded to Stamp Smarter database. https://stampsmarter.org/features/S...Plating.html Comments appreciated.

Here are the compression charts for the left pane of Plate 2 Late. The A relief chart is not compressed, B relief chart is compressed at 80% and the full pane chart is compressed at 60% as needed to post here. There are no relief C stamps on this pane. 700 images complete, only 1900 more to go. Work is going slow but still progressing. These charts have been uploaded to the database at full size for your use. Comments appreciated.

Rick,
Your efforts are greatly appreciated by some of us, thank you.
Don

What Don said Rick. Amazing work!

Thanks guys. It is a tremendous amount of work. I remove as much of the cancels as possible. By doing this project, I have also been able to verify every stamp in the database to match the Chase images. I remove any image that is incorrectly plated. So far I have found 29 incorrectly plated Lund images on the 3c website. So be careful when using those images for your plating efforts. I have passed the 25% completion mark on this project. I am hoping to complete it by the spring of next year, if I can find the images that I need. Some of the plates do not have many images and that will really slow me down. I am hoping that Don will open a new column in our 3c database for the Chase images. I have been cropping, rotating and lightening the Chase images as needed as I go along. It is a large improvement on the images. These charts should be a great help in plating this stamp. I have also moved the images in our database so the first spot is filled so Don can compile the images.

jaxom - your work is definitely appreciated.

While I'm thinking about it, one obvious incorrect position on the Lund plating is 56L5L.

The right sheet margin on an alleged body-of-plate stamp is kind of a giveaway.

Once you have finished, your errata sheet for the plating would also be quite useful.

Hi Rick,
I have added support for the Chase images. If desired, I can 'bulk upload' the images if someone sends them to me via file share like Dropbox.
Don

Hi txstamp --

Amazingly, the stamp currently slotted as 56L5L on stampplating.com, although incorrectly plated, actually is an interpane stamp -- just with unusually wide spacing at right -- plating to position 75R2L.

From the various stamps and multiples that I have examined where I can see the spacing between vertical columns 5 and 6 on R2L -- it looks like the gutter between them widens out towards the bottom of the plate -- as 9th and 10th row stamps seem to show the same unusually wide spacing.

I also have a plating note that the Chase copy of 75R2L is not the best for reference purposes as it is seriously over-inked.

I have let the owner of stampplating.com know about this and he will get it fixed.

Regards // ioagoa

edited to fix spelling errors

Don, I have uploaded the Chase images for plate 2 late. I sent you the compressed folders for plates 1 late, 3 and 4. Let me know if you can bulk upload them. If not, I can do it manually.

Txstamp, I am not sure what I will do with the list of incorrect Lund plating images. Bryan refused to let me use his images and threatened to sue me if I did. So I consider him my philatelic enemy at this point. I think he was upset that my charts were getting attention and taking away attention from his website. That is why my early charts were pulled from this forum posting. He was not thinking that my work would also verify his images. It is unfortunate that he has so many errors that will affect others.

Ioagoa, the Chase image of 75R2L is just bad f-stop. I have been cleaning up these dark Chase images that we are now uploading to the Stamp Smarter website. Here is what I do with the images, in this case 75R2L.

Hi Jaxom --

I am not a photographer by any stretch -- so I might be wrong on this -- but I have been told that the Chase photo's were made from contact negatives that were then developed into prints utilizing old fashioned darkroom technology. My understanding is that there is only a single set of the negatives -- but that each time the folks at the Smithsonian made up a new batch of prints -- the "exposure" was very inconsistent -- thus accounting for the wide range we see of photos being too dark -- too light -- or just right.

Years ago -- circa 1990's -- I broke down and purchased a set of Chase photos directly from the Smithsonian -- paid $550 for the full set of 26 panes. The set was way too dark and absolutely worthless for plating -- yet they refused to take them back and exchange them for a refund or a properly exposed set. I finally purchased a better set at auction a few years later (and for $350 I might add).

I am also told that the Chase photo images that are currently online and available for free download were made by the Smithsonian by simply scanning the contact negative prints -- resulting is some loss of clarity in comparison to a properly exposed set of contact negative prints.

In any event, compressed images and Chase photo production methods aside -- the Chase copy of 75R2L is an over-inked example -- and regardless of exposure, distorts the white spacing relationships -- essentially making them appear narrower versus a more typically inked copy. Not as critical when plating stamps with both inner lines recut as the shape of the bends in the lines is generally discernible -- but when you get to the "no-inner line" stamps -- especially the A reliefs -- the "white spacings" -- primarily between the frame lines and the diamond blocks -- the frame lines and the label blocks -- and the frame lines and the design -- become much more important.

Regards // ioagoa

Hi Jaxom 100 --

In the process of plating some stamps yesterday -- I noticed that the first of the two StampSmarter copies currently slotted as position 58L4 is not correct. More specifically, the stamp in the "number 1" slot with the bluish-black JULY 15 cds cancel is actually position 13L4 -- (a copy of which is below to avoid any possibility of confusion).

I also noticed that this is the same stamp slotted as 58L4-(NOT) in your Plate 4 compression chart -- so you will probably want to correct both the StampSmarter database and the compression chart accordingly.

As an abundance of caution -- I re-confirmed that the second stamp slotted as 58L4 on StampSmarter is, in fact, correctly plated -- so you could easily use that copy as the replacement for your compression chart. More specifically, the stamp in the "number 2" slot is the copy with the indistinct black MMM 27 cds cancel -- and for which a scan is also posted below to avoid any possibility of confusion.

As an aside -- based on my experience, the utilization of compressed images -- while a very powerful plating aid -- also has its limitations.

For example -- compressed images can be significantly distorted (and thus misleading) if the frame lines of the stamp in the original source scan are not as close to horizontal or vertical as possible before compression (i.e., perfectly aligned on the "X / Y axis"). More significantly, if the stamp was torn, or not flat on the scanner, or if there were bends in the paper when scanned, frame line curves can be distorted (or artificially introduced) on the compressed image that are not true to the position. In other words -- if the stamp in the original source scan is tilted at an angle -- or has any paper bends, creases, or tears -- or is not perfectly flat on the scanner for any other reason -- the resulting compressed image will be distorted for purposes of comparability with other patient stamps from the same plate position -- and consequently, potentially misleading.

One final comment about Relief-A stamps on plate 4 where there are no recut varieties or other stand-out features -- many of these positions are very similar to each other -- and in my experience, while compressed images can be used as a powerful tool to help in narrowing down a short list of candidates -- they should not be relied upon in finalizing a plate position.

Regards // ioagoa


The following stamp is not 58L4 -- but is actually 13L4




The following stamp has been re-confirmed as 58L4

Thank you Ioagoa. I have made all of the changes. Let me know if you find any other issues.

Here is the guide dot chart for the right pane of plate 2 late. I had to scale it 45% to fit here. Full size image has been uploaded to Stamp Smarter database. https://stampsmarter.org/features/S...Plating.html Comments appreciated.