I Want To Get Better At Telling 36 From 36B

Can anyone point me at an article or something to help with this. Sometimes it is obvious - recutting standing out. But too often I see a "might be 36B' and I'm just not sure. Are there other clues to confirm plate 3 other than broken frame lines? Thanks in advance.

The best reference material I am aware of is the Neinken book on the 12c stamps. From my experience Plate 3 stamps (where 36B came from) do not have the small gash mark in the lower right as do most stamps from rows 2-9 on Plate 1 (from which #36 came from). Some have a small dot in the LR corner though. Also, quite a few, but not all 36B's, are missing at least on frame line. You are familiar with the weak frame lines.

Thanks, good clues and thanks for reminding me about that book. I will take a look.

Here's a damaged stamp that is an example of the challenge. Only two margins visible. The top is ripped up so I can't really trust the weakness of the top line and the left line is indeterminate.

I would guess 36B but I wouldn't be very comfortable.

I can't tell. There's no re-entry either to help or any visible identifiers. The 36B color is sometimes darker but in the scan There's nothing to compare it to.

Here is a 36B.

I wouldn't hesitate to call it a #36. It doesn't look like a Plate 3 stamp and the spacing is usually wider than what this stamp shows.

I agree with sinclair2010 - looks like a #36 to me. As with the 10/11 identification, the best way to differentiate 36 from 36B is to plate the stamp in question. I don't believe the plating documentation for 36/36B is as good as for 10/11, though.

I don't think I have ever seen a reconstruction of Plate 3.

Stalker, your stamp haste extra line only on Plate 3. I think left pane.

Sinclair, thanks for that. I thought I had seen something about spacing that was different between the two plates. So the spacing between the stamp I posted and the frame of the next stamp to the left looks narrower than typical for 36B. And when you say "it doesn't look like a plate 3 stamp" - are you talking about more than just the frame line? Caper said 36B is sometimes darker. I appreciate all these comments. It's obviously not a cut and dry topic. I'm sure plating is the ultimately correct way to view it and "sometimes darker" "sometimes wider" kind of tells a story. Then it comes down to experience and I'm working on that part.

As I understand it Plate 1 which was used for Scott 17 was also used for 36. The centering on Plate 1 was close to begin with without exacerbating things with perforated stamps. I was not under the impression that the spacing changed for Plate 3.

I recently acquired this stamp. It was listed as Scott #36. Is the image clear enough for anyone to offer an opinion? I can get a more clear scan if needed (I'm not near my scanner at the moment). The outer frame line at the right towards the top has what look like breaks, but the spacing between stamps does appear to be the narrower kind attributed to the #36.

I can't tell from the scan if the top right corner is incomplete from being not printed (aka plate 3), or if its incomplete due to being abraded.

One tell I use for plate 3 is if all 4 corners are dead complete and solid, then its almost 100% plate 1 (36). Plate 3 tends to have at least 1 corner not connect or not be complete. I believe position 65L on plate 1 has an upper right corner not complete.

My current take is that your stamp is plate 1 (36), possibly a 10R column stamp, which I've noted a few copies have weak unrecut parts of their right framelines. Or its just some other position with some wear there.

Plate 1 stamps tend to be really solid 'picture frames' looking at the 4 outer lines collectively. Think of them as expensive, quality, sturdy frames.

Plate 3 stamps tend to just not be nearly so sturdy looking; the lines are wavier, more broken, etc on average. They just look like a cheap dollar-store frame, vs plate 1.

edit: Your stamp looks pretty "sturdy", and I'm fairly confident its plate 1.

Thanks txstamp.

This is a 600 dpi scan (best my scanner can do). Not sure it's much better.