1923 2c Harding Question

Hey guys, first post. Glad to be a part of the community.
Regarding the Harding, I have mints of both 10 and 11 perforate as shown below. Stampworld states that the 11 is smaller than the 10 (19 1/4x22 1/2), but both are these are equal in size.
Thanks for the input

Welcome.
You can learn more about your #610 and #612 stamps here (towards bottom of page).
https://stampsmarter.org/1847usa/ByYear/1923.html
The size difference is due to one being flat plate printed and one being rotary printed, more info can be found here
https://stampsmarter.org/learning/M...methods.html

Don

The size difference is of the actual stamp design ... not the entire stamp with selvage included.

The slight curl in your mint stamps causes some distortion in the photo, but when a line is drawn across the top of the designs, which are fairly well aligned, the corresponding line drawn across the bottom clearly shows the left stamp (Scott 610, flat plate, perf 11) is shorter than the right stamp (Scott 612, rotary plate, perf 10).



This very small size difference is best shown (as you did) by comparing stamps side by side rather than using a ruler, which often has lines as wide as the difference one is trying to measure. This will all agree with the information in the stampsmarter links which Don provided.

In the stamp 'design'! Okay thank you, that clears everything up. So the rotary press design should be bigger due to the process. I was curious also because there appears to be setoff on the backs of both stamps which is mostly from flat plates.
Thank you for the responses

While "setoff" is not normally seen on rotary press stamps, it is not impossible. But the cause of the setoff would not be the same since rotary sheets were not stacked for drying prior to gumming like flat plate sheets. In fact, I would wager that any "setoff" on rotary stamps would probably occur after the sheet was gummed and hence lie on top of the gum. For flat plate stamps, the setoff occurs prior to the gumming process, which is why you frequently see it on used stamps.