Putting The "Double" In Double Transfer

The most well-known double transfers on R13c (2-cent Proprietary) are the T13 and T13a... but they are not the most dramatic (just as the T15 and T15a are IMO not the most dramatic double transfers on R15c).

However the double transfers that completely cover the stamp come around much less frequently than the T13 or T13a. The 4 different positions of what I would call all-over double transfer that I am aware of are probably an order of magnitude more scarce than the T13 or R13a.

Unfortunately, since no one (that I am aware of) is actively plating R13c, we are unlikely to ever know their plate positions. Neither Dick Celler nor Karl Lachemacher actively plated R13c, to my knowledge.

I just received a confirming example of the very first all-over DT on R13c that I purchased from Richard Friedberg back in 2011. This one is complementary, in that the first one was poorly centered to the right and this one is poorly centered to the left, so between the two, we have a complete design.

It has doubling of lettering on all 4 sides, ornaments and scrollwork throughout, and in Washington's portrait and the background. Were it not for the fact that the doubling is moving in different directions, this could easily be mistaken for a double impression.

New example:




Old example:




Contrast the portrait lines, especially the forehead, and corner elements with the following example R13c. It too is a double transfer, but the doubling is relegated to the perhiphery of the design. I use this as a comparison image, as it is a very crisply struck example of the stamp.



Here are the three other all-over DT positions I am aware of (who knows how many there are). The last two exhibit doubling in all four lettering panels, yet none in the portrait area.

This first stamp may be the most dramatic of all of the stamps shown with respect to doubling in the lettering all 4 sides. I am unaware of another example of this stamp.

That first one is amazing.

The second transfer seems to be rotated, which is a bit unusual. There's a rotated double transfer on the 1c Justice, but it's mostly just traces.

It appears rotated because it is a "twisted" transfer. For whatever reason, the transfer roll twisted while the position was being entered. Since this is 150 year old technology it is not really possible to know exactly why it twisted.It was operating under pressure, and speed, and human control. So.......