Deviation Of Horizontal Die Cut

This Scott #5873 caught my attention. There is a deviation in the horizontal die cuts.

The deviation is most noticeable below the letter "R". Though difficult to see, there seems to be a matching deviation at the top edge of the stamp.

The stamp's physical height measures precisely 25 mm. I consistently measured the height of 25 mm near both the left edge and the right edge of the stamp.



(I digitally added the pink rectangles as a visual assistant.)

Judging by the quality of the printing it could be counterfeit.

Counterfeit or not, it seems the sheet or web of paper shifted during die cut impression. A different and interesting EFO. As it is postaly used, if a counterfeit, it would have greater interest than a normal production stamp.

You could submit a short article to The EFO Collector and see what additional information you may receive. The EFO Collector's Club can be found here: https://www.efocc.org/ . It has been around nearly 50 years now.

Whereas the initial post included a scan from a flatbed scanner, this post's image was taken with a camera. It provides a slightly different perspective.



Both are moderately low resolution.

A phone camera is not good at all for seeing straight or curved lines due to the perspectives used. A quality copy stand camera is a different matter, it is as good or better than a flat plate scanner.

I am with rogdcam - this looks like a counterfeit..
My observation is not with the quality of the printing but the nonexistent microprinting


Peter

The horizontal and vertical cutting are not done at the same time. The vertical cutting is done with a die cutter, the horizontal later with a wheel.