I Found A 1923 Franklin 1 Cent; Perfs 9.5 X 9.75

Appears to be a typical Franklin perf 10 stamp.

Rev

thank you for your reply

I checked over 250 different 1923 1 cent same stamp

Every line was dead center of the half bubble using the blue gauge, except this one

Thats why it made no sense to me; you appear to be an expert, would the Scott folks want to see this stamp, in your opinion??

It is impossible for a single stamp to be different from others on one gauge but not on another gauge. Either it is different on both or it is not different. If it is, the problem is in the biological part of the gauging mechanism.


If it is a perf. 10 all around, wouldn't that make it a #581.

Why would Scott want to see a highly common stamp?

Not all gauges are equal.
Particularly gauges made out of paper/cardboard may suffer from humiduty/heat cycles. Some cheap plastic ones may also suffer. Your "black" gauge is an aluminium piece so it might not have suffered over time.

Actually to see whether one of your gauges has suffered, test them against each other, and to a stamp with "certain" perforation. If one of your gauges disagrees, it's turned bad and you should discard it.

The perf 10 Washington/Franklins were actually perf 9.75 ... as they commonly do, the Scott gurus rounded the value up to 10 in their catalogue. Of course, this does not explain your 9.5 ... but your 9.75 would be normal for this issue.

A bit of shrinkage on a 100 year old stamp.

Surely, if a stamp shrinks then the perforation count increases. Not decreases!

Shrinkage affects the overall size, not the actual number of perforations. So if the stamp gets a bit smaller, the perforations are now slightly closer to each other, and the gauge might shrink slightly.

Same number of perforation holes, narrower or lower stamp: gauge increases. More holes fit in the same two centimetres.

Depends on the direction of the shrinkage. And in any case, with billions of stamps issued, there will always be some minor variation in the perfs, we are dealing with 100 year old machinery which had very heavy usage. It's impossible for every stamp to be exactly identical.

It is simple maths: 2 cms x # of holes / width or height in cms = gauge.
2 cms are 2 cms, the number of holes does not change.

The only number that changes is the denominator. If it decreases, the gauge goes up. If it increases it goes down.

The only manner in which the shrinkage can decrease the gauge is if the stamp shrinks wider or higher.

We are discussing such a tiny amount that anything might cause it. Natural production variance is still the most likely cause, and therefore it is not some "special variety".

NSK

Thank you for your analysis

I would agree with your explanation

I totally agree that it is not a variety. I am not sure, but OP appears to claim he looked at many using two perforation gauges and only stamp deviates on just one gauge. That would be impossible. If it deviates using one gauge, it should deviate in the same manner on another gauge. The numbers may differ, but the direction does not.

Looking at the blue gauge and the black gauge, at least one of them is incorrect. And it would be incorrect for all 250 of the stamps, not just one.

This stamp was issued 10-79. I suggest that you measure it on a Kiusalas specialist gauge, and see how it measures on that.