Curiosities From The B E P Certified Proof Collection

Three more ...

Frigate ink test rotary press plate proof
https://www.si.edu/object/frigate-i....309126.1315



Dog Pal ink testing
https://www.si.edu/object/dog-tag-i....309126.1326



Black Liberty experimental plate proof
https://www.si.edu/object/liberty-e....309126.1281

And a couple more oddball combinations.

Green 1c GW, 1c playing cards, 7c air experimental plate proof
https://www.si.edu/object/1c-gw-1c-....309126.1363



Green Lincoln and 15¢ airmail experimental plate proof
https://www.si.edu/object/20c-monti....309126.1365

Some interesting color varieties appear on proof sheets in the NPM collection. Some are experiments, I think, but others are just plain mistakes. Many of these were caught and the sheets have card proofs attached with the correct ink color.

50¢ Trans Mississippi in black





https://www.si.edu/object/50c-weste...0.242263.580


Louisa May Alcott wrong color



https://www.si.edu/object/5c-americ...2263.21679.1


Pony Express wrong color



https://www.si.edu/object/3c-pony-e...2263.21749.1


Ralph Waldo Emerson wrong color



https://www.si.edu/object/3c-americ...2263.15924.1


$5 Moore in brown
https://www.si.edu/object/5-john-ba..._1979.0906.1

Another quirky piece from the NPM proofs -- a dual design sheet in separate colors from the Canal Zone. No idea of the purpose here.



https://www.si.edu/object/canal-zon..._0.312723.42

That's a quirky plate design. Usually for a Cottrell press/Seybold perforator, the vertical bars would be centered and the horizontal bars would run along each side. The printer uses the vertical bars for alignment of the web roll during printing and the horizontal bars for alignent of the other colors if there was more than one color (or an overprint station). The perforator usually uses the right side horizontal electric eye bars, in case of a defect the operator could switch to the spare unit that used the left side horizontal bars.

My guess is here, new setups for printer/perforator could have been tested. Everything is asymmetric on the plate now, so it has to be predefined if the web roll goes into the perforator foot first or head first. The printer/perforator could shift its vertical alignment electric eye detector from the center either to the complete left or somewhat to the right. The vertical bars are also thinner than normal. The perforator could move its horizontal electric eye bar detector from its normal right side position somewhere to the left of the web roll center.
Some later plates actually have the vertical bars offcenter (at least booklet pane plates had that configuration).