Washington 2c A Different Variety Or Normal

Notice this Washington 2c the front portion of the face totally plain and white without colors except a dot like red for the eyes. Is this another variety or normal? Your opinions and comments will be most appreciated. Thanks.

Normal stamp showing normal wear and tear.

The resolution of the scan isn't high enough for me to see the detail. Maybe zoom in on just the face?

Underinked?

I agree with dr. Kohler - very easy to see


Peter

It looks like a very worn plate, which would not take ink very well. With such a high quantity issued, they would have used the plates as much as possible.

It looks like a very worn plate
No. The plate looks ok.
Here is a comparison between a worn plate and a "fresh" plate:

(Both are from booklet panes with the same plate number).
Notice the sharp grooves are eroded on the horizontal separations between "light and dark". Also the horizontal background lines are looking like thin clouds, no longer lines. The vignette background is almost fully green as the thin lines on the plate have eroded away.

On the 2c stamp, there is no visible erosion so that plate is relatively fresh.

That might well be true for the W/F series, but worn plate first issue revenues look a lot like this two cent stamp.So do some other 19th century issues, where the fine lines start to disappear, so they hold less ink.

yes worn plate. The lines on this stamp are blurry, not sharp as well. Off a fresh plate the lines would be crisp.

You can clearly see that the center is more faded than the rest of the stamp. I am with Partime on this.

If this is "normal wear", then the scan is terrible.

Not a good scan.

Not a good scan.
Actually quite a good photograph. Almost no lens distortion so not the usual cellphone hipshot...