1c 1851 Plate 1-Late Stamps

The Earliest Known Use of a 1c Stamp Perforated - July 25, 1857 - 95L1L - Castleton, VT





I thought I'd revive the plate 1L thread with a post, not about plating, but about the earliest known use of a 1c stamp from Plate 1L, perforated.

This is also, I believe, still the Unique Earliest Known Use of any 1c stamp, perforated.

The EDU of the 3c stamp, perforated is Feb 28, 1857. That is also the EDU of any government issue officially perforated stamp. The next earliest perforated stamp design is the July 25th 1c cover above. There are a number of 1c perforated stamps franked on circulars with dates around 7/24, 7/25, but are cancelled with a killer only and have no proof of the date of mailing. These are useful data-points but do not count towards a formal EDU designation.

The Siskin/Berkun census of EDUs is kept here -
https://www.rfrajola.com/mercury/SiskinBerkun.pdf

Our old Chronicle Article on EDUs was from 1996. The Siskin Berkun census will be more up to date. Also there have been updates in Chronicles since our 1996 publication - I tried to link the article but had some issues. Its easily found.

One thing to note is that Neinken indicated that the 1c stamp Plate 2 had a 7/25 date. This has been revised to be 7/26, as the cover in question had no proof of the date of mailing. His methodology was flawed, as is evident on page 196:



I can provide a bit of history on this cover, as it, at least used to be quite well-known in the industry.

- Ashbrook discovered it circa mid 20th century ~1950 probably
- Morris Fortgang obtained it, probably from Ashbrook, 1950s.
- Lawrence Fisher obtained it at some point, and held it in his outstanding EDU collection.
- Fisher's sale was in 1996, shortly after that, I obtained it, and I held it until 2005.
- Alan Berkun obtained the cover and exhibited it in his Aristocrat collection of FDC/EKUs.
- Ron Cipolla obtained this in Berkun's sale in 2007 and exhibited it in his Champion of Champions Circular Mail exhibit
- Ron's collection was sold in 2009, after which, I don't know where the cover went, until 2022.
- In a Siegel sale 1262 in 2022 this was sold as an EDU of Scott #20. Which it is not, of course.
* That sale does have a realization, however, it was re-offered in Sale 1291 in 2023,
* so I expect that when it was certified as a #23, the buyer was maybe unhappy?
- 2023 back to me.

Since its such a large cover, it got folded sometime after Ron's sale in 2009 :


Maybe the (re)folding of the cover obfuscated what it really was when searching older auction catalogs? I don't know. I have unfolded it again.

This cover is illustrated by Fortgang in his article : "Earliest Known Uses from the 1 Cent Perforated Plates," from the Perforation Centennial Book in 1957.

Somehow, between 2009 and 2022, what this cover really is got at least temporarily lost. I do not know who had it at that time, and if this was simply a case of a lack of documentation of what the cover was when it was consigned, or what. At any rate, I have always enjoyed EDUs from this era, with this always having been one of my favorites. There may well be another July 25th or even 24th verifiable usage cover out there, with a 1c stamp. It is worth noting, however, that this EDU has stood the test of time since the mid 20th century when Ashbrook found it. If someone knows of another 7/25 or earlier cover, then by all means post it and let us know!

As mentioned on a different thread, I am currently doing some work on plate one left pane. I have two reconstruction sheets to separate, crop, and verify position on. With these additional images I am reworking and completing the database images. I am making an ID image showing plating marks for each position. I added a few plating marks not shown on the plating drawings (pink arrows) since I have between 3 and 6 images for each position to compare. I am reworking the guide dot charts using better images and arrows giving it a more professional look. This was one of my first charts made and I have gotten a bit more practice. I am making a recut chart similar to the right pane chart that I made from the full sheet a while back. It will not be as uniform as the right pane and is taking a lot more work to do. I am half way done with this work and posting what I have done so far at 20% of original size. This chart will be loaded to the website with the right pane image at full size when completed. I am also making a new spacing chart. I am not sure if I have ever shown my spacing charts anywhere or if anyone is even interested in them.

Comments appreciated.

jaxom100 - I think that the guide dot charts are very helpful, and if you add plate mark charts, recut charts, and spacing charts, your feature will be even better. If you are ready to share your spacing charts, I'd definitely be interested in seeing them.

One of my frustrations with plating is the time that it takes to sort through all the various resources when trying to prune possible candidates. The Stamp Smarter database brings digital access to Neinken's maps and adds examples of plated stamps, but it's a challenge to collate the database with guide dot charts, plus any additional charts, and all the other resources such as the Doporto site, the SCF 1c plating threads, and auction records.

I decided to build my own tool to bring these resources together as much as possible and to provide a mechanism to select possible candidates based on criteria like Plate, Relief, Type, Row, Column, and Key Identifiers. I wanted to be able to compare the candidates side by side and manipulate the selection by order of likelihood of a match. The application I've built uses Microsoft Excel. The images below should give you a general idea of how it works. Deciding on Key Identifiers for each Plate and loading the spreadsheet with images will be an ongoing project for me. I only intended to use this tool for my own personal study, but if anyone else is interested in using it or maybe even collaborating, I'd be happy to share it.

Userform:


Sample Output:


Flagging for probable elimination:


Options for reordering images:

widglo46, I would very much like to receive your excel charts and database. I tried to do this long ago but did not have the programming skill needed to put it all together so I abandoned the project. I would like to collaborate with you to further enhance your project. My brother has the programming skill but I am unable to explain what I needed him to set up for me. Maybe we can work together on your project and make it usable for all.

Here are my spacing charts that I use.

This is all great stuff guys.

jaxom - I like those spacing pictures you just posted.

One thing to note when using the spacing charts. The stamp must be leveled, ie no rotation. I have only found one way to level the 1c Franklin stamp. I use the two high points of the bottom label frame. I use the same points for all stamps I put in the database. Here is a picture to give an example:

jaxom100 - Spacing and alignment charts aren't something that I had thought about adding to my presentation tool before now. Your images convinces me it would be a good idea.

Watch your email for a message regarding my app.

widglo46, you also need to consider my recut images for type IVs.
The program overall is very good. A lot of information still needs to be input. Full size ID images that I have been making would help a lot. The scaled down images are too small to see detail. Maybe we can use the images from he database rather than inputting each image into the program and increasing the size. It would require that the user be online to utilize them. There is an issue with collaboration unless we can get the whole program online so we can both add images. Maybe we can see if Don would be able to support the excel program on Stamp Smarter. I have a few ideas, questions, and suggestions for the program.

Here is a beautiful, very early copy of 53L1L. I wonder why the very early copies before the plates were cleaned and polished are not considered an intermediate plate (53L1i). Notice the sharp lines like plate 1 early and the scratches on the left side. This stamp has the split top recut line at left. It has a double bottom recut (EC). There is also doubling on the top left corner where marked with pink arrows. This doubling is not noted on the Neinken drawings but are slightly visible on more worn copies. The plating marks in the "S" of "US" are not indicated on the Neinken drawings but are consistent. Also note the marks on the shoulder where indicated. These marks are barely noticeable on worn copies but are there if you are looking hard for them. All in all, it is a beautiful stamp.


PS: I had a long talk with widglo46 on his 1c plating program. It has a lot of promise. He has a lot of work into it and a lot more work is needed. I am looking forward to assisting him on this project. It could become the main plating tool for the 1c stamps using the images in the database, Neinken drawings, guide dot charts, compression charts, and images not yet constructed.

I like the sound of the plating project. That sounds awesome.

On your plate 1L stamp, it is not considered an intermediate state, because there is no evidence that the plate was actually re-entered again after the initial re-entry that made 1L from 1E.

edit: you are of course, correct to note differences in 1854 before and after cleaning of the plate, as they are significant.

The damage done by the cleaning and polishing of the plate did more to change the plate than the engraving did. The removal of lines in the design (re-exited?) was more of a change in the design than the plate re-entering was. They should have left that plate alone after the re-entering and it would have lasted longer and looked better.

jaxom100 - Thanks for your input on the app that I built. I like your ideas and I've incorporated some of them already. I look forward to working with you on it.

Your 53L1L is very nice. Scott #9's with full lines to the top of the bust look so much better than the average. I'm posting my 53L1L to show the difference of a little wear. The difference in the appearance of the recuts is something that I always find interesting.

Actually the early 1854 impressions were getting pretty ugly.
After the cleaning, overall, it looked better, but you could really start seeing wear easily for the first time.

I am having some problems verifying this stamp. I have it designated as 66L1L. The guide dot and the EC recut seem to match but the top recut does not match the Neinken drawing. There are only 12 stamps that are relief B and recut EC. Since I am making ID images and recut chart for left pane, the correctness is an issue. Position 23R1L has a matching guide dot but the neither recuts match. Is this stamp 67L1L and is the Neinken drawing incorrect of the top recut?



The 1c plating wizard is coming along well. Does anyone have any recommendations for putting an excel program on the internet so two people can work on it? I would like to see it hosted on Stamp Smarter but that might take a long time.