Show Your US 1851-57 Imperforate Stamps

It is a sharp impression. I have tried to plate it which you would think would be easy with a 3 line recut in ULT but it is not any that come up in the plating wizard using all plates for 11As [1L,2L,3,5L], no guide dots, 2 inner lines, 3 line recut @ ULT.

So I tried 2 line recut ULT and took off the no guide dots. It may be 7R2L but that one has a guide dot UR which could be there but not visible on this stamp but I think I see a hint of a stamp above this one which would rule out a top row stamp.

Take a look at 7R2L and see if anyone else thinks that is right or not for this example.

7R2L doesn't look right. If it is a three-lines recut, 21L2L and 66R2L seem like the best candidates, but we should see a trace of a guide dot on your clear printing.

Thanks for taking a look ClassicCoins.

I had looked at 66R2L and discounted it because of the big shift in C and the top frame line spacing was wrong but I don't believe I looked at 21L2L which in every respect except one looks spot on. 21L supposedly has LL and LR guide dots. The LL is hidden in the lower label but the LR one is right at the LLC of the LRT. But not on my example. Now clearly there is an inking anomaly with my example, so possibly that explains no LR guide dot?

But I also looked at 31L right below 21L because you can see the top the stamp below. And the spacing of the top frame line and the ULB does not look right. So, I think I am still looking.

Relaxing constraints I looked at more examples with 1 line recut ULT and also profile A.

75R3 looks right. Also the spacing of the TFL and ULB of 85R3 looks right.

Is it possible that what is labeled a single line recut ULT on sharp impression looks like a 3 line recut?

The triangles were actually engraved with two vertical lines and two curved lines superimposed on the horizontal lines. These will show on clear printings from a plate with little to no plate wear. So maybe we're seeing the two vertical lines on the left.

There does seem to be a third line there, though.

Well I don't have anything as special as you guys but I do like them!
Here's some of mine....

I am going through a tote and these were in an envelope near the bottom. Haven't started sorting them yet.

Wow Bakerj that is a nice lot!

BakerJ - nice lot. The pen cancelled example at lower left looks like one that I have had for 50-ish years. I was like 10 years old and my mother took me to the 2nd Sunday Stamp Show in Meriden, CT. I found this swirly pen cancelled 3c 1851 and I just thought it looked pretty. The cancel wasn't smeared (like pen cancels can get) and the color was fresh and the impression was also sharp. I probably paid $1 or $2 for it. I cannot find it right now - I think it is in the bank, although I don't know why I spent the time to put it there.

Anyway, it isn't always the most expensive, or the jumbo-est, or the pristine-est gum that makes a particular stamp so special to a collector.

BakerJ - did you perhaps get this lot at a Harmer-Schau auction?

BakerJ, That's a nice big 3-cent group! That PAID 3 cancel is special, and pretty scarce. The Jul 11 cancel looks like it has at least one inverted numeral. It looks like the sixth stamp in the second row has an imprint. Can you show a larger image of that?

Laurie, your first stamp is a great example of a plate 1-late (1L) printing from a worn plate. Plate 1L stamps are easily identified by the heavy ink blobs in the upper-right corner. There also is a guide dot above the upper-right diamond block, making this a top-row position.

Your second stamp is really nice, from plate 5L, and may be a claret color.

banknoteguy, That's a nice closeup image (previous page) of the upper left triangle of your stamp. It does kind of look like a three-line recut. But, unfortunately, the quality of the inking makes it extremely difficult to confirm. It still can be plated.



Following up on my earlier statement, here is an example of a clear printing of a triangle from an unworn plate. There is no recutting in this triangle:

My dad had these stamps for quite a while. Not sure where he got them all from. I will get the enlarged scans when I get home.

Scan of the 6th stamp in the 2nd row as requested.

Thanks for showing the stamp with the imprint, BakerJ. Imprint copies are highly desired, so they increase resale value. Yours is from plate position 70R1L. A worn-plate printing.