Show Your US 1857 Perforated Stamps

Here's a recently acquired #25 and #26A. I don't think there is anything special about the #25, but I have a question about the #26A. It appears to be a right side of the plate stamp, first column. Are all these stamps imperforate to the left?

#25


#26A

Here's what looks to be a #26 since the frame lines at the top appear to continue upwards. There is a very faint doubling of the right frame line that runs for a good portion of the frame. Is this one of the special frame line double varieties? I was not able to find an example searching the web.

Either 26 or 26A, can't tell. But my question is if this is an example of a worn plate or is it perhaps a non-standard color? The cancel seems to still retain much of it's black color, so thinking this isn't a dull red.

Not sure if #26 or #26A, but I think this must qualify as a left frame line doubled.

The following stamp is #25. But what is really cool is that it looks to have the same engraver slip as a Scott #11 that I have which was plated as 95R4. Since the #25 used the same plates, perhaps I now have both the imperforate and perforated from the same plate position?

#25:


#11 position 95R4:

Your stamps definitely appears to be 26A from column 1 of plate 10 or 11. This would be considered a straddle margin copy. The left and right panes of the plate were divided by the centerline. Postoffice employees would separate the two panes by cutting along the centerline. In the case of your stamp, the cutting of the sheet into two panes was off and captured a nice portion of the stamp from the left pane. The stamps on the left pane would have been perforated just the same as the ones on the right pane. It also appears that this stamp is an F relief which would make it position 51R or 91R as the F relief was used on rows six and ten.

Regards,
Harper1249

Thanks, Harper. Is there a plating resource for the 3c perforated stamps?

Besides Chase's book and several articles in the Chronicle there isn't much out there. I haven't seen anything online that shows a recreated plate but I suspect there are some of plates 10 and 11 out there. Plates 9 and 12-28 are even more difficult to plate.

Regards,
Harper1249

US #32 on piece:

A very off-center, but otherwise likeable #24:

Can someone help decipher the abbreviation on this tag? Thanks.
"26 var - Left Frame Double & ??? 1 Line Recut"

It means one line recut in the upper left triangle. Nice stamp!

Got it. Thanks. I was reading that as UGA or something and couldn't figure it out.

Nicholas, I think your 24 is 10L7, one of the "eye curl" positions.
If so, congrats! Ray

Thanks, Ray. I can't find anything online that shows pictures of the "eye curl". Can you show me or point me in the right direction?

Edit: I found a couple of images on stampsmarter site. I guess there is a line of curl that cuts across the hair opposite the eye? Not really sure. I will look at my stamp in more detail later. I have only two #24 stamps, so never really looked into variations on them.