When The Modern Shift Hits The Fan

I hadn't heard of shifts before. I really like seeing everyone's examples! very cool.

This is not a color shift, but someone might have an explanation why this sheet stamp was cut at an odd angle. The horizontal and vertical sides are not perpendicular, but are off by 2 degrees.

This might have been printer's waste


Peter

Printer's waste only refers to how an item makes it to the market, not how it was created. I can only guess as don't know for a fact, but I suspect the horizontal and vertical perfs were done in 2 different steps.
Although diagonal misperfs are less common than regular misperfs, I have different degrees of diagonal perfs on this "A" stamp.




and on other issues including

thank you Eyes for the photos of the blocks

C23 centerline block



C11 duplicate that will likely eventually end up on eBay

wild wildlife!

just wow rogdcam! amazingly huge misregistration

Picked up yesterday.
CE2 (now I "just" need to find similar shifts in the other 3 directions)



703



702 up & down (edited to add - the funky globe color is due to aliasing from my scanner)



702 dark cross (I believe this is due to black ink contaminating the red and not oxidation)

You all are welcome. Thanks to the poor blind pressman for his mistakes beloved by so many. I personally do not like them due to the butt chewing that came with producing such product. The ones with the massive registration problems are most likely set waist that some how made it's way out to the public. You will find a fair amount of slightly shifted colors on stamps (1mm or larger). In large runs it was common to see.

This can happen in a number of ways but let me list just a few.

The pressman is registration if off due to set up the run. Then not all the set sheets are removed down the line by one of the team members.

The plates can be burned wrong making the print not line up correctly. The more the plate is off the more movement you will have from where you started. The first stamp may look fine in upper lift corner. The stamp in the lower right may be way off. Then you would cut the difference between the stamps. This would make the center block registration correct. Thus then would move the print as to the upper left and lower right with in acceptable regeneration.

As to mis perfferating is common on start up or they went threw a slice could move the paper. The sheets could go threw at an angle not intended making a misperf. In most cases the stamp are removed as waist and destroyed. You are only getting the tell end. That is why they are uncommon and collectable.

I am sure I have been responsible for some othese errors over the years. Once again you are welcome for me not doing my very best. I may mention that quality control at times was not the very best. The production team was more likely to make mistakes on monday morning. This after a long weekend and you are not completely recovered from it. On friday after mid shift when you want to get out of there. After a holiday or big even like the superbowl when you are hung over from the night before. I guess with out our human frailty you would not have anything to collect. It was part of my job to see to it you did not have such thing to collect. You can see how well I did my job so you are welcome. I do not know how I made it to retirement after seeing what got out. So you are Welcome.

Were these shifts outside what was the drawings/criteria considered acceptable and Quality Control just not stringent enough or were color shift specifications not well defined/documented?
Don

Uknjay - we thank you for being human.

Don,

The color shifts (misregerstration) were not acceptable anytime. They happen but if it was not to bad they let it pass in large runs. You should have your press registered in all the time. Due to a number of reasons the print can move slightly. As a pressman you never paid to much attention to that. In the collectors world today and I guess the passed. Small movements in color is a big thing.

One example is the SC #1468 two tailed cat. I like it as the color shift made it appear as if the cat had two tails. This color shift is about 1mm to 1.5 mm). A small mis registration error on the press operators. They are other color shifts in the run not as dramatic. This was done by honest mistake as the press plates were not aligned properly. This error lays only on the press operators not paying attention to what they were doing. The error is not as common as you would think or price would indicate. Most of the mishap was noticed quickly and was adjusted. There other mis registration shifts that is around this error. All this taking place in a small amount of time. Quality control did not notice this and they were released for consumption. (Quality control must have took a coffey brake or was to business telling or learning the latest office gossip) I just like it but I also like animals.

Eyeonwall,

You are most welcome to enjoy my mistakes.

Oh, boy I have done some good ones thank goodness they were caught in time and never released. I got more than one nasty look or harsh word given my direction by the shift supervisor. I did not think of it back then but today if they were to have been released for sale. They would be highly collectable.

I was half a sleep after a long double shift when I got the plates confused. I put the wrong plate on the press for one stamp color and the other three were the right plate of the job. This was noticed by a print team member down the line quickly. If not you would have had a stamp with a printing of two totally different stamps in one. I quickly reburnt the plate and replaced it correctly. And any press sheets was destroyed. This was totally my fault by not paying attention.

Another mistake was printing the gumside of a stamp. That did not work well and jammed the press. Took me forever to clean the mess up and get all the paper out of the ink rollers.

Well I will not bore you with my story of mishaps. Thank you to everyone for not making to much fun at my brain freezes.