Quote:
I don't know how the spacing variations are created. Maybe just the way the plate was laid out before printing. Hopefully someone can tell us!
The plates used to print the 1851-57 3-cent imperforate stamps were first prepared by incising position dots along the top of the plate and in four rows below.
The design for the 1851-57 3-cent imperforate stamp was transferred from a transfer roll with three design reliefs on it aligned vertically to the plate. With some exceptions, the transfer roll was used to vertically rock (enter) three design entries at a time onto the top three rows of the plate. The top position dots were used to place the side point on the transfer roll onto the plate in the correct position.
However, the position dots on rows 3, 5, 7, and 9 were not used to place the transfer roll for entering the designs on those rows. After the first three rows were entered with the three reliefs on the transfer roll, the top (C) relief on the transfer roll was placed into the bottom of each third-row entry that was already completed to ensure vertical alignment, and only the second and third reliefs on the transfer roll were used to enter the designs below the third row. This method of placing the transfer roll is called the "Guide Reliefing method," and it can be read about in detail in the free U.S. Philatelic Classics Society book linked below.
Back to the question about how spacing variations were created, if one column of design entries was not exactly parallel with the next column near the top of the plate, the columns tended to get more out of alignment when the top relief on the transfer roll was used to align the transfer roll further down on the plate. In other words, the "Guide Reliefing method" helped keep each plate entry aligned with the entry above it, but not consistently spaced from the entries beside it. For this reason, the biggest alignment consistencies are generally found near the bottom of the plate.
The 91L1L-94L1L strip above is, of course, from the bottom row of the plate. The first and second stamps are spaced much closer together than the others.
https://www.uspcs.org/wp-content/up...CS_and_B.pdf
Posted 02/19/2025 11:54 am
Actually, both covers are from California, but you probably mean the Fruitland cover. Most likely was "it was stamped right in front of the clerk." Unless Mr. Robertson happened to have a pair and two strips of four of Sc 230 with him when he went to the P.O. It does seem an odd selection of stamps. 
And, again, thanks for showing all this!
