These are the scarce (Scott 594) and rare (596) rotary press 1¢ green Benjamin Franklin stamps of 1924 with gauge 11 perforations both horizontally and vertically.
All coil stamps of the 1922 series were printed on small intaglio rotary presses invented by Benjamin R. Stickney a decade earlier. Horizontal format coils were printed from 170-subject curved plates, 10 subjects across the plate and 17 subjects in the rotary dimension. Curvature of the plates stretched the engraved images in the horizontal dimension, so the printed images are wider than sheet and booklet stamps printed from flat plates.
Two plates were printed in tandem, so that when mounted together on the press they formed a cylindrical surface 34 subjects in circumference, with a line of ink printed in the space where the plates adjoined. Collectors call the two stamps that straddle the joint line “line pairs,” which are premium items. The 1¢ Franklin horizontal coils are listed as Scott 597.
The catalog advises users that the stamp design of Scott 594 measures approximately 19¾ by 21¼ millimeters, and Scott 596 measures approximately 19¼ by 22½mm. Unfortunately, inexperienced collectors have seldom been trained to make reliably accurate measurements, and they often tend to read rulers optimistically.The consequence is invariably disappointment. All too often, they misidentify a common Scott 552 as either 594 or 596; many are reluctant to believe experts who advise them of their mistakes.
Vertical format coils were printed from 150-subject plates of the same size but with the dimensions in a perpendicular layout, 10 subjects across the plate and 15 subjects in the rotary dimension, so those plates when paired had a cylindrical circumference of 30 subjects with joint lines at 15-subject intervals.
Curvature of those plates stretched the engraved images in the vertical dimension, so the printed images are taller than sheet-stamp prints from flat plates and narrower than horizontal format coil stamps. The 1¢ Franklin vertical coils are listed as Scott 604.
During the years when Scott 597 and 604 coil stamps were produced, both formats were perforated gauge 10 between subjects in one dimension across the printed web and finished on Stickney coilers that slit each row apart and rolled it up, with manila leader and trailer strips attached to the inner and outer ends of the stamp ribbons.
Both formats were offered in 500- and 1,000-stamp rolls wound with the gum side in.
Horizontal coils also were available on special order in 3,000-stamp rolls wound with the gum side out, to accommodate users of Mailometer high-speed office mailing machines. But no smaller rolls were issued until long afterward, so perforated web pieces at the beginning and end of the webs that were too short to finish as 500-stamp rolls were set aside, designated “waste.”
Most of those leftover pieces of coil waste had gauge 10 perforations across the paper web width, but smaller end pieces left over from threading and disengaging the perforator had no perforations at all. Yet all these scraps bore acceptable engraved 1¢ Franklin prints. Although they were too small for coil pieces, they might be useful as sheet stamps if they were perforated in both dimensions and broken up into panes.
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing policy of salvaging coil waste had begun in 1919 when the 1908-21 Washington-Franklin series was still current, and continued as 1922 series stamps replaced them. This allowed the BEP to invoice the Post Office Department for those finished stamps instead of absorbing the cost of treating the waste as spoilage.
Scott 594, the rotary press coil stamp with gauge 11 perforations in both dimensions, was first reported in April 1925. By then, coil waste production had ceased, so there were no more to be had and none available for philatelic sale.
Both the flat-plate sheet stamp, Scott 552, and this scarce coil waste stamp, Scott 594, have gauge 11 perforations in both dimensions, so it is not easy to tell them apart. As noted previously, the printed design of each coil waste stamp is slightly wider than its flat-plate counterpart, but the difference in width is less than one millimeter, so using a ruler is not the best method of identification.
A new discovery of a scarce perf 11 rotary press sheet-waste stamp from 1923, the 1¢ green Benjamin Franklin (Scott 596) fetch $175000 in an auction. According to Gary Griffith, the initial 1¢ Franklin precancel orders were for four cities: New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Kansas City (Missouri). To manufacture half a million stamps from paired 400-subject plates required 625 impressions of both plates for each city. No doubt the printers ran several extras to allow for spoilage, but suppose the women who were responsible for perforating and completing the orders discovered that they were a few sheets short for the Kansas City order.
6 окт 2024
