Mysterious ink anomalies found on Fourth Bureau Issue stamps

U.S. Stamp Notes by John M. Hotchner

When I first saw the strip of three of the perf 11 by 11 variety of the 12¢ Grover Cleveland stamp (Scott 564) from the Fourth Bureau Issue of 1922-23, shown above, I thought the unexpected blob of color in the margin above the stamp on the left, however unlikely, might have come from some type of plate damage.

Thinking along those lines, I consulted the bible of plate variety collectors, Loran C. (“Cloudy”) French’s Encyclopedia of Plate Varieties on U.S. Bureau-Printed Postage Stamps (Bureau Issues Association [now the United States Stamp Society], 1979). Unfortunately, I had no luck finding an answer there.

Having ruled out any plate damage as a possibility, my expectation is that a spot of ink got on the outer edge of a sheet during printing or possibly something happened in post-production. Given the color of the spot, there can be little doubt that it is the same ink that printed the stamp.

The spot of color does not show the smearing that would be characteristic of the wiping of the plate to remove excess ink, so it had to have been on the paper or the plate after that process. The original ink droplet could have spread in a roughly circular pattern, as shown, if it were flattened out by the flat plate press as it met the paper.

Whatever the cause, there is another anomaly: a faint askew offset inking in the upper right margin. This definitely happened after printing. Often when this happens, it results from a foldover where the margin receives some of the wet ink of the stamp design. But there is no evidence of a fold, and this looks like it came from contact with another sheet, though how that happened is impossible to say.

Anyway, this example presents an interesting pair of odd flaws, and I am curious to know if any other similar examples exist for this stamp. Readers can contact me at jmhstamp@verizon.net, or by mail at Box 1125, Falls Church, VA 22041-0125.

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