2017-12-11 Mon

A stamp found in 1995 by a stamp collector has been authenticated in 2017 as a previously unreported error. More than 20 years ago, Ron Delaney walked into an Ohio post office and bought four panes of 20 of the 32¢ pink, green and black Pink Rose stamp.

The 32¢ self-adhesive Pink Rose stamp with wavy line die cutting simulating perforations was issued on June 2, 1995, in a flat pane of 20 stamps with a reordering label (Scott 2492a). The normal pane could be folded into a booklet shape for convenience after removing two horizontal imprinted peel-off strips. DeLaney wanted to use two of the panes he purchased for postage and two panes to his collection. After coming home, he checked the panes and found out that two of them were normal, while the other two didn’t have horizontal die cuts that separate the individual stamps at top and bottom.

He set the stamps aside and watched to see if any errors of that sort were reported in Linn’s Stamp News or listed in the Scott catalogs. No similar error was ever reported on the Pink Rose issue.

He submitted the stamps to the American Philatelic Society. After the examination was completed, the stamps came back with a certificate, identifying the error.

The expert committee report shows “horizontal die cuts omitted (unlisted in Scott as of certificate date), unused, genuine in all respects.”

With the certification provided by DeLaney and verified with APEX, the Scott catalog editors intend to add the new error to Vol. 1A of the 2019 Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue as Scott 2492k, according to the catalog’s managing editor Charles Snee.

Delaney stored both the panes in a safety deposit box. He plans to keep at least one and is in two minds, whether or not he’ll consign the other to auction.

The 32¢ Pink Rose stamp, part of the Flora and Fauna definitive series, was available from post offices during much of the 32¢ first-class letter-rate period that began Jan. 1, 1995, and continued until Jan. 10, 1999, when the rate increased to 33¢.

During that time, the Pink Rose stamps went to press with plate numbers S111, S112, S333, S444 and S555. The prefix “S” in the plate number identifies the stamp-printing contractor, Stamp Venturers of Richmond, Va. The panes were processed by Stamp Venturers in Milwaukee, Wis.

DeLaney’s error panes show plate No. S444 printed on the selvage strip directly below the top nine stamps on the pane.

One miscut pane of 20 is known with one row of vertical die cuts absent, resulting in six imperf-between horizontal pairs, plus a horizontal pair consisting of one stamp at left and the reorder label at right (Scott 2492i).

The other pane’s top layer of stamp paper was torn before the printing, resulting in a pane where two entire stamps and parts of others were printed on the pane’s liner. (Scott 2492d).

Additional booklet varieties of the 32¢ Pink Rose stamp are known, including a folded booklet issued in 1996 with panes of 15 32¢ stamps and a label.