Scotts #352 US stamps

#352 - 1909 1¢ Double line USPS watermark, perf 12 Vertically

1¢ yellow green, green, dark green

Subject: Benjamin Franklin
Printing Method: Flat Plate
Perforations: Imperforate
Watermark: double line USPS (see below)
Scott #: 352
Quantity Issued: 16,656,949
Issued: January 2nd, 1909

Value

Used
$20 - $30
No postmark with gum (MH)
$25 - $40
Full perfect gum, no postmark
no trace of stamp hinge mark (MNH)
$65 - $75

Line pairs

A solid line between two stamps, seen near the perforations in the middle, was the guide line used on sheets of stamps. They would be placed between each pane (usually 100) of stamps. They can triple the value of the pair.

Bureau Splice

The repair of a break in a roll of stamp paper, or the joining of two rolls of paper for continuous printing. Stamps printed over a splice are usually removed and destroyed before the normal stamps are issued. Not to be confused with the traditional paste up pair which will have straight sides to the stamps at the join, not perforated sides.

Plate Numbers

The plate #'s on the top & bottom have been cut off and those numbers on the sides being covered by the paste-up.

The first coil stamps

It was not until early in 1908 that the Post Office Department issued some coil stamps of the 1902 series for use in vending and stamp affixing machines, but purely as an experiment. They were found to be satisfactory and as the Department realized that a demand existed for this type of stamp it was less than three weeks after the new design had been issued in the ordinary form that it was also available in coil form.

As in the previous issue they were made from the regular 400 subject sheets which were perforated twelve in the vertical spaces between the stamps and then cut into strips of twenty. The vertical guide line at the center of each strip of twenty, which were pasted together by hand and rolled into coils of 500 and 1,000. These were coiled on one half inch diameter pasteboard cores.