This video is meant for new stamp collectors who struggle to identify the difference between flat plate press and rotary press printed stamps. We go over how to identify the two different printing styles using a couple of methods! First the millimeter measurements of the stamp design and then the classic method using a easily identifiable flat plate stamp with cut-outs to lay on top of your stamp in question. I hope this helps someone!

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0:00 Method 1 - Millimeter Measurements of Frame
11:00 Method 2 - Simple & Easy Stamp Cut-Out Overlay

Go to Ebay and run through fifty or so better US commemoratives that are offered for sale from the 1893-1930 period. This was the era in which the United States produced our stamps through a printing process known as flat press printing. In flat press printing most of these issues were printed in large sheets of 200 stamps which were later perforated and cut into sheets of fifty for shipment to Post Offices for sale. The details for each issue varies slightly, but for the US Columbian Exposition issue there were no perforations along the outer edges of the sheet of two hundred. This left each pane of 50 (that is a quarter sheet of the 200 pane that had been printed and then separated) with ten stamps in one row with a straight edge and five stamps in the the other row straight edge with one stamp being the corner stamp and having a straight edge on two sides.

This meant that on the Columbian Exposition issue that fourteen out of every fifty stamps (or 28%) were straight edge. So go to Ebay-bet you can't find 5% straight edges or stamps described as being reperforated. Collectors in the earlier period didn't like straight edges so unscrupulous dealers obliged them by reperfing the offending edges to make them appear perforated on all four sides. Some time reperfing is easy to see (the $5 Columbian above is reperforated on the left hand side). But most of the time it is not so easy. But most of all, collectors have, for the most part, stopped caring. Very quality conscious collectors still care and certifying boards still point out reperfing on certificates (when they can tell), but mainstream Ebay buyers don't seem to care much because they grew up in an all sides perforated environment and don't think to question whether the perforations are real or not. This same phenomonon is happening (and will continue to happen) with gum. Collectors only want NH stamps, so that is what is being supplied. Eventually regumming will be so ubiquitous that only a small set of highly motivated, condition conscious collectors will know the difference or even care. This is not good, but is part of the satisfaction with mediocrity that seems to happen with so many things.

This chapter of the Stamp Smarter "How To" series covers the process of digitally comparing stamp perforations (also known as the Srail method).
For more stamp collecting resources visit stampsmarter.com'

Srail method of detecting reperforations

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There are only four reasons for reperforating a stamp. They are:

To eliminate straight edges.
To eliminate faults.
To center a stamp.
To change a stamp’s basic catalog number by changing
the perforations on one or more sides.

1¢ Washington Head Denomination in Numerals Perf 10 Coils

To make the removal job easier, the stamp is put into a very damp environment where the gum on the stamp is actually liquefied, that is, made completely liquid or melted, just as it was when first applied. Hinge remnants can then be lifted right off the stamp without damaging it. By taking a fine brush and redistributing the remaining gum, the traces of previous hinging can be hidden from all but the most expert eye. The gum here is most certainly original – nothing has been added – but the state of the gum is most definitely changed from its original condition.

Gum skips are quite natural and exist on most of the older U.S. stamps. These stamps are often
filled in or erased when original gum is redistributed. It becomes important to know typical gum for any particular issue of stamps.

Most of the stamps that the collector will encounter will not be regummed. But some will be, and the collector should know enough to protect himself. There is often little difference between a stamp with redistributed original gum and one that has been regummed. This is not unusual as the basic processes differ very little. A stamp having hinge remnants removed may have additional gum added to the liquefied original gum. If the job is done well, it may be extremely difficult to tell, even for an expert. Fortunately, most are not so difficult.

#291 1898 50¢ Trans-Mississippi

Basic Information
Color: Sage Green
Subject: Western Mining Prospector
Watermark: Watermarked double-lined USPS
Paper: Soft porous paper
Printing method: line-engraved intaglio on flat plates
Perforations: 12
Scott #: 291
Quantity issued: 530,400
Issued: June 17th, 1898
Value
An unused stamp with perfect gum: $375-$650
An unused stamp with gum and a hinge mark: $90-$175
A used stamp: $19-$30

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