Monday Morning Brief | Stamp error discovered

Watch as Linn’s Stamp News managing editor Chad Snee reports on the recent discovery of an imperforate error of the Quilled Paper Heart forever stamp issued Jan. 12, 2016.

Full video transcript:

Greetings stamp-hobby friends! Welcome to the Monday Morning Brief for November 14.

In 2012, the United States Postal Service began issuing selected commemorative and definitive stamps in uncut press sheets without die cuts. These imperforate stamps were the subject of much debate and discussion among collectors.

For several years, these popular varieties were not listed in the Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers because they violated certain Scott listing criteria concerning intentional varieties produced in (relatively speaking) small quantities.

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Further input from dealers and collectors eventually persuaded the Scott editors to list them, beginning with the 2016 U.S. Specialized catalog.

This background is useful for a better understanding of our recent story about the discovery of an imperforate error of the Quilled Paper Heart forever stamp issued Jan. 12, 2016.

Wayne Youngblood reported the discovery of imperforate panes of 20 Quilled Paper Heart stamps at a post office in Pennsylvania. What makes this find even more intriguing is the Quilled Paper Heart stamp also was produced in imperforate uncut press sheets. The imperf from the press sheet is listed as Scott 5036a.

New imperforate error discovered on 2016 Quilled Paper Heart stamp: The find by a collector at a small Pennsylvania post office is the first major error reported on a 2016 U.S. stamp issue.

Perhaps you’re wondering: Can an imperf stamp from a press sheet be distinguished from the newly discovered imperf errors?

In this case, the answer is yes.

As Youngblood explains in his story, all of the Quilled Paper Heart stamps from imperforate uncut press sheets were produced by Sennett Security Products, which means the plate numbers in the selvage margin have an “S” prefix.

Youngblood writes that on Oct. 1, 2015, “a change was officially made from Sennett Security Products to Banknote Corporation of America.” Sennett acquired BCA in 2004. This meant that all future BCA-printed issues would have plate numbers with a “B” prefix.

The Postal Service’s first delivery order for the Quilled Paper Heart stamps was placed in August 2015, about two months before the change in printer. In May 2016, a second order of Quilled Paper Heart stamps was placed. This order came after the printer change, so all panes of these stamps have a “B” prefix in the plate number.

At this point, you can probably guess where this is going: The imperforate Quilled Paper Heart error panes show a B-prefix plate number.

However, there is one caveat to this story. The error must be collected in a multiple such as a plate block of four that shows the B-prefix plate number in the selvage. Otherwise, a stamp from an error pane is indistinguishable from a stamp from an imperforate uncut press sheet.

For Linn’s Stamp News and the Scott catalogs, I’m Chad Snee. Have a super week enjoying our wonderful hobby. Cheers!