Pos 2L4

1¢ Franklin Issue of 1851-1857, PLATE 4
Position 2L4

Type II, Relief A
Issued both imperforate (Scott 7) and perforate (Scott 20).

Plate 4 changed it's appearance as many plating marks faded away due to plate wear, and new plating marks developed over the life of the plate. One of the most annoying aspects of trying to identify Plate 4 positions is the appearance and disappearance of these plating marks.

Other plating notes:
Neinken illustrates a dot in the S of POST, a vertical plate scratch or line of color in between Ornament L/M and a faint vertical line along side of Ornament R extending down towards the right plume. The digital part of this archive holds 5 unique images of this position and these marks are not consistent. Not illustrated in the Neinken plating diagram is a faint blur of color in the S of U.S. Some impressions will show this blur extending upwards between Ornaments U/V (see figure 4 below) and on into the top margin. The bottom line beneath "E CE" is unusually faint on 2L4. There is also a faint bottom line on 3L4, but only beneath the "CE". These features are useful in plating the positions.

Courtesy of Marc Bedrin, Joel Doane, George Kopecky

Figure 1. (BELOW) A small dot above and between the O and S of POST and the heavy guide dot between Ornaments Z/L as illustrated in the Neinken plating diagram.

Figure 2. (BELOW) An interesting blur of color extending from the left scroll. Neinken illustrates a similar feature on Position 1L4.

Figure 3. (BELOW) The blur below the scroll and right plume is illustrated in the plating diagrams. Similar blurs appear on most Plate 4 top row stamps.

Figure 4. (BELOW) Not illustrated in the Neinken plating diagram is a faint blur of color in the S of U.S. Some impressions will show this blur extending upwards between Ornaments U/V and on into the top margin.

DISCLAIMER and COPYRIGHT INFORMATION:
Thanks for visiting this site. I hope you learn something new as we are making new discoveries all the time. You, the visitor, have my permission to link to my pages and to share the INFORMATION with others. The images themselves fall under the fair use guidelines established by the United States Congress and Copyright law. Basically contact us before using. I also ask in return that you send me an e-mail if I have made a mistake, or have made some other technical blunder that in my rush to put these pages up would cause the visitor confusion. Please also visit my other website at www.slingshotvenus.com. and support the live music arts. While your there, be sure to purchase our music. There are not many philatelic rock stars around and we need all the help we can get. :-)