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WTF - Mystery Quiz 1

Scott PaytonScott Payton
in Stamp Reviews 2 LikesVote Down
Ok, I'm posting this here not because I don't know what it is, but as an interesting mystery, and bonus points to who can accurately identify this.
I might start a new "recurring theme" thread here.
The key to this is, must be 100% accurate on the ID.

Mystery1

Comments

  • 19 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
  • Luree HughesLuree Hughes
    0 LikesVote Down
    Can we see a scan of the back? This looks like the back with the 10 in reverse. And some spelling looks to be in reverse.
  • Scott PaytonScott Payton
    0 LikesVote Down
    Luree, let me just say, this is the front.
  • Rene BravoRene Bravo
    0 LikesVote Down
    Two stamps stuck together, image transfer . Occurred over decades , harsh environment? Starting guesses
  • Scott PaytonScott Payton
    0 LikesVote Down
    Hi Rene, while that's an interesting theory, it's not even close.
  • Greg DollGGreg Doll
    0 LikesVote Down
    Confederate states something.
  • Scott PaytonScott Payton
    0 LikesVote Down
    Greg, hahaha.
    Nope.
    Let me know when you all need a hint...
  • Rene BravoRene Bravo
    0 LikesVote Down
    Describe the paper more …
  • Phil Merrill_Phil Merrill_
    0 LikesVote Down
    Two designs reverso here. One looks very much like our old dear friend US 68. The paper looks like old waxed wrapping paper. There seems to be some translucence. But what it is so far past me I can't catch
    up.
  • Phil Merrill_Phil Merrill_
    1 LikesVote Down
    Wait a moment. Ed has just brought me the hermetically sealed mayonaise jar from the back porch at Funk & Wagnall's....yes, here it is: "printer's waste."
  • George DeKornfeldGeorge DeKornfeld
    1 LikesVote Down
    Looks like a 5c Jefferson with some serious set off from a 10c Washington.
  • Scott PaytonScott Payton
    0 LikesVote Down
    Phil and George are getting close, but I will add, there is NO setoff.
    Phil, it's not printers waste, nor wax paper.
    Rene... the paper is not made out of surgical gowns.
    George, you have the designs right.
  • Phil Merrill_Phil Merrill_
    edited December 2022 0 LikesVote Down
    I ain't got nuthin. I thought it might be from the original transfer dies, but if so the voids and inked areas would be reversed as well.
  • john o'neiljjohn o'neil
    0 LikesVote Down
    My first though was the Shroud of Turin. But then it dawned on me that GW was never known to have visited Turin.
  • Scott PaytonScott Payton
    0 LikesVote Down
    Shroud of Jeffington.
  • Rene BravoRene Bravo
    0 LikesVote Down
    " OK, YOU GOT ME SCOTTY! WHAT IS IT? WHAT IS IT??"
    WMUWAJGM9AT9
  • George DeKornfeldGeorge DeKornfeld
    0 LikesVote Down
    It must have something to do with the paper and the fact that at least one image is reversed would make me think of (admittedly not a paper) Goldbeater's Skin, a membrane. In this process, if memory serves, in this process the image would be printed in reverse and the adhesive placed over the design so when the stamp was affixed to its envelope, it appeared correctly as seen thru the membrane. I know some early Prussian stamps used this process but for the life of me, I've never heard of any U.S. examples.
    In the U.S., see thru papers such as pelure/onion skin papers I think are known to have been used.
    Aaaaaaaand, just to complicate matters and to possibly explain the existence of two different images, could this be an example of re-used Palimpsest paper?
    Well, here's another 10-minutes of my life I'll never get back......cough up the answer, already, there Scott !!
  • Ted TyszkaTed Tyszka
    0 LikesVote Down
    I was thinking the same about the goldbeaters skin. The US did produce some essays and plate proofs on that material.
  • Phil Merrill_Phil Merrill_
    0 LikesVote Down
    Scott? It is time, Scott. What is this, this thing?
  • Scott PaytonScott Payton
    1 LikesVote Down
    Sorry to keep you all in suspense. I have been a bit time consumed lately.
    There are a lot of right answers in there, but no "complete" answer.
    So, this is an Essay. It comes from Henry Lowenberg's "Reuse Prevention" patents, none of which the US ever used, (Though, as Phil mentioned, there was a revenue used by Prussia, but it was very short lived).
    This is a double-print. The 10c Washington 68 overprinted by the 5c Jefferson. SO the official ID of this is:
    79-E67P5 and 79-E68P5. These were printed in sheets of 25, however this is the only known example remaining. And while it's a bit ugly, it was most likely from the left side of the sheet, as tiny margins of the other 3 surrounding sides show some part of either the Washington or the Jefferson, or both.

    It is on "Goldbeaters" (aka Onion Skin) paper, and because it was for reuse prevention, it was printed in reverse on the gummed side of the paper. When applied, it would appear in the correct orientation.
    An interesting piece, and shows one of the more elaborate Essay's ever proposed for postal use.
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