Interested in Stamp Collecting? Consider Error Stamps
By Teresa Ambord
For 111 years, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) was responsible for printing our postage stamps, that is, until mid 2005 when the process was privatized.
Stamps were treated as currency, which explains why they could only be printed by the same agency that prints money. Each stamp was made with skill, artistry, and dedication, only about one in ten million stamps was considered an “error stamp”. In the early days, it was one in one million. Every year until the BEP stopped production, the error rate got better. But those errors are the subject of some great collections.
Some error stamp collectors look for error stamps by topic, such as president stamps. Other collect types of errors, like color shifts and perforation mistakes. Then there are the collectors who want them all.
Errors include such things as using the wrong color, the wrong paper, the wrong watermarkers, inverted centers or frames on multicolor printing, or missing surcharges or overprints, double impressions, and missing perforations. When all the stamps of one type are printed with errors of fact or misspelled words those stamps are not considered true errors, but errors of design.
Mistakes that appear randomly, like color shifts and misperforations are commonly called freaks.
Very Rare Errors
Two-way perforation mistakes occur when sheets of stamps are moved both vertically and horizontally during the perforation process, instead of just one direction. Naturally, because they are very rare, they are also desirable.
Also rare are “change of design” errors. They too, are considered very desirable because, in order to see the errors, you have to also see the original at the same time.
Then there are the stamps that have the picture printed on the front and a backwards version on the gummed side, like a mirror image. That happens when the ink is set to print, but a sheet of paper is not inserted. The picture then appears on the wrong or gummed side of the paper. Needless to say, such stamps are highly desirable. Looking at them helps you to understand how stamps are actually printed.
For More Information:
You can buy Books on Error Stamps and more from the Preferred Consumer Store:
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