re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
Dry printings are typically very crisp, maybe even a little shiny when you look at the texture of the printing. Wet printing will look less crisp (maybe even a little "fuzzy" or "blended"), and the "white" border around the stamp image may show signs of bleeding of the die (colors the paper a bit). The image will not be at all shiny or glossy in appearance.
I'm struggling a little, but I think this example pic looks more like a dry printing, but physical inspection may be needed to verify.
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
Comparison with other copies is sometimes helpful -- here are wet and dry printings scanned together. As Doug pointed out, the different 'feel' of the paper is noticeable, as is the surface "sheen."
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
I am assuming that the top stamp with the pinkish hue onto the paper is the wet one?
I recently got my album pages done for this series and got hadn't realized there were so many varieties until now. Two things I learned. Look at the stamps on First Day Covers... they are the dry ones. Scott Specialized lists the plate number where the dry printing starts, so you can also go by plate numbers to ID.
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
This is my specialty area, and it has taken me a long time to get MOST of the varieties. I have found this to be the best way to tell wet vs. dry. The best way is to collect plate number singles! Durlands will tell you which number is which. For coils, hold the stamp up to an incandescent light, not flourescent, at a very shallow angle. You want the light source to be directly behind it with the stamp almost flat. Imagine the bulb sitting on top of the almost flat stamp. The unprinted area of the paper will be VERY shiny on dry prints and VERY dull on wet prints. Practice this with plate blocks or number singles and you will be able to just look at a stamp and tell which it is.
If anyone is interested, I have an excell sheet that lists every variety I can come up with, including some we will probably never see. Message me if interested.
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
Wow.....How can I thank you guys without sounding silly ..THANK YOU Very Very much, now I need to find a light bulb. The coil I have has white borders with no color bleed of course there are many other stamps I have to list and now I can at least list them correctly. ALL the HELP is much appreciated
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
When cataloging the USA Liberty Series, make sure that you have at least a 2015 Scott Catalog (if you use Scott). In the 2015 catalog, Scott changed the numbering of the wet and dry printings.
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
Very good article, Vinman. As I was reading I was thinking that my Washington-Franklin stamps deserve a new look, perf. and watermarks alone just don't cut it. For some reason fig. 2 (US #1030) didn't show up on my PC but I have enough copies to try to compare with each other.
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
Thank you very much for this thread! Lest you all think this topic applies only to US stamps. I have been trying to sort out the Wet and Dry printings of Australia Scott #C1 as well.
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
Sorry, Steve, but it is so.
The basic renumbering for the Liberty Series makes all wet printings the major catalog number, and the dry printing the minor number. If a stamp was not "wet printed", then the dry printing is the major number. The rationale is that the wet printings stamps were printed before the dry printing stamps. The 2015 Scott US Specialized has a two page explanation of the change on pages 102 and 103.
Where this has a deleterious effect is with the 4-cent Lincoln coil stamp. Scott #1058 is now the wet printing, which was only issued pre-canceled, and has a MNH italicized value of $22.50. The reason is that it was illegal to resell mint examples of this stamp outside of the company that had bought them. The dry printing is now Scott #1058a, with a MNH value of $0.75. Scott has a note "suggesting" that collectors collect the dry printing stamp since it is cheaper, "For most collectors, No. 1058a should be used to fill an album space for the 4c coil."
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
I'm not sure if Scott pages have both, but they definitely don't have spaces for all the different varieties of the Liberty Series or many later ones either. I had t custom make pages for these.
re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
It is true that you can use plate number singles in many cases to determine wet v. dry printing:
However, as you can see, there are also other selvage markings that can identify wet v. dry.
And let's be clear: It ISN'T really wet v. dry, but wet v. moist. Wet printing used paper saturated with water (15 - 35 percent moisture content). "Dry" printing used paper with a lower moisture content (5 - 10 percent) and much higher pressure to make the impression.
The first wet/dry tests were done on the flat plate press using the same plates (see 832c and 1041). Learn more at the introduction to the Liberty Issue (1030) in the Scott Specialized Catalog.
Lars
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re: Wet or Dry printing How do you tell the difference
Wet vs dry printing ?? Well here goes what I know ~ wet printing on verticle gain of paper when dry will be narrower than dry printing The width of stamp will be couple of mm narrow
Then as I understand the glue is added ~ with dry you will see the design come through as press needed to exert more pressure ~ you should see a design outline in glue on back
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