Need a little help, please. I came across these French West Africa stamps while transferring them to a new album, I'm not sure how long I've had them and I don't remember noticing the difference in the past. I couldn't find any reference to a variation, but now see a major difference in the color. Also, if you look down through the "T" in occidentale, there's what appears to be a vertical cracked plate line. On the left stamp it extends a bit further and is a bit more prominent then on the right stamp. The line also extends into the top margin on the left stamp. Any help and info greatly appreciated.
I don't think you have a plate crack there. This anomaly seems to occur quite frequently. It is regularly seen on the 1935 Commonwealth Silver Jubilee issue and is most noticeable anywhere on the vignette. Here is an example:
I refer to this as my 'balloon string flaw'. It may be caused by some foreign matter that is scraped when the printing plate is wiped of excess ink by the doctor blade.
Ningpo, are there known examples of the balloon string flaw extending into the margins? I remember reading your past post(s) concerning this flaw, but hadn't thought of that possibility.
Michael, you're very likely right. In hand the right stamp has a bit more of a greenish-blue tint then what shows in the scan, but I can still see that being an effect of under inking.
It kind of looks like the right stamp may have very slightly shifted while printing, the lettering is smudgy, but again it could still be part of the effects of under inking.
"Ningpo, are there known examples of the balloon string flaw extending into the margins? I remember reading your past post(s) concerning this flaw, but hadn't thought of that possibility. "
My reference thread on another board has been wrecked by the Photobucket problem. However, there are two images still preserved, that luckily show two types of these flaws.
These illustrate how they can appear just about anywhere and in even in multiples. This example shows that the brown lettering and value tablet were the source of the 'streaks':
This image shows a flaw extending beyond the 'O' of Hong Kong into the margin
I found this comment from a post from someone who has written articles for Gibbons Stamp Magazine in the 1990s on these Windsor Castle varieties. (He had over 170 complete sheets across the Colonies with at least one complete sheet from all the known plates).
"Being recess printed, impurities in the ink scratched into the chromed plates and scored grooves."