Plating The 3¢ U.S. Imperforate Stamp of 1851 - 1857

Recuts:

Recuts refer to engravers recutting the individual stamp positions on the printing plates in efforts to improve them. The above line drawing of the stamp design highlights the design elements that are subject to recut analysis. Those design elements are the Inner Lines, the four Triangles, the four Diamond blocks, and the two Labels. Recuts are key plating characteristics that help platers plate stamps.

Recut Summary Tables:

Table 1: Dr. Carroll Chase's Table (3,311 Recuts)

Dr. Carroll Chase originally identified 34 recut varieties for this stamp. He listed them plate by plate, then position by position, in his book, first published in full form in 1929, revised in 1942, and reprinted in 1975. USPCS Chronicles 2 and 3 also listed several edits provided by Dr. Chase. Dr. Chase summarized the 34 varieties of recuts in recut tables, which is a format this study follows.

This study has been able to reconcile Dr. Chase’s recuts as described in detail in his book to his original tables that summarize those recuts, with four exceptions. Dr. Chase's tables show 3,307 total recuts for all 2,600 stamps; however, the recuts individually described within his book appear to identify 3,311 recuts. The 4 recuts in question are as follows: Dr. Chase’s tables show 47 recuts in Plate 2L for recut variety #11; however, his book lists 49 recuts for recut variety #11 in Plate 2L. Dr. Chase’s tables show 9 recuts in Plate 1L for recut variety #16; however, his book lists 10 recuts for recut variety #16 in Plate 1L. And, Dr. Chase’s tables show 2 recuts in Plate 2L for recut variety #30; however, his book lists 3 recuts for recut variety #30 in Plate 2L. For this study, Dr. Chase’s table totals have been adjusted to match his book descriptions. If someone has the solution to these differences, please contact me.

Click on the Table image below to enlarge it. Then, in the enlarged window, click on the in the upper right screen corner, to see the Tabel in full-screen. If you want to download the Table image to your computer, right-click on the image. Clicking on the "X" returns you back to the starting point. In the table you will see "glyphs" above each recut number. They are intended to help recall the meaning of each recut variety without having to read the detailed descriptions. Translations for the glyphs' shorthand are provided in the Plating Wizard Explained section of this study.

Table 2: William K. McDaniel First Condensed Plating Information (3,431 Recuts)

As the years passed, other platers evaluated these stamps in various ways and two series of articles in the USPCS Chronicle have identified both additional recut varieties and changes to Dr. Chase’s 3,311 recuts. William K. McDaniel authored both series of Chronicle articles.

The first series of changes were described between February 1973 and August 1977 in Chronicles 77, 80 and 95, authored by William K. McDaniel (throughout this study, this first series of articles by Mr. McDaniel is referred to in data tabels as "McDv1"). Those articles identified 120 net additional recut changes in Dr. Chase's recut varieties 1-34, but did not propose any new recut varieties. These 120 net additions brought the new total recuts to 3,431. Seventy-eight of those new recuts were an expansion of Dr. Chase’s subjective “lines running up and down too far” (recuts #23, #24, and #25), nineteen new recuts were additional recuts in triangles (recuts #11, #12, $15, and #17), and the remaining twenty-three recuts were new diamond block-label-frame line connecting combinations (recuts #27, #28, #29, #30, #32, and #33).

Click on the Table image to enlarge it. Then, in the enlarged window, click on the to see it full-screen. If you want to download the Table image to your computer, right-click on the image. Clicking on the "X" returns you back to the starting point.

Table 3: William K. McDaniel Revised Condensed Plating Information (3,486 Recuts)

Beginning in August 1992, Mr. McDaniel published an updated version of his Condensed Plating Information in USPCS Chronicles 155, 156, and 157 (throughout this study, the second series of articles by Mr. McDaniel is referred to in data tabels as "CURRRENT PLATING - McDv2"). He also identified four additional recut varieties #35 - #38. In February 2000 and August 2006, two more recut varieties were introduced by Mr. McDaniel and listed in USPCS Chronicles 185 and 211. The recut totals after these changes was 3,486, with 32 recuts within the six newly introduced recut varieties #35-#40, 108 recuts expanding Dr. Chase’s concept of lines running up and down too far, 23 triangles recuts, 6 diamond block recuts, 20 diamond block-label-frame line connecting recuts, and, a subtraction of 14 primary inner line recuts that Mr. McDaniel considered double counted.

Click on the Table image to enlarge it. Then, in the enlarged window, click on the to see it full-screen. If you want to download the Table image to your computer, right-click on the image. Clicking on the "X" returns you back to the starting point.

The deletion of the 14 primary inner line recuts and essentially replacing them with recuts #5, #6, #7, and #9 appears to be a major departure from Dr. Chase, and is worthy of further consideration. Recuts #1 through #4 are all about the existence, or not, of inner lines. Recuts #5, #6, #7, and #9 are about frame lines taking the place of inner lines. This is a large change from Dr. Chase's book where all 2,600 positions are comprehended by the first four recuts. Now it takes the eight recuts above, some of which are not inner line recuts, to capture the primary line recuts. As a consequence of Mr. McDaniel's changes (deleting 14 of the stamps that Dr. Chase had designated with recut #1) the eight recuts above are the "stand-alone recuts"", i.e., often existing alone without other recuts in recut combinations.

To conclude regarding the above changes - this all seems a bit complex; and, maybe it is much about nothing. However, this study is not aware of any discussion regarding the rationale for this change and would be grateful to those who can provide historical context. At this time, this study presents the most recent information provided in the second series of Mr. McDaniel articles; but, will also reference the original Dr. Chase information, when showing detailed information about individual stamp positions.

Table 4: Analysis of Changes to Dr. Chase (221 "Absolute" changes, resulting in 175 net additional recuts)

To make matters slightly more complex, a number of recut changes identified in Mr. McDaniel's 1973-1977 Chronicle articles were reversed in the second series of articles. Consequently, since the 3,486 recuts in the most recent tables represents the net results of both additions and subtractions to Dr. Chase’s book, there are 175 identified net changes. However, the actual number of recut changes since Dr. Chase’s book is 221, which have been categorized as 114 additions and 7 subsequent reversals originally presented in Chronicles 77, 80 and 95 in the 1970’s; plus 84 new additions and 16 new subtractions from the original Dr. Chase recuts, which were identified in Chronicles 155-157, 185, 188, and 211. The 221 “absolute changes"" (114+7+84+16) result in 175 "net additions" to the recut tables (114-7+84-16) originally presented by Dr. Chase.

Finally, there is certainly no consensus among platers that the numerous changes proposed to Chase's book are all correct. For example, the standard for Chase's and McDaniel's recuts #23, #24, and #25 are clearly different. Also, changes to Triangle recuts 11-18 may be related to the quality of impressions of the stamps being examined. Most platers tend to give the benefit of the doubt to Chase's classifications. This is the reason this study presents all versions of the data, with details for all 2,600 stamps at each stage of the published changes. The reader can then make up his or her mind regarding the changes. One of the goals of this study is to create discussion about these recuts and possibly move toward consensus.

Click on the Table image to enlarge it. Then, in the enlarged window, click on the to see it full-screen. If you want to download the Table image to your computer, right-click on the image. Clicking on the "X" returns you back to the starting point.

With this introduction to how the recuts originated from the days of Dr. Chase to today, let’s review the recuts.

Primary Inner Line Recuts:

Recuts #1 through #10 involve inner line recuts, generally meaning inner lines or no inner lines. Of the ten inner line recuts, recuts #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, and #9 are classified as “Primary Inner Line recuts”. This is the terminology used in this study. The rationale for differentiating these eight recuts as "Primary" is that each of the 2,600 stamps has one of these eight recuts; and, these inner line recuts are the only recuts to appear by themselves - without any other recuts. All other recuts exist in combination with one of the eight Primary Inner Line recuts, and sometimes one or more other recuts.

   

So, all imperforate stamps have one of the eight Primary Inner Line recuts mentioned above. It is easy to remember that all Scott number 10 and 11 stamps have the same Primary Inner Line recut – recut #2. Stamps with inner lines that are Orange Brown (Scott Number 10A) have Primary Inner Line recuts #1, #3 or #4. Dull Red stamps with inner lines (Scott Number 11A) have Primary Inner Line recuts #1, #3, #5, #6, #7, or #9. As a practical matter, there are so few recut varieties #3 through #10, that the odds are very high that if you looking at a recut #1 stamp, you may not able to easily tell if it is a Scott Number 10A or an 11A without plating it, since both Scott Number 10A’s and 11A contain recut #1. The same goes for the stamps without inner lines, as they by definition all contain recut #2.

Secondary Recuts (Ocurring Only in Combination with Primary Recuts):

For any stamp, once one of the eight Primary Inner Line recuts is determined, there are 32 other recuts to consider. All of these 32 recuts occur in combination with a Primary Inner Line recut. There are 114 different mixtures of recuts, of which 8 are single recuts (therefore, all Primary Inner Line recuts) and 106 are combinations of multiple recuts. Some interesting accounting of recut combinations follows:

1. Of the 129 Scott Number 10 stamps, only thirteen (10%) have multiple recuts. However, due to the much lower number of impressions, those recuts represent only 0.046% of the 362,272,200 stamps produced.

2. Of the 800 Scott Number 11 stamps, only thirty-three (4%) have multiple recuts. Those recuts represent 1.3% of stamps produced. So, the plates containing these stamps (Plates 4, 6, 7, and 8) have much less recut plating information for the plater, than the stamps that do have inner lines of the same time period.

3. Of the 871 Scott Number 10A stamps, 334 (38%) have multiple recuts. However, due to the much lower number of impressions, those recuts represent only 2% of stamps produced.

4. Of the 800 Scott Number 11A stamps, 328 (41%) have multiple recuts. Those recuts represent 32% of stamps produced. Three of the four plates containing these stamps (Plates 1L, 2L, and 3) benefit by having the bulk of these more plentiful recut combinations.

5. Therefore, in total, 708 stamp positions have multiple recuts, which amounts to 27% of stamp positions and 35.6% of stamps produced.

6. Of the 40 recut varieties, Scott Numbers 10 and 11’s are the only stamps to contain recuts #2, #10, #19, #21, #31, #36 and #39.

7. Of the 40 recut varieties, Scott Numbers 10A and 11A’s are the only stamps to contain recuts #1, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #12, #13, #14, #17, #18, #20, #22, #23, #24, #25, #26, #33, #34, #35, #37, and #38.

8. Which means that all Scott Numbers (10, 10A, 11, 11A) can contain recuts #11, #15, #16, #27, #28, #29, #30, #32, and #40.

9. While the 40 recuts are very helpful in plating, most of the recuts apply to very few stamps. For example, 12 of the 40 recut varieties apply to only 1 or 2 stamps each; 4 more apply to either 4 or 5 stamps; and 23 apply to 10 or fewer stamps each.

Secondary Inner Lines or Frame Lines (23 Positions)

The remaining inner line recuts are #8, #10, and #39. Each of those recuts will always appear in combination with another recut and never soley by itself, such as with a Primary Inner Line recut. Refer to the Summary table above to see how many recuts of each variety are positioned within each plate. To see the actual position by position locations, go to the detailed database.

              

Recut Triangles (597 Positions)

Eight recuts focus on the number of Verticle Lines that are recut on the inside of three of the four Triangles. Each of those recuts will always appear in combination with another recut and are present on stamps with and without inner frame lines. However, they do not occur on the 800 Dull Red stamps that have no inner frame lines (Scott Number 11, Plates 4, 6, 7, and 8).

                         

Lines Running Up or Down Too Far (149 Positions)

Three recuts involve Lines Running Up or Down Too Far. This recut series is subject to the most changes to Dr. Chase's original recuts. In a nutshell, virtually ALL of the 103 additions to these recuts varieties are due to a "more relaxed" or "expanded" standard of what constitutes a "Line Running Too Far". Dr. Chase's selections for these recuts followed a standard that the line must proceed up to at least the mid-point of the rosette. The changes to Dr. Chase allow for lines that run up past the bottom dots of the rosettes, but are clearly not up to the length of the Dr. Chase selections. Dr. Chase stated in his book that this was a subjective decision. While the inclusion of the additional selections is informative, if they had been classified as a "separate bucket", they might be more useful for plating stamps.

Each of those recuts will always appear in combination with another recut; and, are obviously present only on stamps that have inner lines (Scott Numbers 10A and 11A).

          

Recut Diamond Blocks (49 Positions)

Diamond Block recuts are divided into two groups - those that involve the Label and those that don't. This group which involves only diamond blocks, includes recuts #21, #22, #26, #32, #37, #38, and #40. Each of those recuts will always appear in combination with another recut. Recut 21 only occurs on stamps with no inner lines. Recuts #22, 26, 37, and 38 only occur on stamps with inner lines. Recuts 32 and 40 occur on all four imperforate Scott numbers.

                      

Recut Labels Connecting to Diamond Blocks (65 Positions)

Eight recut varieties involve Labels Connecting to Diamond Blocks and one recut variety involves two Diamond Blocks connecting to each other. Each of those recuts will always appear in combination with another recut. Recut 31 only occurs on stamps with no inner lines. Recuts #33, 34, and 35 only occur on stamps with inner lines. Recuts 27, 27, 29, and 30 occur on stamps both with and without inner lines. Recut 36 occurs only on stamp position 13L6, which has no inner lines.

                            

Recut Bust and Button (2 Positions)

         

List of Recut Combinations:

The list below first summarizes the quantities of recuts for each of the 8 Primary Inner Line recuts where there are no other recuts accompanying the respective recut. In other words, they stand alone and are not recut combinations. Below that list is a complete listing of the 106 different recut combinations. The listing of which recuts apply to each individual stamp are provided in the database. In addition, near the bottom of this page is a link to a separate page that lists recuts and other plating information for all 2,600 stamps.

    

Recut Details For All Recut Combinations:

This embedded pdf lists the 106 recut combinations, with each of the 708 stamp positions for those respective recut combinations. The count total for a specific recut combination are provided below the last position listed for that recut combination.



Detailed Excel Data Tables:

This link provides you a downloadable Excel Workbook with multiple worksheets providing Plating Details For All 2,600 Positions and detailing the evolution of Dr. Chase to Mr. McDaniel version 1 and Mr. McDaniel version 2 plating information. Some of the more important worksheets included within the workbook are described below:

1. "Chase", which presents both the Summary Tables of Plating Characteristics and line detail for each of the 2,600 stamps and the 3,311 related recuts published by Dr. Chase;

2. "McDv1", which presents both the Summary Tables of Plating Characteristics and line detail for each of 2,600 stamps and the 3,431 net related recuts published in the first series of Condensed Plating Information between 1973 and 1977;

3. "CURRRENT PLATING - McDv2", which presents both the Summary Tables of Plating Characteristics and line detail for the current state of the 3,486 recuts published in the second series of Condensed Plating Information articles between 1992 and 2006;

4. "Detailed Changes to Chase", which presents both the Summary Tables of Plating Characteristics and line detail for each of the 2,600 stamps with only the changes to Chase from both McDv1 and McDv2 identified; and,

5. "Condensed Changes to Chase"; which presents only those stamp positions that changed during from Dr. Chase's original work and today.

Finally, this table is the most concise representation of each of the 2,600 positions, and works just fine as a quick and simple data source for the plating. It has a small fraction of the information included in the workbook: Download this pdf     

Conclusion:

Understanding recuts is critical to plating. There has been an amazing amount of work done by many people to bring this information to interested philatelists. This study provides absolutely no new information to that body of work - it merely organizes it to make some sense to me. My respect and thanks goes out to all of those who did the heavy lifting.