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1954 LIBERTY SERIES COMMITTEE - February 2003
UPDATED JUNE 2004 AT BOTTOM
BUREAU PRECANCEL STYLE 71:
THREE TYPES ON "DES MOINES/IOWA"
1/2¢ LIBERTY
by
Roland Austin, Chairman
LOOK magazine's use of regular and precanceled 1/2¢ stamps to frank its promotional mailings is widely known. Yet, very few Liberty series specialists know of the three varieties of the DES MOINES / IOWA Bureau precancel style 71 that exist on the wet and dry printings of the 1/2¢ Franklin (Scott 1030/1030a or Krause-Minkus 569/569p). Typical of the Liberty era, the three varieties are products of an erratic period of change in stamp production technology.
The spacing of the lines above and below the town-state name on Bureau of Engraving and Printing precanceled coil stamps determine whether the stamp is a wet printing or a dry printing. Specifically, 13 mm line spacing means wet printing and 10.5 mm line spacing means dry printing.
However, concerning sheet stamps, this is not so. The July 1, 1938, POD order that precancels must be dated by the user created the need to change the line spacing format from 13 mm to 10.5 mm on wet-printed sheet stamps. Regarding the dated precancel rule, "The Lure and Lore of United States Bureau Precancels" (second edition August 1958) by George Klein says on page 23, "In any event, the Bureau Precancels in use at the time the regulation was issued, left hardly enough space for the added insignia. The obvious, and adopted, solution was to bring the two horizontal lines closer together. Beginning in late 1940, new plates were made in this manner (for sheet stamps only) and replacement of plates in use was started. Within less than two years, all plates needing to be replaced by those in the new narrow spacing, had been removed from service." [ Thanks to Ken Lawrence for providing this information. ]
Lacking this knowledge about the line spacing change on wet-printed sheet stamps has led to the precanceled, wet-printed 1/2¢ Liberty stamp to be misidentified as dry-printed.
According to the Precancel Stamp Society Catalog of United States Bureau Precancels, only one DES MOINES / IOWA Bureau precancel town overprint was used on this stamp, and it is catalogued as style 71 (narrow). However, no distinctions are made for the different production varieties of this one style, which are combinations of two printing processes (wet and dry) and three different precancel plates.
Figure 1. Bureau precancel style 71, cropped from the illustrated covers.
L to R, Type 1, Type 2, Type 3.
Figure 1 displays the three varieties for comparison. Notice the splotchiness of the overprint on Type 1, and the heavier appearance of the lines and letters of Type 3. Most importantly, you can see the difference in line spacing, how it went from 10.5 mm on the wet printing, to 10 mm on the new dry printing, then adjusted back to 10.5 mm after the Dec. 7, 1959, revision of specifications for the rubber precancelling plates.
I have compiled the characteristics of the three types for easy identification:
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Type 1 -- wet-printing, precancel style 71, 10.5 mm line spacing, applied by electrotype metal plates on the Stickney press, dark ink overprint impression applied unevenly leaving splotches of missing ink and ragged edges (shipped January 1956 to June 1957).
Type 2 -- dry-printing, precancel style 71, new 10 mm line spacing, applied by early rubber plates on the Huck-Cottrell press, dark ink overprint by smooth, clear-cut impression (first sent to press May 13, 1958).
Type 3 -- dry-printing, precancel style 71, restored 10.5 mm line spacing, applied by revised rubber plates using new Ludlow slugs on the Huck-Cottrell press, dark ink overprint by clear-cut impression and, sometimes, the letters and bars have a slightly heavier appearance (new rubber plate specifications revised on December 7, 1959, but implemented on an "as needed" basis when the existing, earlier, rubber plates that were in use wore out).
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Figure 2. Type 1 "DES MOINES/IOWA" precancel, wet-printed Franklins on LOOK bulk mailing (1-1/2¢ bulk rate, possible January 1956 to Dec. 31, 1958), 10.5 mm line spacing.
Figure 2 illustrates a tiny, 4-3/4" x 3" LOOK envelope franked by a strip of three Type 1 precanceled Franklins mailed during the 1-1/2¢ , third-class, minimum/piece, regular bulk rate.
The 1/2¢ Franklin stamps are the wet-printed variety, overprinted DES MOINES, IOWA by the first type of Bureau precancel style 71 (10.5 mm line spacing), applied by electrotype metal plates on the Stickney press. This stamp/rate combination was possible from January 1956 to Dec. 31, 1958.
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Figure 3. Type 2 "DES MOINES/IOWA" precancel, dry-printed Franklins on LOOK bulk mailing (2¢ bulk rate, Jan. 1, 1959, to June 30, 1960), new 10 mm line spacing.
Figure 3 pictures one of LOOK's "patented" aqua-colored, "Reply by Air Mail" envelopes mailed at the 2¢, third-class, minimum/piece, regular bulk rate in effect Jan. 1, 1959, to June 30, 1960. It is franked by two horizontal pairs of Type 2 precanceled, dry-printed Franklins, overprinted DES MOINES/IOWA by the second version of Bureau precancel style 71 (10 mm line spacing), applied by the first rubber plates on the Huck-Cottrell press.
There is about a seven-month overlap between the 1-1/2¢ bulk rate and the production of the new, dry-printed, precanceled Franklin variety (from mid-May 1958 to Dec. 31, 1958). Although I have seen only wet-printed Franklins used to pay the 1-1/2¢ bulk rate, it is possible LOOK exhausted its supply of wet printings and began using dry printings before the new 2¢ bulk rate took effect on Jan. 1, 1959. Should a LOOK envelope of the Type 2 / 1-1/2¢ bulk rate combination be found, it would be a transition period gem.[see UPDATE]
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Figure 4. Type 3 "DES MOINES/IOWA" precancel, dry-printed Franklins on LOOK bulk mailing (2-1/2¢ bulk rate, July 1, 1960, to Jan. 6, 1963), restored 10.5 mm line spacing.
Figure 4 shows a business #9 size LOOK envelope franked by a strip of five Type 3 precanceled, dry-printed Franklins mailed during the 2-1/2¢, third-class, minimum/piece, regular bulk rate period (July. 1, 1960, to Jan. 6, 1963). On this third version, the 10.5 mm line spacing was restored, applied by the revised (as of Dec. 7, 1959) rubber plates with new Ludlow slugs on the Huck-Cottrell press.
As of this writing, only Type 3 precanceled Franklins are known on LOOK 2-1/2¢ bulk rate envelopes, suggesting that LOOK's high consumption of precanceled stamps quickly wore out the old Type 2 rubber plates, warranting early replacement. If this is so, then Type 3 Ludlow rubber plates of the DES MOINES / IOWA overprint were most likely manufactured and put into production shortly after Dec. 7, 1959, possibly as early as late February 1960 (the first precancel printing sent to press after the revision was on February 16, 1960).
Assuming this was the first production of Type 3, there would still be a possibility for a small number of LOOK envelopes with the Type 2 / 2-1/2¢ bulk rate combination from the first two months of 1960. If they exist, they, too, would be highly prized transition period items.[see UPDATE]
This combined information should now make it possible for Liberty series completists to correctly identify the three varieties of the DES MOINES / IOWA Bureau precancel overprint on the 1/2¢ Liberty and begin adding them to their collections.
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UPDATE: June 2004
It had been reported that the LOOK magazine usage of Type 1 DES MOINES / IOWA Bureau precanceled 1/2¢ Franklins was only known on 1-1/2¢ bulk rate envelopes, as was Type 2 only known on 2¢ bulk rate LOOK envelopes, and Type 3 only known on 2-1/2¢ bulk rate LOOK envelopes.
It was also noted that the overlapping of precancel production periods for these varieties and bulk mail rate changes created the possibility that LOOK envelopes may exist with transition Type/Rate combinations, though none had been reported -- until now.
New information derived from the discovery of two transition Type/Rate combination covers leads to the belief that Type 1 exists only on 1-1/2¢ bulk rate LOOK envelopes and Type 3 exists only on 2-1/2¢ bulk rate LOOK envelopes. However, Type 2 exists on LOOK envelopes from all three bulk rate periods!
Pictured is a recently discovered 1-1/2¢ bulk rate LOOK envelope bearing a strip of three copies of Type 2 Bureau precancel style 71. Because this precancel Type 2 did not go into production until May 13, 1958 (and the first supply did not reach post offices until about two weeks later), this transition combination of Type 2 precancel / 1-1/2¢ Rate was only possible for a short, seven-month period. This cover affirms the earlier assumption that LOOK may have exhausted its supply of precanceled, wet-printed 1/2¢ Franklins (Type 1) before the bulk rate was raised to 2¢. The short period of possible use should make this the most difficult LOOK bulk rate/stamp combination usage to find.
[ Roland Austin Collection ]
Another recent discovery is a 2-1/2¢ bulk rate LOOK envelope bearing a strip of five copies of Type 2 "DES MOINES" precancel. Previous thinking was that the revised Ludlow Type 3 style precanceled 1/2¢ Franklins were put into production shortly after Dec. 7, 1959; however, this transition cover's received backstamp (Sept. 29, 1960) makes this highly unlikely. This dated example suggests the Ludlow precancels were not produced until at least nine months later, possibly as much as a year later.
Please report any similar covers you may have or find.
[ Roland Austin Collection ]
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
The following sources provided useful information:
Henry W. Beecher and Anthony S. Wawrukiewicz, U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1872-1999, Revised 2nd Edition, Portland, OR: CAMA Publishing Co., 1999.
Ken Lawrence, "'Look' Magazine Mailings and U.S. Stamps," Linn's Stamp News, August 16, 1993.
Precancel Stamp Society Catalog of United States Bureau Precancels, Third Edition, Framingham, MA: Precancel Stamp Society, Inc., August 1990.
Steven Unkrich, 1954 Liberty Series Plate Activity Precancel Checklists, USSS Research Paper #12, 1997.
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