It’s amazing to me how sometimes seeing similar items over the years doesn’t resonate until you see more than one in close temporal proximity.

I was looking through an APS circuit book shipment and saw a Scott # R82c ($2 Mortgage) with what appeared to be inking anomalies in the lower left corner. I paid it no never mind and continued onwards. In the same shipment, but in a different book from a different seller, I saw a suspiciously similar R82c.

Well dip me in poop and call me stinky: it’s not an inking anomaly but a persistent plate flaw (erosion/corrosion?).

I’m sure it’s well known to platers, but not being a plater I had always just assumed it was an inking error.

I include 3 images below (you may need to click on them and open them at full size to see some of the details).

1. The 2 stamps side by side.
2. The same image but with consistent attributes highlighed.
3. A higher-resolution scan of the lower left corners of the two stamps overlapping.

Not very valuable, but they take on a different tenor with me if a plate variety rather than just an inking/washing error.