Flag stamp freak found on office mail from a collector

Philatelic Foreword by Jay Bigalke

It’s not every day an interesting freak stamp travels through the mail and arrives on a cover in the Linn’s Stamp News offices, but one did in mid-January.

A collector in the San Diego area either didn’t notice or was very generous in using a freak Flag stamp on a renewal payment.

The misperforated stamp is from the top row of a booklet pane of 2017 United States U.S. Flag stamps (Scott 5160) produced by Banknote Corporation of America. A small area of the stamp below it combined with the misperforation created an extra tall stamp.

The stamp below it would be extra small.

This stamp was printed using four ink colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

Sometimes printers have printed just the year date or denomination in a separate ink color like a Pantone Matching System gray or some other color.

For those stamp issues, collectors should pay extra attention. If a misperforation causes an ink color to not be on the stamp, it could be classified as an error in the Scott catalog.

Misperforated double-sided panes of 20 aren’t common, but they don’t command the value that error stamps would. They are still interesting and something to keep a watchful eye for, perhaps before attempting to peel that first stamp off a pane when using them.

Connect with Linn’s Stamp News: 

    Sign up for our newsletter
    Like us on Facebook
    Follow us on Twitter