#386 - 1910 2ยข Single line USPS watermark, perf 12 horizontally
See below for details
Basic Info
2¢ Light carmine, carmine
Subject: Benjamin Franklin
Printing Method: Flat Plate
Perforations: 12 horizontally
Watermark: single line USPS watermark
Scott #: 386
Quantity Issued: 14,218,000
Issued: November 1, 1910
Earliest Documented Use: December 9, 1910
Value
SINGLES
Used
$20 - $35
No postmark with (MH)
$15 - $25
Full perfect gum, no postmark
no trace of stamp hinge mark (MNH)
$40 - $55
PAIRS
Used
$400 - $550
No postmark with (MH)
$60 - $90
Full perfect gum, no postmark
no trace of stamp hinge mark (MNH)
$100 - $125
Multiply by 2 for line pairs
Notable Sales
A horizontal guide line pair that also captures the vertical guide line.
Sold March 2022 for $12,520 (MH)
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Guide Line Pairs
Ideally vertical coil stamps should be collected in pairs. The guide line pair is so called because it is where the lines that separated panes are placed One can see the line along the center of the perforations.
A New Watermark
The purpose of this change was to strengthen the paper and to give it a more uniform thickness. The old double line watermark covered too much space and made the lettered area quite a bit thinner than the rest of the paper, which caused variation in the shrinkage of the paper. The new watermark was also smaller, occurring 400 letters to a full sheet instead of 360.
Single Line USPS Watermark
Earliest documented use
Earliest documented date of use, December 9th, 1910
A brief life
This stamp was only on sale for two months. However many were collected by philatelists so whilst uncommon, it is not rare. The 12 gauge perforations were not a success, like all 12 perforations it made the stamps break apart from each other too easily. This problem was excerbated by the fact that these coils primary purpose was for stamp machines. They were replaced with the 8.5 perf, which caused the opposite problem.
The 1910-13 Coils and Imperfs
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