Plate 11
Plates 11 and 12 were probably made in November of 1860. According to Neinken, with the completion of these two plates, Toppan, Carpenter probably had four one cent plates in use, Plates 9, 10, 11 and 12.

Earliest Known Use
The earliest known use of a stamp from Plate 11 is December, 1860, The day is unknown and is from a dated cancel on an off cover stamp. Neinken makes note of an EKU date of January 12th 1861

Layout of the Plate
The old transfer roll No.4 must have been badly worn, requiring a new one to transfer Plate 11. This new roll we call roll No.5 and it evidently had but three reliefs on its surface. These we call:

"T" Relief Type II Used only on the top row.

"A" Relief Type IIIA Used on 2nd, 4th, 6th and 8th rows.

"B" Relief Type IIIA Used on 3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th and 10th rows.

After using six relief rolls since early in 1857, we find that when Toppan, Carpenter made Plate 11, they resorted to the lay-outs they had used in 1851 in making Plate 1. in 1855 in making Plate 2, and in 1856 in making Plate 3.

We find several methods were the same: First, the use of a three relief roll; Second, the same distribution of the three reliefs on the plate, that is, using only one relief for the top row, one relief only on the four rows, the other relief on five rows, with this same relief ("B") used for the two bottom rows.

In addition, we find a relief with the design complete at the top, used to transfer the top row, and a relief, more or less complete, at the bottom, used for the 10th or bottom row of the plate. With the new 3 relief roller No, 5 we also find the designs with the side ornaments complete.

On plate 11, we find the lay-out different from the first three plates (1, 2 and 3). On the former plates, guide dots were distributed thruout the plates, from which settings, the majority of the positions were entered in vertical pairs. Stamps from the body of the Plate 11, that is, from the 2nd to the 9th row inclusive, do not show any guide dots whatsoever.

Secret Mark on Plate 11 and 12 Stamps

Stamps from Plates 11 and 12 can be very quickly identified as coming from these two plates by a small secret mark in the shape of a heavy dot placed in the white border surrounding the medallion at left. The location of this dot can be found on the images below, with the small red arrow pointing to it. This secret dot is on all stamps from Plates 11 and 12, regardless of the reliefs. It was not on any stamps from Plates 1 to 10 inclusive.

180 positions from Plate 11 were Type IIIA. They all have the secret dot, and all have the top outer curved frame line broken. While Plate 12 was made from Type I and Type II designs only, there are a few positions on Plate 12 which are Type IIIA due to weak transferring of the top curved frame line. These can be easily separated from the Plate 11 stamps. The break in the top curved frame line is much narrower. The breaks on the Plate 11 stamps are wide. Also stamps from reliefs "A" and "B" from Plate 11 show much longer bottom plumes, particularly on the left, than do stamps from the "B" relief of Plate 12. Type I stamps from Plate 12 have complete bottom ornaments. It is possible that there may be slight confusion on copies which are badly perforated, but other characteristics of Plate 12 stamps should simplify identification.

Plate 11 Reliefs
It is essential for the plating student to be able to identify the relief. This sometimes can be difficult on poorly centered perforated stamps with the designs cutoff on either the top or bottoms. We call the three reliefs of Plate 11 "T," "A," and "B."

The "T" relief is the only one of the three reliefs which has the design complete at the top. This feature makes the identification of stamps from the top row very simple. All top row stamps from Plate 11 are Type II. The design of the relief was a perfect example of Type II, and in this respect none of the plates furnished finer examples of this type than those from the top row of Plate 11. They are quite scarce, as the plate was only in use slightly over six months. In addition, each sheet of 200 stamps only furnished 20 of these scarce top row Type II stamps. Guide dots were placed above the upper right ornaments of all 20 positions in the top row. Extra dots also appear above Ornaments Y and Z on some positions,

Few, if any, top row stamps show much of the bottom design. Very little of the right scroll remains. The left plume is partially complete. The right plume mostly missing. It should be noted that the top curved line of the right plume is short (or less complete) than the "A" and "B" relief. This is a helpful plating feature if the top ornaments of a stamp in question are cut off.

"A" Relief

"A" Relief

The "A" relief shows the right part of the top line extends only to a point above the right top end of the T of CENT. The left bottom corner ornament of the "A" relief is much more incomplete than the "T" or "B" as the left side line of this ornament is missing on the "A" relief.

"B" Relief

The six images below show the Relief "B." This relief was also a perfect Type IIIA, but the break in the top line on the relief, was not quite so wide as on the "A" relief. This Relief "B" furnished 100 stamps from the plate. The "B" relief shows the right part of the top line extending across the length of the top part of the T of CENT.

"B" Relief

The "B" reliefs, can in the great majority of stamps, be easily identified from the other two reliefs by the completeness, as shown in this diagram of the right and left bottom corner ornaments, even if stamps are badly perforated at the top and fail to show the extent of the right top line. It must be remembered that all "T" and "A" reliefs do not show the bottom left corner ornament with three fine lines at its right.

I can be reached at: nerdman@ix.netcom.com
Copyright © 2001-2024 Richard Doporto, Sonic Imagery Labs

Update 7.07.2024