SET XII - Rotary Press Experimental and Coil Waste Printings  This set is a lumping of the remaining odd-ball varieties of the Washington Franklin head series.  A small supply of rotary press coil sheets that had already been printed and perforated 10 in one direction, as all perforated 10 coil stamps were, had been set aside for not meeting the strict standards for vending machines. Although these excess sheets are often referred to as "coil waste", they were not damaged or otherwise unusable for regular postage. Rather than discard the sheets, it was decided to perforate the stamps with the existing perf 11 perforating machines in the other direction and sell the resulting stamps in sheet form to the general public. This did not seem like much to the Post Office at the time, but it meant wonders to philatelists. The resulting 1¢ to 3¢ "coil waste" perforated 11 x 10 stamps are listed in Scott as numbers 538 through 541 and are marginally rarer than their rotary coil counterparts (from which stock they were made), Scott 490 through 493, respectively.  In 1920, an experimental rotary press printing of the one cent stamp was made, perforated 10 x 11. Although plans had been made to produce the two cent stamp with this experimental printing, only the one cent issue made it into the public's hands. This stamp is listed as Scott 542.  In 1921, a revision of this experimental rotary press printing was made, since the 10 x 11 sheets were found to break apart too easily, making it difficult for postal workers to distribute and handle the stamps. Thus, a new experimental rotary press one cent stamp was perforated 10 in both directions. This perf 10 x 10 is much more common than the11 x 10 stamp, and is listed as Scott 543.  The one cent experimental rotary press stamp has also been found perforated 11 in both directions. Exceptionally rare, there are only a few authenticated copies, and, although thought to be an error, it has been assigned the Scott number 544. As mentioned earlier, some of the sheets of one and two cent rotary press coil stamp printings were deemed unsuitable for vending machine usage. In addition to the pre-perforated sheets mentioned above, some of the sheets had been set aside before any perforations had been made. In 1922, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, not wanting to waste perfectly good printed stock for general use, decided to perforate the sheets using the then current perf 11 perforating machines. The 1¢ and 2¢ perf 11 x 11 Rotary Press stamps are listed as Scott numbers 545 and 546, respectively. Since the rotary press printings are generally longer in one direction than the equivalent flat plate printings, it is difficult to find these stamps well-centered, the rotary press design simply fills up too much of the stamp. These stamps are not exceptionally rare, but well-centered copies bring a substantial premium. Although the following information is available on the "Printing Methods" page, it is included here for the reader's benefit: The rotary press stamps are easily distinguishable by their size, they are always longer in one direction than the older "flat plate" printings. An easy way to distinguish the rotary vs. flat plate printings is to cut the easily obtainable 2c perforated 11 flat plate stamp, Scott 499 in half, and use it as a template to measure the width of probable rotary stamps. You might want to cut one vertically and another horizontally, since the direction of expansion is horizontal on some rotary printed stamps and vertical on others.  Next: Set XIII The Shanghai Overprints with Surcharge · Perf 11 of 1919 A Guide to the Washington Franklins 1908 · 1909 · 1910 · 1910 Perf 8.5 · 1912 · 1914 · 1915 · 1916 · 1916 Coils · 1917 · 1918 · 1919 Shanghai

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