The Die Varieties of the Nesbitt Series of United States EnvelopesBerthold, Victor Maximilian
History
The Die Varieties of the Nesbitt Series of United States Envelopes
Berthold, Victor Maximilian
Postage stamps -- United States
If the question is asked why a unit distance measurement is not applied
to differentiate these varieties, the answer is that the spacing of the
letters of the inscription is nearly alike. Of course the slant of the
letters differs. Such differences as are helpful and noticeable will be
mentioned. The system of line prolongation, for example, the downward
prolongation of the "T" of "THREE", discloses certain groups in the
writer's opinion, but the differences obtained thereby are not of
sufficient practical value for establishing groups. For a quick and
reliable identification of these varieties an intimate knowledge of the
heads is required.
It having been decided to reproduce the heads, the question arose:
Shall we draw every feature and every detail, or is it preferable to
indicate merely such portions of the face as are different in the
various dies? Evidently, many minor points could be omitted without in
any way detracting from the usefulness of the drawings. Indeed, the
adoption of this plan permitted the artist to emphasize and to bring
out more strikingly such features as constitute the real differences.
There are three prominent features in each of the ten heads. The first
is the side-lock, which may be either single or double, straight or
hooked, short or long. Second in importance is the distance between the
end of the side-lock and the ear-lobe. Even a casual observation shows
that the distance between the ear-lobe and the end of the side-lock
varies greatly; very wide, near and close. The third feature is the
lowest front-lock, which, by the taste or art of the die cutters has
been, like man, "wonderfully and fearfully made", short or long, thin
or full, single or double. In good specimens the eyebrow constitutes a
valuable adjunct, and in all dies where this feature plays a prominent
part it will be noted. Finally the attention of the collector is
directed to the fact that only Head 1 shows Washington with circularly
cropped hair, or, as the barber would express it, a "Dutch clip". This
head was used for varieties 1, 2 and 3, the first being a rather scarce
article. If the student fixes his attention on the above three main
features, and does not attempt to get the entire ten heads fixed in his
mind at a glance, it will be found that the task of differentiation is
not at all a burden even to the youngest collector of cut square
specimens. A certain amount of patience is, however, required; likewise
a certain amount of willingness to be taught, but the collector
possessing these two virtues--and it is one of the crowning glories of
stamp collectors to be both studious and patient--will soon have the
various Nesbitt heads of Washington engraved upon his memory.
Taking the distance between the end of the side-lock and the ear-lobe
as our main feature, the various heads may be grouped into three
distinct classes:
CLASS I. Distance between side-lock and ear-lobe very wide.
Heads 1a, 3, 4, 6, 7.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account