| The American Plate Number Single Society | ||
|
HOME
MEMBERSHIP
PUBLICATIONS LINKS
|
Examples of prefixes used by private printers
No letter prefix: Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP)
Note that letter suffixes indicate BEP printings that have gone past 9 plate numbers. For example, if plate number combinations 1111 through 9999 have been used, the 10th plate is numbered 1111A, the 11th 2222A and so on, with the 19th plate 1111B
The BEP suffix A indicates that the yellow 5 is the 16th plate, the red 6 is the 17th plate, and the blue and black 4's are the 15th plates for those colors.
A: American Bank Note Company (ABNC)
B: Banknote Corp. of America (BCA)
BCA lost its contract to print U.S. stamps and was purchased by Sennett Enterprises in January 2004. BCA's division of Sennett still prints stamps, but they now use the 'S' Sennett prefix.
D: Dittler Brothers Incorporated
Scott 2599b, 29¢ Statue of Liberty self-adhesive booklet stamp, also issued in coil format, plate number D1111
G: Guilford Gravure, Inc.
K: KCS Industries
Technically, these stamps were printed by Sennett Security Products (see "S" prefix below). However, Sennett's booklet stamps were were finished into booklets by KCS Industries, so Sennett printed the stamps themselves with a K prefix.
LT, LTB: Bank Note Company of America, "Road Runner" Looney Tunes stamp These initials were used during the printing of the "Road Runner" Looney Tunes souvenir sheets, Scott 3391. They can be seen in the selvage of the full press sheets of that printing. Of the five Looney Tunes stamps, this was the only printing done by Bank Note Company of America, and the only one on which prefix LT was used. Plate number LT001 appears in black, light blue and dark red on the front of the press sheet, and LTB001 in black appears on the back. An illustration can be found on the web site of the USSS's Marginal Markings Committee at http://home.earthlink.net/~marginal_markings2/plate_id/plate_number_types/single_digit.htm
M: 3M Company
Scott 3132, (25¢) presorted first class coil, experimental, plate number M11111. The perforation "holes" on this self-adhesive stamp are actually printed circles.
P: Ashton-Potter America (AP)
S: Stamp Venturers (SV), also Sennett Security Products (SSP)
T: Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) test coil
All stamps of the BEP-printed test coil appear with "T" in the bottom center, so "T1" should not be considered a plate number prefix in the same sense as the other letters illustrated here.
U: United States Bank Note (USBN)
Scott 2618, 29¢ Love Envelope, plate number U11111 LL
V: Avery Dennison
VO: "Daffy Duck" Looney Tunes stamp
The initials VO were used during the printing of the "Daffy Duck" Looney Tunes souvenir sheets, Scott 3306. They can be seen in the selvage of the full press sheets of that printing.
X: U.S. Postal Service illustration When the Postal Service releases images of future stamp issues in press releases or the quarterly philatelic bulletin, the illustrated plate numbers are generally in the format "X11" or "X1111", depending on how many colors are expected to be used in the printing process. The actual security printer contracted to print the issue, and thus the likely initial plate number, can generally be inferred from other details of the upcoming stamp issue. Plate numbers prefixed by X do not actually appear on printed U.S. stamps.
Scott 4084t var, mockup of 39¢ Comics single from USPS publicity image, 39¢ denomination defaced by USPS, plate number X1111 LR
Navigate Previous Next Examples Home
Comments? Suggestions? Email the Webmaster: apnss.sec at gmail dot com. This page last updated October 2, 2008. Web site content Copyright ©2003-2011 American Plate Number Single Society. All rights reserved. |
Scott
2452, 5¢ Circus Wagon coil, plate number 1
Scott
3031, 1¢ Kestrel self-adhesive sheet stamp, LL plate number 5644A
Scott
2452Bf, 5¢ Circus Wagon coil, plate number A3
Scott
3640, 37¢ Fire Pumper, plate
number B122222
Scott
3682, 37¢ Snowman coil, used,
plate number G1111
Scott
2806a, 29¢ AIDS Awareness single
from booklet pane of 5, plate number K111
Scott
3785, (5¢) non-profit coil, plate number P1111
Scott
2526, 29¢ Tulip coil, plate number S2222
Scott
2115b, 22¢ Flag over Capitol Test coil, plate number T1
Scott
2904A, (5¢) non-profit coil,
plate number V333342
Scott
3306 var, 33¢ Daffy single from
press sheet, plate number VO2708 and VO2610