
Scott C13,
Plate number single 20079R
Plate Numbers
APNSS publishes a bimonthly newsletter, Plate Numbers,
featuring an auction, classified ads and other information of interest to
plate number single collectors. Occasional features include updates
on new plate numbers and positions.
Recent back issues are available from
the Secretary for a nominal fee. Most historical back issues are
available from the Librarian.
Hebert's Standard Plate
Number Single Catalogue
The Hebert's Standard Plate Number Single
Catalogue is the authoritative work on the topic.
Hebert's was first published by APNSS founding member Antonio
Hebert in 1952 and is now in its 21st edition. This reference work
lists and prices individual plate numbers, positions, and other marginal
markings for US stamps, beginning with the 1893 Columbian issues.

The 2007 edition was printed in August 2006
and contains thousands of price updates, an expanded back-of-the-book
section, including newspaper stamps, duck stamps, and recent officials.
It is available in several formats:
- Comb bound, $30
- Comb bound, APNSS member discount, $27
- 3-ring punched, $30
- 3-ring punched, APNSS member discount,
$27
- Quality 3-ring binder, $3.50
All prices are in U.S. dollars and include
standard shipping to U.S. destinations via USPS Media Mail. Shipping
to non-U.S. destinations or via Priority Mail is available for an
additional fee.
The 2007 Hebert's Catalog is available
directly from the
Editor, or checks payable to APNSS can be mailed to Rick Burdsall,
P.O. Box 1023, Palatine, IL 60078-1023.

The 2007 Hebert's was listed in
the regular "Books Received" review column in an October 2006 issue of
Linn's Stamp News.
Our last copy of the 2005 edition was sold in March 2006, but a few
are still available from Subway
Stamps, item HR-013.
Partial plate numbers
Reprints of Jim Ragsdale's article "How to
Determine Partial Plate Numbers" are available on request for a nominal
fee. Email the
Secretary for details.
Unfortunately this article is out of
print, and no copies are available. Until an additional printing can
be made, we recommend that you reference a reprinted article on the same topic that appears in
the July 2006 United States Specialist.
Prexy Plate Number pages
APNSS Circuit Director Myron Schmidt has laid out
album pages for each plate number used to print the 1938 Presidential
series. They are available as a pdf file, free for the asking, which
you can print on your own choice of paper stock. Email the
Secretary for details.
APNSS members contribute
chapters to the USSS Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting
On May 27, 2006, the first day of the
Washington 2006 stamp exposition, the United States Stamp Society (USSS)
released the Encyclopedia of United States Stamps and Stamp Collecting. Individual
chapters were serialized in the USSS's monthly journal The United
States Specialist.
Several APNSS members have contributed
chapters to this work:
- "Special Usage Stamps," Wallace Cleland
- "Marginal Markings," Doug D'Avino
- "Late 20th Century Definitives," Doug
D'Avino
- "Plate Numbers," Rick Burdsall
Check out the
USSS web site for more information
on the Encyclopedia.
Other plate-number related
publications by APNSS members
Rick Burdsall's online article "How Big is a Plate Block?," written in
response to a question from a Virtual Stamp Club member, now appears on
the VSC home page.
APNSS member Wallace Cleland has received the Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial
Award for the best article or series of articles published in 2006.
His series on AMG plate numbers (the Allied Military Government in post-WW
II Germany, Italy, France and Austria) appeared in the US Specialist from April to October
2006. Additional details on the USSS web site.
Doug D'Avino co-wrote an article on plate surface treatments such as
the 'C' and 'CI' markings,
part of an ongoing series on marginal markings. It appears in the
July 2007 United States Specialist.
Doug D'Avino co-wrote an article on producers' identification markings
that appears in the
February 2007 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland's illustration of a possibly unique plate number
discovered on the 1982 Christmas stamp, Madonna by Tiepolo (Scott 2026)
appears in the February 2007 Specialist. APNSS members should
check their holdings for plate number 12111. Thus far only one
example has been reported, with two plate numbers appearing in a single
plate strip of 20 under what would be positions 43 and 50 of the sheet.
Doug D'Avino's profile of Clinton M. Hisle, one of the few men whose
initials appear on early 20th Century flat plate stamps as both plate
finisher (lower right initials) and siderographer (lower left initials),
appears in the February 2007 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland's article "The Start of the BEP Miscellaneous Engraved
Plate Number Series" appears in the January 2007 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland's article "Removal of Vignette Plate Numbers from 1878
Beer Stamps" shows examples of bi-color beer stamps with the vignette
plate numbers in the center, and their counterparts with the vignette
plate numbers in the margins. It appears in the November 2006
Specialist.
Doug D'Avino writes about the International Association of
Siderographers in "The Smallest Union," appearing in the November 2006
Specialist. Siderographers' initials appear on many flat plate
issues of the early 20th Century.
The seventh installment of Wallace Cleland's series on Allied Military
Government plate blocks appears in the October 2006 Specialist. Some collectors feel these stamps, which were
printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for use in occupied
military territories after World War II, should be listed in major
catalogs along with the overprinted issues for Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba and
the Philippines following the Spanish-American War. The next
Durland catalog plans to list and price these issues as plate blocks.
The sixth installment of Wallace Cleland's series on Allied Military
Government plate blocks appears in the September 2006 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland provides a fifth installment in the continuing series
on Allied Military Government plate blocks in the August 2006
Specialist.
Doug D'Avino's article entitled "Archives of The International
Association of Siderographers" appears in the August 2006 Specialist.
He describes a visit to the union's archives, now stored at the University
of Maryland.
Wallace Cleland describes and illustrates some unusual hand-entered,
corrected, inverted and misplaced plate numbers on 1914 Documentary
stamps. His article "Plate Numbers on 1914 Documentary Stamps" appears in
the May 2006 Specialist.
Doug D'Avino co-authors an article describing and illustrating various
forms of decorative banners in a continuing series on marginal markings, in
the May 2006 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland illustrates plate blocks of the Allied Military
Government in France in the May 2006 Specialist. Collectors
of U.S. revenue stamps will note similarities in the plate number position
and distinctive font.
Wallace Cleland's article "Unusual Plate Number Arrangement" appears in
the April 2006 Specialist. This describes an
outside-in numbering on some positions of the National Postal Museum
issue.
Wallace Cleland describes the extra "8" appearing in a plate number of
the 1923 Harding Memorial issue. An example of the plate number is
provided by APNSS member Larry Cohen, who also provided the copy which
appears on our web site. The article appears in the April 2006
Specialist.
Wallace Cleland describes an upside-down plate number on a U.S. revenue
stamp in the December 2005 Specialist.
Doug D'Avino co-authors an article on event titles that appear as
marginal markings on U.S. stamps, in the December Specialist.
Doug D'Avino describes and illustrates a PNS of a 1934 bottled spirits
stamp with an unusual "CI" marking near the plate number, in the November
Specialist.
Wallace Cleland illustrates a fake PNS of a Canal Zone postage due
stamp, Scott J19 (overprinted on U.S. Scott J62), along with the detective
work that went into proving the fake. Both the fake and a real Canal
Zone J19 are illustrated on the front cover of the November Specialist.
A 1950 Specialist article about identifying partial plate
numbers on booklets and coil stamps is reprinted in the November 2005
Specialist. Wallace Cleland introduces the topic and offers some
comments and corrections to the original article.
An article co-authored by Doug D'Avino, "A Categorization of Marginal
Markings: A Historical Perspective by Presses - Part II - The Modern
Era" appears in the August 2005 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland's article "Ghost Plate Numbers" appears in the June
2005 Specialist.
An article by Doug D'Avino on siderographer Andrew Black appears in the
June 2005 Specialist.
The article "A Categorization of Marginal Markings: A Historical
Perspective By Presses - Part I - The Classic and BEP Eras," by Harold B.
Collins and Doug D'Avino, appears in the May 2005 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland's article "Imperforate Top Margins on 2¢ Washington
Printed in 1919" appears in the May 2005 Specialist.
Rick Burdsall's article "Plate Numbers" appears in the April 2005
Specialist.
Doug D'Avino co-wrote an article "Samuel and Clyde De Binder,"
appearing in the April 2005 Specialist. This article traces
the careers of two important BEP employees during the period when the
siderographers' and plate finishers' initials were printed in the lower
corners of flat plate sheets.
Wallace Cleland's article "Rare Plate Number Found on 7¢ McKinley"
appears in the February 2005 Specialist.
Doug D'Avino describes some of the offerings in "Auction of the John
Meek Collection of Marginal Markings and Plate Varieties - Part II,"
appearing in the February 2005 Specialist.
APNSS members Wallace Cleland and Doug
D'Avino team up for an article entitled "Pan Am Plate Sequence Numbers" in
the January 2005 Specialist.
Wallace Cleland's article "Postal People Back Plate Numbers" appears in
the December 2004 Specialist.
"A Categorization of Marginal Markings," co-authored by APNSS member
Doug D'Avino, appears in the December 2004 Specialist.
Two articles by Wallace Cleland, "Canal Zone 15¢ Star Plate Blocks" and
"Plate Numbers on Tobacco Strip Stamps," appear in the November 2004
Specialist.
"Auction of the John Meek Collection of Marginal Markings and Plate
Varieties," Doug D'Avino, The United
States Specialist, November 2004
"The 'C.S.' Marking on U.S. Stamp Plates,"
Wallace Cleland and Doug D'Avino, The United States Specialist,
October 2004
"C for Chromium," Doug D'Avino, The
United States Specialist, August 2004
"Plate Combinations on the 1¢ and 2¢ Pan American Issues," Wallace
Cleland, The United States Specialist,
August 2004
"Unusual Plate Numbers on Beer Stamps,"
Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist, July 2004
"Plate Numbers on First Issue Beer
Stamps," Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist, March 2004
"E13 Plate Block on 'Special Paper,'" Wallace Cleland,
The United States Specialist, December
2003
"Rare Postage Due Plate Numbers, Series of 1894," Wallace Cleland,
The United States Specialist, August
2003
"Plate Numbers on Minor Varieties," Wallace Cleland,
The United States Specialist, August
2003
"Postage Due Plate 34," Wallace Cleland, The United States
Specialist, May 2003
"An Initial Mystery: Was Scott #394
Printed By Plate 6048?" by Doug D'Avino, The United States Specialist,
February 2003
"An Initial Mystery: #461 or Not
#461?" by Doug D'Avino, The United States Specialist,
August 2002
"A Plate Number Puzzle on Beer Stamps,"
Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
August 2002
"An Initial Mystery: Who is 'GL'?"
by Doug D'Avino, The United States Specialist,
July 2002
"First Reported Plate Number on Wine Stamp
of 1916 Issue," Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
June 2002
"A Plate Number Puzzle," Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
May 2002
"Plate Number Positions on R159 and R160,"
Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
February 2002
"Early Newspaper Plate Block," Wallace
Cleland, The United States Specialist,
December 2001
"Plate Number on General Bonded Warehouse
Stamps," Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
November 2001
"Collecting Duck Stamp Plate Singles,"
Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
October 2001
"F Positions of Flat Plates Above 20,000," Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
July and August 2001
"Scarce Wine Stamp Plate Number," Wallace
Cleland, The United States Specialist,
June 2001
"A Plate Number Puzzle," Wallace Cleland, The United States Specialist,
May 2001
"Unusual Plate Number Items," Wallace
Cleland, The United States Specialist,
February 2001
"Plate Numbers and Perforation Varieties
on Flat Plate Washington-Franklin and Fourth Bureau Issues," Wallace
Cleland, The United States Specialist,
January 2001
Exhibits
APNSS members share their plate number
material with other collectors through stamps shows and
exhibits.
Classified ads
APNSS members are entitled to one free ad in
Plate Numbers of up to 30 words each year. Longer ads and
commercial classified advertising are 10¢ per word. All advertising
is handled by the Editor. Send copy and check to:
Milt Keiles, Plate Numbers Editor
18 Wellington Place
Monroe Township, NJ 08831-2689
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