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Vanishing control numbers

Posted: Tue Sep 07, 2010 7:00 pm
by Robinr
Dear All,

This morning I came across a price list from a well-known dealer that I received in 1990, and one item caught my eye. It read, "1937 CORONATION 1 1/2d VARIETY - "MISSING CONTROL LETTER A", possibly just a trace showing in a fine mint corner block of 6" The price was £185.00.

I wondered why the cylinder number had not been given. And my nose sniffed hard at the words, "...possibly just a trace..."

It occurred to me to look at my stock of cylinder blocks and I found the attached. I scanned at 200dpi and used Unsharp mask at 50% to enhance the control, then brightened and increased contrast 10% each. To my naked eye none of these show any control letters at all, but the scanner picked them up, and they have been enhanced a little.

About half of the 3 no stop blocks showed a weak control letter, the other half are shown here. The is no weakening or fading of the control on 3 stop block.

The blocks from 30 no stop are exactly the same.

The blocks from 4 no stop are all like those shown here, but as with the other two, there is no weakening of the control letter on the with stop blocks.

I wonder what the equivalent of £185 is today?

If anybody would like one or more of these blocks, I'd be happy to do a straight swap for 16, 19, 20, 24 all no stop, block for block.

Cheers,

Robin