Seamless Coils
When Bureau of Engraving first made coiled stamps, they were printed in strips – usually one-hundred stamps per strip. They weren’t printed though with round plates that printed that many stamps. At the end of a plate, before the start of it again, ink would seep into the space between. That would leave a faint line of ink on the strip at each rotation of the plate. As a curiosity, many philatelists collect pairs of coil stamps with the line between the pairs – between the last and first stamp of each printing. See the Line Pairs album page for more on this.
After over five decades, starting in the early 1980s, the post office changed printing methods, which involved a new printing press design. The new presses don’t have that crack which caused the lines between some pairs of coil stamps. From this point forward, you’ll see coil stamps as singles and not in pairs.
Note
This aren’t very attractive stamps – at least not the ones depicting George Washington, nor the eagle or the zip-code ones. I feel like they’re not trying very hard when I see ones like these. The ones in the flag series aren’t too bad, but the flag is not in proportion to the scenery behind it. The two in front of the capitol and the Supreme Court are waving, while the one with the design in front of the ocean coast with its turbulent sea and wind blowing is fixed. I don’t get the logic.
Contains 10 spots: own 10 – 10 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed Jul 21, 2025
Stamp Details
The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.
spot |
own |
catalog |
subject |
description |
comment |
Seamless Coil Definitives
✓ |
2149 |
18c (nov 1985) |
|||
✓ |
2112 |
D (feb 1985) |
|||
✓ |
2150 |
21.10c (oct 1985) |
Flag Series
✓ |
1891 |
18c (apr 1981) |
|||
✓ |
1895 |
20c (dec 1981) |
|||
✓ |
2114 |
22c (mar 1985) |
|||
✓ |
2115 |
22c (mar 1985) |
Pre-Canceled Definitives
✓ |
2149a |
18c (nov 1985) |
|||
✓ |
1895a |
20c (dec 1981) |
|||
✓ |
2150a |
21.10c (oct 1985) |
Footnotes
Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.
