Color Varieties of the 11c Hayes Stamp of 1922

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Background

This site will eventually feature a new major color study of the 11c Hayes stamp of 1922 which was printed until late 1931. 28 flat press printing plates, in groups of four, were used during that time. The issue is said to have been printed in more color varieties than any other twentieth century United States postage stamp printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The colors ranged in shades from dark to very light blue, from dark green to light green, from bright yellow-green to a pale yellowish-green, and many combinations in-between. For a few years, Scott listed the various blues as #563 and the various greens as #652. The latter number has long since been discontinued and all listed colors fall under the #563 designation.

Three significant studies of the Hayes colors were published during the early 1930s. The first, by L. E. Eastman. appeared in Mekeel’s Weekly Stamp News in April, 1930. The second, by Ross Frampton, was published in the February, 1931 edition of The American Philatelist. The third, by William H. Beck, appeared as a series of articles in the Weekly Philatelic Gossip in 1932. A paper published by Horace E. Jones in the April 25, 1953 edition of Stamps is best read before reading Beck’s output. A fourth reference is the Max G.Johl listing for Scott 563 in his study of U.S. twentieth century stamps. He lists many color varieties names, but does not provide the analysis that the names came from.

I can supply copies of any of the articles, via the internet, upon request. Below are my summaries (click on name) of the four author’s color evaluations. Plate group 17414 may seem out of sequence in the evaluations, but that is because it went to press later than plate group 17456.

Eastman
Frampton
Beck
Johl

Hayes Color Exhibit

For the time being, this site presents four pages from an one-frame Hayes Color exhibit that won a single-frame platinum award several years ago. The color varieties, for the most part, are easily sequenced by years because of prior research and the fact that there was considerable dove-tailing of plate groups at the presses for color overlaps.

The final site will probably feature top plate blocks individually shown in full size. The exhibit used bottom plate blocks because of space limitations and the relatively uniformity of bottom selvages.

Even though the emphasis is on the printing plates and blocks, the site http://hayesplates.wordpress.com also shows many color varieties as well as plate number data.

Hayes Plate and Color Time Line

The bar graph shown below is taken from the upper third of the last two pages of the four exhibit pages. 28 printing plates, in 7 plate groups of 4 plates each (numbered consecutively), were used from 1922 to 1931. Plates within a group were normally used together.

The time line for a plate group on the bar graph starts with their first day at the presses and extends to their very last day at the presses. Usage was not continuous, but usually occurred within three to seven individual runs, a run being anywhere from a few days to a month, during that time line. Plate group 17456-459 was used out of sequence.

Notice that on two occasions, in 1927 and in 1929, one plate group permanently replaced another plate group at the presses on the same day. This fact greatly helps in determining overall color sequence. Also notice that at the point in 1929, three groups of plates were essentially at the presses at the same time.