Corner letter varieties

Die II plate numbers 56-60

Until 1864 the plate number was not included in the design of the stamp, and so stamps from plates 1-204 of die I and plates 1-68 can only be identified from the small differences in each stamp. Fortunately every stamp in the plate is uniquely identified by its corner letters, otherwise the task of identifying the plate would be impossible. Alphabet III is used for the corner letters. The scans below show a few of the characteristics that help identify the plate.

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56 - BB lower serif lengthened 56 - HF large number of dots in letter squares
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58 - EL large dot before E 58 - MG normal G 58 - NG hand-cut G
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59 - AI dot to left of A high 59 - BK extended lower serif 59 - CJ dot at bottom of J
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59 - EJ E touches right 59 - OI I extends to right 60 - FD vertical line in front of F
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60 - HF lower serif
extended to right
60 - HL double below  

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