By Charles Snee
A new color omission error has been discovered on the 1985 U.S. George Washington 18¢ roll stamp (Scott 2149).
The error, the first of its kind on the nearly four-decade-old stamp, occurs on the rightmost stamp of a strip of seven stamps purchased by U.S. roll of stamps specialist Robert Thompson at the Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries’ U.S. Stamps auction held July 23-25.
Thompson, who paid $767 for the film, pointed out Linn’s stamp news about the new error via email on August 10th.
“As far as I know, this is the first report of this error,” Thompson said.
In the description of the strip in the sales catalog, Siegel noted that “the magenta color in the left stamp is normal and gradually decreases until it is completely absent in the right stamp.”
According to a certificate from Professional Stamp Experts dated May 28, a copy of which Thompson sent to Linn’sthe strip “is genuinely unused, OG (original gum), never folded, roll strips of seven with magenta and yellow, which increasingly fade from left to right, the right (seventh) stamp with magenta is completely missing.”
The fading of the magenta and yellow inks was caused by the drying out of the inkwells of the Andreotti press of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing on which the stamp was printed.
None of the stamps in the strip have a yellow omission error, as they all show traces of yellow ink.
Scott Catalog Editor-in-Chief Jay Bigalke confirmed that the new magenta error will be listed as Scott 2149f in the 2025 edition of the Scott. Special catalogue for stamps and covers of the United States which will be released in October.
Connect with Linn’s stamp news:
Sign up for our newsletter
Like us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter
