The vertical coil version of the Parkman definitive, the same historian's portrait torn from a roll rather than a sheet.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

• Catalog Number: Scott #1297

• Denomination: 3 cents (3¢)

• Date of Issue: November 4, 1975

• Printing Method: Rotary Press, Engraved (Intaglio)

• Perforation: Perf 10 horizontally (coil)

• Color: Violet

• Subject: Portrait of Francis Parkman, American historian

• Format: Vertical coil single, Prominent Americans series

CONDITION ANALYSIS (Seller-Assessed)

• Status: Used

• Grading: Fine

• Postmark: Black postmark of a partial circular datestamp and light lines across the upper portion. The Parkman portrait remains clearly visible.

• Obverse: The portrait, the name and profession panel, the country inscription, and the 3¢ denomination are all sharp and identifiable.

• Reverse: No original gum present, as expected for a used stamp. The paper is clean with no tears or thinning visible.

• Centering / Margins: The design is well framed, sitting comfortably between the two straight edges with clear margins.

• Perforations: Perforated along the top and bottom edges with straight (imperforate) left and right sides, as expected for this vertical coil.

HISTORY

This is the coil version of the Francis Parkman definitive, and within the coil format it is the less common of the two orientations, the vertical coil. The sheet version of this stamp, issued in 1967, carries perforations on all four sides. This 1975 coil was printed in long rolls for vending and affixing machines, and the way it was wound is what makes it a vertical coil: the stamps were joined one above the next, so each separated from its neighbors along perforations on the top and bottom, leaving the left and right edges straight and uncut.

That orientation is worth a word, because coils were wound two ways. Most coils carry their perforations on the left and right, with straight edges along the top and bottom. This one is the reverse, a vertical coil, with straight sides and perforations on the top and bottom, an orientation made in smaller numbers that gives a copy like this a little extra interest for collectors who watch format. Several issues were even produced in more than one form at once, as sheet stamps and as coils, so sorting out which is which is part of the fun.

The subject is the same as the sheet stamp: Francis Parkman, the nineteenth century historian whose sweeping narratives of the French and British struggle for North America made him one of the country's finest storytellers of the past, written through chronic illness and failing eyesight.

STEVEN SAYS

Here is a detail most people skip right past: this Parkman is a coil, and specifically a vertical coil, which is the less common of the two coil orientations. You can tell because the perforations run only along the top and bottom while the two side edges are straight, where most coils have it the other way around. Little format quirks like that are exactly what coil collectors hunt for. The same Parkman portrait also exists as a sheet stamp, so there is a nice little set to chase.