An 'unhardened' Die Proof without Die number from the original die
A proof taken after the Die was 'hardened' with Die number F-211
A proof on India of the original Die in Green but without the die number and without the Bank Note imprint. This could be a 'Trial Color' proof of the 2c Green but the lack of a die number and the lack of an imprint suggests that it was taken at a point in the engraving process prior to the 'unhardened' proofs.
Two proofs of the original die in Black. One is on India and the other is on a thicker, harder, and more yellow paper. There is some suggestion that Black die proofs are the earliest ones since black impressions are sharper and thus show up better and would be used by the engravers as the first 'proofs' of any design. I am not convinced of this, especially as the normal black Admiral proofs were 'post production'. However, these two proofs could well be from some very early stage of the engraving process since they are from the original die and it is reasonable to assume that the 2 cent value was engraved first since it has the lowest die number(211).
All 2c Carmine stamps were printed using the 'WET' process. Plates 1-26 were printed using the original die and had upper and lower imprints.
Lower Plate 1. Note that plates 1 - 4 had the bottom imprints inverted.
Upper Plate 26
Plates 1-26 also had hand punched PO numbers present on all plates but not necessarily on each pane.
Upper plate 3 used for both PO 83 and PO 98
The lower imprints were missing on plates 5 and 6.
The Retouched Die was used for plates 27-160
Retouched Die in color of issue
Plates 27-112 had both top and bottom imprints
Upper plate 27
Lower plate 112
The lower imprints were inverted on plates 51 and 52
Plates 113-158 had top imprints and a strip of Lathework in place of the bottom imprints
Upper plate 113
Upper plate 158
Type B Lathework
Plate 159 had upper imprints and a band of type C Lathework at the bottom
Upper plate 159
Type C Lathework
Plate 160 has upper imprints and a band of type C Inverted Lathewotk at the bottom.
Upper plate 160
Type C Inverted Lathework
Both plates 159 and 160 were also used to print the 2c Green and hence tend to be rare in either color.
A booklet pane of six.
The panes were produced from from several plates that can only be distinguished by minute die differences.
The plates used for the booklet panes had imprints just as any other plate but the imprints are normally severed. These are two examples of printings from different plates. The inscription 'OTTAWA TOP" is partially visible and is in a different position on each example.
A 'starter' strip of coils perfed 8 vertically.
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