1978 15c Oliver W. Holmes, Imperforate Error

 

Issue Date: June 14, 1978
City: Boston, MA
Printed By: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Printing Method: Rotary Press
Color: Magenta

 

This coil pair was intended to be perforated vertically with 10-gauge perforations.  Because of a production error, it didn’t receive its perforations and made its way past the postal inspectors.  Now you can add this error stamp to your collection. 
The 15¢ Oliver W. Holmes stamp was originally issued in 1968 in sheet format (US #1288).  Ten years later, the domestic First-Class mail rate was increased to 15¢, and the demand for this stamp increased significantly.  A smaller version was produced in booklets (US #1288B), and the original plates were re-engraved.  The new image was then used to produce additional sheet stamps and horizontal coil stamps. (U.S. #1305E).  The coil stamp exists with both shiny and dull gum.
Three types of this stamp have been found.  This stamp is a Type I.  The difference can be found on Holmes’s necktie.  On a Type I stamp, the end of the tie touches the coat (Type II doesn’t touch).  The crosshatching is darker on the Type I stamp. 

 

Oliver Wendell Holmes was one of the best-known American judges and served as a member of the Supreme Court for 30 years.  Known as the "Great Dissenter," he insisted laws be viewed in light of a changing society, rather than as old formulas to be adhered to.
In 1881, Holmes wrote, "The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience...the law embodies the story of a nation's development through many centuries, and it cannot be dealt with as if it contained only the axioms and corollaries of a book of mathematics."