Setoff

'Setoff or set-off is accidental printing on the back of a stamp. In philatelic terms, this word is used to distinguish itself from the offset printing process.

In some cases where the stamp paper is very thin, all or parts of a design can bleed through. But more often, with engraved stamps, the sheets are piled up as they are printed so that some ink can transfer to the backs from the sheet below. In some cases, one can get a partial to full recognizable reverse image of the front side, shifted or not. Clear setoffs tend to have a ghostly look as only a small but even amount of ink was transferred. Remember that at this point, sheets are not perfed and gummed so this will be a permanent transfer of a reversed image.

US Washington-Franklin flat plate stamps are well-known for having some spots of ink transfer on their backs. That is often a spotting feature. They can have partial to full reversed images on their backs.





See

 * Backprint

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