USA: Need Help with Difference between Sc751 & Sc769

Thanks for your post, carabop .  To help others understand what we are talking about, let's add some images to make that easier.  Below are snips of the listings from the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue for US Sc751 and Sc769.





I am not an expert in this area, but I have a little experience.  To my understanding, the printed images are the same.  The difference is that the original Sc751 was issued in 1934 as a gummed souvenir sheet of 6.  Later, the ungummed, larger, uncut press sheets (Sc769) were then made available due to public outcry.

This meant that the differences were that one was issued gummed and cut into sheets of 6 stamps (Sc751), while the later version was issued as ungummed and in larger uncut press sheets containing 20 panes of 6.  To make things more complicated, in 1940 the Post Office agreed to apply gum to the larger press sheets for people who wanted that done.

To solve the problem of knowing for sure if a someone had examples of the stamps that could have been either Sc751 or Sc769, collectors of the day sought cross-gutter pairs, which could only have been cut from the larger press sheets, making them definitively Sc769 rather than Sc751.  This is mostly an academic exercise, as the catalogue values are nearly identical.

I hope this helps.

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Edit: I note that the 2021 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue lists the 20-pane press sheets as being issued in 1940, but on reflection, I don't think that's right.  I have a Scott US Specialty Album printed around 1936 that already has spaces in it for the cross-gutter pairs from the press sheets.

Later Edit: I see now that I misread the note in the catalogue.  The 20-pane sheets were issued around 1935 or so, but 1940 was the date when the Post Office offered to apply gum to the large sheets for anyone who wanted them gummed.

Ah , thanks for clarification folks… I was at a loss at first. That is no doubt why these are referred to as “Farley’s Follies”