Record flaw
A plate defect in postage stamps is a defect on the printing plate that causes the postage stamp to deviate from the original stamp.
A disk failure can have several causes. It can arise during the production of the printing plate and is then located in this sheet space throughout the entire edition . An unwanted plate fault can also occur during the assembly of the printing plate (e.g. a screwdriver falls on the printing plate). Such an error is also present on the sheet space during the entire printing process and therefore occurs in the entire edition. However, plate defects can also only arise during the printing process (for example due to wear and tear). These appear only in part of the edition.
Plate defects should not be confused with printing accidents . A plate defect always looks the same and can be clearly assigned to a specific sheet location. Random printing occurs due to dirt on the printing plate, so they never look the same and can never be clearly assigned to a sheet location. In contrast to plate defects, accidental printing is not included in a stamp catalog.
Plate defects are very popular with philatelists and often increase the value of a stamp many times over. The philatelist collects plate defects mainly in pairs or units. This protects against forgeries (especially in the case of an edge piece where the sheet space can be calculated) and enables a better comparison with the original drawing. Plate flaws are only rarely collected because the postmark often hides the plate flaw.
Plate defects (especially major ones) are sometimes discovered during the printing process. These are mostly retouched (compare retouching ) and will therefore no longer appear in the following editions.