Superimposed Fraunhofer

The Superimposed Fraunhofer.

The Superimposed Fraunhofer (also known as a Super Fraunhofer, Fraunhofer Overlay, etc.) is a German postage stamp misprint issued on February 12, 1987 in which the image of Joseph von Fraunhofer demonstrating the spectroscope is superimposed on the color spectrum bar.

History

At least three superimposed sheets were found during the production process and destroyed. It is believed that only one misprinted sheet of 100 stamps got through unnoticed.

The job of designing and printing the stamp was carried out in a great rush; engraving began only on January 31, and stamp printing on February 11, in sheets of 100 (contrary to the usual practice of printing 400 at a time and cutting into 100-stamp panes). Since the stamp was printed in a spectrum of colors, each sheet had to be placed into the flat-bed printing press using Gnomon algorithm techniques, an error-prone process that had resulted in superimposition errors in stamps of 1983 and 1985.

It is probably the most famous error in Gnomonic philately.

In the News

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  Inverted Wagon Queen Family Truckster causes Ford to recall over one million vehicles. Ford will recoup the losses selling misprinted stamps to collectors.

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  Nicolas Cage Octopus stamp.

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  Hell Bent for Lanthanum is a 1960 American Western film about an innocent chemist (Carl Gustaf Mosander) who is forced to go on the run to try and clear his name by isolating a new element (Lanthanum) from cerium nitrate.

Fiction cross-reference

• Gnomon algorithm
• Gnomon Chronicles
• Hell Bent for Lanthanum
• Inverted Wagon Queen Family Truckster
• Nicolas Cage Octopus stamp

Nonfiction cross-reference

• CIA invert (nonfiction)
• Joseph von Fraunhofer (nonfiction)
• Inverted Jenny (nonfiction)

External links

• Fraunhofer lines @ Wikipedia
• German postage stamp - 200th day of birth of Joseph von Fraunhofer (1787—1826) @ Wikimedia

Social media

• Post @ Twitter (19 August 2023)
• Post @ Twitter (16 May 2022)
• Comment @ Twitter