Przedborz Double-sided Proofs

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Warning: some of the following is a little convoluted. The bottom line is that the two-sided prints might be non-philatelic (i.e., have been created as part of a "normal" printing process) only if:

paper was in short supply and/or quite expensive, and
there were multiple print runs of all the stamps in Issues 2,3, and 4.

Stamps can be printed on both sides for a variety of reasons: by accident; or because paper was hard to obtain and printer's waste was available, etc.1 The philatelic description of such stamps depends on how they came to be printed.
Przedbórz Issues II-IV have stamps printed on both sides, and they are usually referred to as double-sided proofs.

The Americans and British seem to call these stamps "proofs", while the Poles and Germans use "printer's waste". It seems likely that both terms are accurate:
These are probably proofs printed on printer's waste (sheets discarded in the printing process), in order to conserve paper during war time.

I.e.,"Printer's waste" as used for these double-sided stamps must mean "printer's overruns" and not "spoiled printings," as often used elsewhere, because the back side is printed on top of the gum,

i.e., after the front was printed and gummed, some extra sheets had been printed, and the back sides were then printed, gum and all.
The mainstream philatelic world seems to think these stamps exist for a legitimate printing reason.
They can't be accidental, since many different printings were made.
The recorded types of double-sided proofs are listed under the varieties of each issue, but one example is illustrated below.

Front: Cat. #11, type 1

I can come up with only one scenario to suggest that Przedbórz "double-sided proofs" may not have been strictly philatelic:

Back: Cat. #14, type 1.

This side is gummed.
Expertizing marks are usually
on the gummed side of double-
sided proofs and other stamps.

Each issue was printed in four denominations. Wouldn't you print all of one denomination before starting the next one? After all, there are ink changes and plate changes required, so unless the process is interrupted by the need to make a new plate or get more ink, it should have been efficient to print one denomination at a time.
Suppose they printed the smallest denomination first.
The #3 & #4 double-sided proofs are consistent with that possibility: the reverse side has a higher denomination stamp than the front side.
But then all the other denominations have the lower-value stamp on the front side sometimes, and on the gummed side sometimes.
Now if you had just finished printing the 10gr. stamps, and were getting ready to print the 15gr. stamps, why would you need to print some more 10 gr. stamps on the gummed side of some 15gr. stamps?

This only makes sense if certain denominations were printed in at least two press runs; perhaps there was a change in the number printed, or perhaps Panski ran out of a certain color ink, etc.

What is wrong with the above theory?

One problem is revealed by reviewing the list of known double-sided stamps: (F means printed on front side, B means printed on back (=gummed) side.)
- 2nd Issue: Mi3F-4B, 3F-6B, 4F-5B, 5F-4B, 6F-3B, 6F-5B (Mi3-6 combos have 3's on front, 6's on back and vice-versa, and the same holds for Mi4-5.)
- 3rd Issue: 7F-8B, 7F-10B, 8F-7B, 8F-9B, 9F-8B, 10F-7B (similar patterns hold for 7-8, 6-9, 7-10 combinations.)
- 4th Issue: 11F-12B, 11F-14B, 12F-11B, 12F-13B,13F-12B,14F-11B (similar patterns hold for 11-12,11-14, 12-13 combinations.)
This is plausible if ALL the press runs were interrupted for some reason. It is just as plausible that Abramsohn, the stamp dealer, saw some of the first double-sided proofs, and said "These will sell! Print me a few sheets of various types."

By the way, does this mean the stamps were flat-press printed? It's easier to imagine printing on the gummed side of a sheet if you were printing on a flat press instead of a rotary press, at least a large machine-powered rotary press.

But perhaps if the gum is dry, it doesn't matter what kind of press you use.

1. Hank Bieniecki, of the Bieniecki International stamp dealership, tells me that stamps printed on two sides were fairly common on Post-WWI and Post-WWII Poland (e.g., Fischer 73-84. 85-96, 107-113) and in Central Lithuania stamps. Post-war paper shortages were the common denominator, in his opinion. (Fischer is the main Polish stamp catalog. It's even listed in Wikipedia.).

Actually, a recent eBay™ search reveals that double-sided prints are NOT so unusual. The day I looked (26 Nov. 2009), there had been recent listings for double-sided prints from Bavaria, Brazil, Burma, China, Ecuador, Great Britain, Lebanon, Poland (Scott 357A), Thailand, Uruguay, and Western Australia. There were also stamps gummed on both sides, surcharged on both sides, etc.

Stamps printed on both sides might have been called duplex prints, but in philately, the term duplex seems to be informally reserved for duplex cancels.

Last modified 5 Feb. 2012