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Message:: [QUOTE="krispy, post: 978382, member: 19065"]Actually, the "E" is never supposed to be printed as it is created by negative space, an empty region of the design on the plate which does not (should not ever) take ink for transfer to paper. The "E" visually emerges from the greater Treasury seal design once the seal has been printed. The "E" is just blank paper showing through the design of the seal. What we are seeing in the OP's example is a clogged plate. Ink has filled the entire gap on the plate that creates the letter "E" out of an unprinted area of the paper. In this case no "E" can be perceived from the negative space because that space is filled in with ink or debris from the print process and instead has printed a 100% green field where the seal design ought to be cleared to define the shape of that "E". The plate itself has made impression enough to discern a heavier build up of ink around the edges of the blank "E" area to suggest the gap exists (as seen by looking carefully at the OPs close up image) so the plate is not an error itself. Instead the ink was allowed to build up in this gap in the plate, the field is flat and capable of taking/transferring ink where it should not. :smile[/QUOTE]