How To Tell If A Stamp Has Been Reperfed.

I agree that a good reperf job may not be identifiable consistently by certifying authorities.

here is one I am perplexed on that sold at Siegel last month for 475$ as a 98J PSE.

This used Scott #209 is generally is a 6$ stamp! so there is a lot of reason to fool around with this and always makes me hesitant when I see a jumbo like this one. It may be real, but there are some perfs that make me question it!

I'm familiar with these bank notes and they are cool to collect with JUMBO margins as many of the Americans were produced with large margins. What I'm saying is that wide margin examples definitely do exist, but I'm not so sure this one is legit in my playbook. Any opinions?

I'm suspect of the top perfs. Bottom & right perfs. are a bit of a quandary too. I wouldn't have bought it.

Don: TY for informing me about Alex. Apparently, something went wrong way back then. For Doug, cfr, rgs & Al, it appears that even the best among us still struggle with this issue, esp as pertains authentication svcs, which themselves can be uncertain at times. As I had mentioned, this is a timeless subject & one, I suspect, that will always remain with us.

Within that context of acceptance, I remain somewhat chagrined because I still fail to see some reperf's that are ptd out. OK... some are obvious and easy. But many are not. I challenge myself by examining known reperf's & I still have difficulty. Just using the images presented in this thread, for ex., I have trouble seeing some. My only comfort is that I have company. If Siegel sold that 209 as a legit jumbo, it probably is. Yet, both rgs and Al have their doubts!

I hope others continue to post images where cert's have id'd reperf'g. The only way to get better at this is to keep looking & thinking.

John

The 209 is a thick soft paper stamp. Soft paper stamps often produce this type of funky looking perfs that are genuine. It's extremely difficult to reperf thick soft paper stamps and still get the fibers and extra bits of paper that this stamp has. The qualities being pointed out as evidence of reperforating for this particular example are actually points in it's favor for being genuine.

If you look through the PF site, some stamps will have fairly clear perfs and some will be funky and some with have a mixture.

http://pfsearch.org/pfsearch/pf_grd...lledfrom=lkp

Several of the perf holes look "enhanced" to me.

rev collector,

thanks for tip on the perfs of soft paper stamps. makes sense!

fo comparison, here is another 98J that sold in 2013 for 2600$

looks like prices have come down! (although this one is nicer!)

I don't see much enhancement, what I see is the bottom perfs are all chewed up. To me this is a damaged stamp, and I am surprised it went for as much as it did.

I circled a few questionable areas of possible perf enhancement in the scan below. Those look like typical "gouge outs" from blind (or very poorly punched) perf holes to me.

And yes, I agree that the perfs are pretty chewed up, especially the far right perfs on the bottom margin. Those warrant a "nibbled perfs" opinion & the stamp should have graded below 98J.

They might or might not be. As for grading, as a damaged stamp it should never have gotten a grade in the first place. It would not have at the PF for sure.