Scott 114 Unused, Ng, No Grill. It's A #114 Mystery! Just Added 1200 Dpi Pics!

I have a #114, unused, NG, no grill. I looked at it closely under a 10x loupe and even under a microscope and there was no grill. The question is: Is it possible that it's a #114a (or perhaps a #125)? What do you think?

You need to give us a bettewr scan, I think I can see a grill

Hi, thanks for responding, but I couldn't see a grill with a 10x loupe or a USB microscope. Here's two more pics of them:

It would be helpful to see it more this size:

This is a #125 scan from the Philatelic Foundation site. Note the very crisp lines of shading. Note in particular that the smoke above the engine is made up of distinct crosshatched lines. Compare your stamp. Further, the paper for the reissues is different from the 1869s, harder/crisper and white rather than off-white. If you have other 1869s, compare with those.

You might also trying looking at the front and back under a very strong light held at a very flat angle to the paper. Some grills are very weakly impressed, but a trace can be found usually.

Hopefully, these pix will do it? I scanned them at 1200 dpi. Even at this magnification I can't see a grill or remnants of a grill. I'm mystified. The stamp viewed under a 10x loupe reveals nothing that remotely resembles a grill or parts of a grill. I'm not infallible, but I know what a grill looks like. Thoughts? Thanks!

Most likely it was soaked off an album page, or soaked with a cancel cleaned, then the grill was pressed out. My understanding is that you cannot get a no grill cert without full undisturbed gum. Your stamp illustrates why: there is no way to say that the grill was not pressed out especially because many grills on this issue are light. So you can honestly only hold or sell this as a 114.

Thanks! I had no plans to sell it. I was just going through an old album I found and was curious about the stamp. What you mentioned, of course, is a real possibility.