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I am still curious about the color bleeding from the stamp?
Is that normal for this era or particular stamp?
As a rule, ink fades but doesn't run when chemicals are used to remove cancellations. I doubt this stamp was chemically altered.
The color bleeding is common and doesn't detract much from the value. It is commonly known as a "wet" printing. In this case, it was accidental.
Check out this link on wet/dry printings that the USPS experimented with. Take special note to look at the two stamps that are compared.
http://www.1847usa.com/WetDryPrintingMethods.htmWhat bothers me the most about this is the gum soaked perfs that look like toning on the perf tips. If I owned this one, I'd soak the gum off in the hopes of removing the toning from the perfs.
Brian
Posted 07/01/2011 8:31 pm
