Color Shade I've Not Seen Before

Most R78a show up in either a bright or deep blue. This one is a very unusual steel grey. Based on the cancel date it's a very early printing. Also of interest is the printing anomaly right below the top value tablet: remnants of a horizontal line crossing the stamp.

You can see how the shade of this stamp is distinctly different from all the other R78a's in my collection:

http://www.revenue-collector.com/cg...t&Scott=R78a

I agree it looks quite different. Is the scan reliable, as far as you know?

With a couple of exceptions, all of the scans were done on the same flatbed scanner, and I always tweak towards in-hand appearance. Of course there will be differences from monitor to monitor, but the comparative differences between stamps should be the same.

The scan above was done this morning, so it's about as fresh as you get.

I was clumsily trying to ask, in a delicate way, whether you made the scan, or knew who did. It feels kind of funny to ask, "hey, is that stamp yours, or did you borrow the scan from ebay?"

It seems you might be on to something.

Any of the images I post are my own scans unless I explicitly state otherwise, e.g., the thread about the Spink/Shreves auction.

Very keen eye for detail! Have you noticed it on others since you spotted it?

Also, I just love that #73 illegal use black-jack! never seen another one! Of course, I wasn't really aware of Revenues until you and revstampman got me hooked! I apologize that this comment is a little off-topic.

I wonder if sunlight or soaking could have had any play in this revenuecollector. They certainly are different colors.

It's not faded, which one would assume if sunlight were the culprit. Also, I've not known soaking to cause problems with this particular ink color.

It's not one of the fugitive inks prevalent on the 4c, 30c, $1.90, and $2.50 denominations, which can vary WILDLY in hue from violet to grey to green to blue.

The R78a is almost always a bright or navy blue. At any rate, it was unique enough of a color aberration for the type to justify picking it up.

revenuecollector,

The stamp also appears that the paper is a bit different. It seems to have a blueish tint to it. Or, could it have been bleached for some unknown reason?

Art