My New 10A

With all the discussions of US 10a here today, I happen to receive this in the mail.

Won it last week on ebay for very cheap - $3.49 plus shipping. Very low yes, but not without flaws I know. A bit of an impulse buy, but I didn't have one of these yet.
It was advertised as a 10a, but I'm not clear on the subtle colour differences between the 10 and 11. Looks close to the colour on swedishtiger.
Anyway, my question to all of you is, it's a bit dirty around the edges. A century of fondling I suppose.
I was reading butterflys earlier thread on his cleaning experiment. Do you think it's worth my while to attempt a clean or should I leave well enough alone.
I do like the cancel. That was the other reason I bid on it.

The stamp is an 11A. I wouldn't be afraid to try cleaning the stamp with a little warm soapy water. Hydrogen Peroxide can damage a stamp if you don't know what you are doing. I think, and I stress think, a 30 second dip in H2O2 is usually what is done.

Thanks sinclair2010. But how do you make the differentiation between the 10 and 11? Is it strictly colour?
Admittedly my scan is a little more red than the original stamp. Looking at the examples on swedishtiger, it could be either the copper red/orange brown of their 10a or the dull red of the 11a. Hard to tell on the screen.

I just cleaned a few of my "filthy" classics today! lol- I used warm and soapy water and it worked out just wonderfully! Heck, their was even some paper and stuff I didn't even know was there that came off and the water was almost brown! Now they are all nice and clean and look great! With a little care there is no harm in it. I don't use peroxide as it's a bleaching agent and seems a little too caustic to use on my babies. ~Jay

Seperating the 10's from the 11's is ordinarily done by color but sometimes you need to actually plate the stamp to tell what plate it came from. By definition, the 10/10A's come from Plates 1e, 1i, 2e, 5e, or Plate 0, regardless of what the color of the stamp is. I shouldn't say if the color is not accurate but your stamp looks like an 1857 Claret to me.

I've been following artlaunier's search for a 10a with some fascination. It's becoming quite a learning experience.
sinclair2010, you are obviously an expert on these. My scan is deceiving in it's colour, it is definately not a claret colour in real life as it appears on the screen. (I've tried to adjust the colour to a more realistic representation, but with little success).
I've attached here two images from the swedishtiger website of a 10a and 11a, side by side. These have become my reference point. Although the colours are described with different names I think they are quite similar, and are very close to my own stamp. So I try to look at other differences. I see the 11a is deeper in size, but that is just a variation in the scans. I haven't adjusted for size.
I do see the 'U' in US is bolder on the 10a, which is similar to my own. The question (finally) is do you think that is one way to tell the two apart? Plating is beyond me, and if I could find some other indicators that would be a big help.
thanks

jamesw, no, that is not a way to tell them apart. The difference in appearance of the "U" is due entirely to there being a significant amount of doubling (double transfer) caused, most likely, by plate reentry. If you look at the central circle of the upper left rosette on the 11A you will notice it is not round but oval. That is evidence of a double transfer that is mostly a left/right shift. Such a shift will change the appearance of design elements by removing white areas of the stamp and replacing them with colored areas. The doubling also happens to be most pronounced in the UL corner area. I hope that makes some sense.

Regarding message boards such as the SCF... everybody, regardless of expertise, can talk like an expert but that doesn't make them one. I am very knowledgeable about the 1c and 3c stamps of 1851 and 57 but I don't call myself an expert.

Perfect sense, thanks. And as for you qualifications, knowledgeable is just as good as expert as far as I'm concerned.

Me too!

Art
I really like your new Avatar
Ron

The Avatar is Columbia. This is one of the images used for the 1893 Chicago Worlds Fair. In as I also collect Worlds Fair & Exposition tickets, I thought it appropriate until I find something better, and I'm still looking.

Art

I'm stealing a quote from VSC, "Sinclair is the God of 1 cent Benjamin Identification and plating." I think that goes for the 3 cent issues too. Well, perhaps God is too much but lets say pretty damn good.

Art

Another non-expert comments from me is that the overall impression of the 10A is much sharper. I have also read that all 10s generally have very distinct triangles in the four corners just inside top and bottom lettering. Clear hair lines are another feature of 10s.

Clear hair lines, I thought so too and if you look at my post questioning 10s or 11s they both have decent hair lines and both are 11s. Consequently, I believe the hair lines are subjective in determining the catalog number and other factors must be considered before a conclusive determination can be made. Color and plating seems the only way to determine which is what. I don't know crap about plating and most colors have faded so, for me anyway, that's not a lot of help either. I refer to http://home.comcast.net/~3cent1851/ob.htm in trying to determine what 1851 3 cent stamp I have. This is why I have been asking for assistance in determining some 10s & 11s.

Art

Ah Art, now you've given me something more to go on. Reading your comcast site leads me to believe that sinclair may have been right all along. My stamp, though the colour is similar to swedishtiger's 10a, has a very weak impression on Georges hair and tunic.

"...the #11 shown at right was printed from a severely worn plate, with poor-quality ink. Note the lack of detail in Washington's head, and the lack of sharpness in the rosettes and especially the tessellated (coross-hatch) work in the #11 impression." comcast

Me thinks that I am coming around to the possibility that this is an 11a. Or...I don't know what to think.
Like you Art, I'll just keep looking.

I'm beginning to HATE this stamp!

Not really but what a challange!