US #1 - Why So Cheap?

Here's what appears to be a #1 Franklin on a piece of card, counting down on ebay right now.
At $43 dollars, and 30 minutes left to go, I have to ask myself, why is this going so cheap?
Is it the pen cancel?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Franklin-Ca...em4ab3276112

The image is not great, but the look of Ben's shirt makes me wonder if this is an 1875 reprint (or reprint of the reprint, if there is such a thing)

looks a bit suspect to me. Looks like it has an almost lavender-ish looking "wash" to it and the fact he said he know nothing but used words like on piece and on stiff card and pen canceled...I might be wrong and it could just be a good deal but for my money I'd pay a little more for an absolute no-contest legitimate copy. Thanks for the link James it was pretty interesting. It will be neat to see how it plays out.

Looks cheesy to me - nothing specific...just looks suspect. Wishywashy description too. The "card" is awfully bright too.

68 bucks!

I took another look, inkjet print?

If anyone on this forum bought this stamp, I'd be interested in what the story is.

It definitely looks like the 1875 reproduction. Wish the photo was better.
Looking at the buyers history (why am I so obsessed with this?), he/she focuses on Poland. Quite a distance to stray from eastern Europe to a questionable early US, especially for that much cash.

I've got to get out more!

James, I agree that this stamp looks like a type A3, 1875 reproduction. However, the 1875 reproductions were not valid for postage and were issued without gum. This stamp is affixed to a piece, which makes looking at the back of the stamp to inspect the paper not possible at this point, and a manuscript cancel which would never exist on this stamp.

My opinion is that this stamp is a forgery, and not a very clever one at that.

Good eye!

Brian

I opted to use ebay's "Report item" option in the hopes that the buyer doesn't get ripped off. Hopefully enough people do so and this item doesn't end up in circulation.

12:42 pm EST - item was just pulled.

pulled?

It sold for 68 and change

Sorry, for a stamp seller, the guy says "I have no idea what this is"? That would be enough to make me pass right there.

I wonder if he could have gotten more for it if he'd been honest, or at least better informed? Sell it as 1875 reproduction fraudulently set up as used #1. At least then it would have had a story, and he would have come credibility.

James,

While this stamp looks like a type A3, I do not believe it is authentic in any way, shape, or form. I can only speculate at this time, but it could be a digitally printed copy, or even an older forgery. I can't think of any reason to take an authentic copy of #3 and try to make it look used.

aww, came upon this thread after the stamp was pulled...in a case like this does the auction go through or is the buyer informed that it was a fraud and given a chance to withdraw? or does the sellers ambiguous language allow him to profit?...would have liked to see a fake in comparison to the real if just to learn more!

ebay has a policy of not informing the complainant of the results of their investigation. In some cases, you will actually see the listing pulled when looking at the auction at a later time. In extreme cases I have seen the seller's status change to "No longer and ebay member". I'm not sure what, if anything, we will see now that the auction has ended.

Edit: I should have looked at the link, first. It appears the auction has been pulled. This is the message from the site:




Now we know!

I know my ignorance is coming out but. Can the seller pull the item if he is or becomes in doubt about it's authenticity?
If he could and it was suspicious it would preserve his sellers rating. I mean giving him the benefit of the doubt. If the item is in question. He could just pull it to protect himself.Just wondering and will wait anxiously for your response.

Yes, just say he made a mistake or the item is no longer for sale. However, some restrictions apply such as you cannot end your listing early to avoid selling it for a lower price than what you thought you might get, etc.

ebay's page on
How can I end my listing early?
http://pages.ebay.com/help/sell/end_early.html

Lots of interesting links to ebay pages on their 'Site Map' link on the bottom of most pages.