1988 25 Cent Carousel Horse (Scott #2391) Error?

Is the lack of gold in the stamp on the right a printing error? If so, what is the estimated value of the stamp? Thanks.

I can't say for sure, but since all the colors on this are faded, I'd say the stamp was probably exposed to the suns rays and the yellow faded the most. Do you have a scanner that can scan at 2400 dpi? It might reveal a faint residue of yellow ink or maybe even a missing yellow.

There is a known red color omitted error for this stamp, but the Scott catalog doesn't list any values, as it is referred to only as part of the block of 4. The stamps are probably catalogued by EFO (errors, freaks, oddities) collectors and they have their own special catalogs for just these sort of things.

As mentioned in a previous thread, some of these color omitted errors are surprisingly low in value unless they are mint, never hinged. I'm sure it also has to do with some used examples that could easily be faked, or if not intentionally faked, at least chemically altered during the soaking process which could remove some or most of the color, which is exactly why there are study groups devoted solely to carefully identifying these specimens.

As I stated above, a red color error does not appear likely in the case of your scan, as there is some red color in the horse itself, so it is likely a faded copy of the stamp that removed some of the coloring.

faded or not faded...error or no error...i like the stamp...i like things a bit different....nice find in my book..

I have a block of four mint carousel stamps with gold color missing.

In 2007, we did send them to the American Philatelic Society, Bellefonte, PA. for authentication. Their decision was "United States, Scott 2393a, unused, full original gum, never hinged, genuine, but a color changeling (all inks still present) probably sun beached". (APS correspondence attached)

We appealed their decision based on that the stamps were from a mint set bought directly from the post office.

The American Philatelic Society stood by their decision as said we were welcome to submit the stamps to another expertizing service. We never followed up with another authentication.

Now I see someone else has the stamp with missing color.

Is there anyone else or catalog for this color missimg error

Why don't you get a really high resolution scan and send it to Amos to see if they might want to see it. I would think it would be kind of hard fore them to "expertise" a stamp, when they have nothing to compare it to.

Seems unlikely that the gold/brown colors could be bleached/faded out so evenly and consistently on all four stamps.

Don

Not only is the missing color so uniform, but there is no apparent "bleaching" of the other colors. I.e. the blues, greens, and reds still seem vibrant. Also remarkable is no apparent gold "border." Seems that even with bleaching, some evidence of the "border" would remain. Of course, I'm qualifying my remarks right ("apparent") and left ("seems") on eyeballing a low res internet image. But it is still quite curious.

Incidentally, I'm no expert at this, but how many "colors" would this stamp have likely been printed with? And I'm no "color" expert, either. But we've got red, green, and blue. Gold is just a variation of these three. Or is it a matter of the technique of stamp production technique. Again, I'm no expert, but I imagine that before anyone would want to put their reputation on the line to "certify" this as genuine, they would give some thought to a theory about how the production process used for this stamp (which is surely known and understood) could have resulted in this. Is that so hard (for those of you who might understand these things better than I do)?

A quick view of the scan through Retroreveal clearly shows where the gold border has faded.

Thanks Apastuszak

who is "Amos"?

bshmdot61 the gold has faded from your stamps. These stamps might have been displayed in a window in your post office and therefore exposed to sunlight. The APS got it right - there are no missing colors, just faded ones. Sorry but every expert body you send them to will come to the same conclusion. If you take a very high resolution scan of where the four stamps meet, you will see the gold shadow remaining from the fade.

This stamp set was combined lithographed and engraved, so any color missing error would be very distinct.

The stamp was printed in 6 colors, named to most closely match the colors mentioned in this thread: gold, orange, red, blue, green, black. These distinct colors are well-defined by the digits in the plate block and also the registration markings on the pane selvage. The gold was actually printed by 2 separate plates, so technically it is possible to have the gold "partially missing".

The easiest way to prove a color missing is if you had the plate block to show the color is completely absent.

In the OP (dchissus), the used single is clearly a color changeling, and this was all agreed upon in the subsequent posts from 3 years ago.

In the mint block of 4 posted by bshmdot61, there is NO color missing. All the colors are there, including the gold (from both plates). You can still see the border in the original picture, but fortunately the pic shown by Jenny2U shows it even more clearly.

Since gold is such a light color, an accurate way of checking for the faintest presence of the gold color on this stamp is to use a FILTERED long-wavelength (~365nm) UV light. The gold is the ONLY color that will "glow", and it should be quite easy to detect even trace amounts of gold color.

Therefore, it will either be a color changeling or severely underinked gold. Usually color changelings will exhibit other detectable changes in the paper, but that requires examination of the actual stamp. Given that the APS has already physically examined the stamp, I defer to their conclusion that it is a color changeling. But the only 2 possibilities are color changeling or underinked gold.

My non-expert opinion.

Thank you Jenny2U and kjh for answering some questions I had.

As to whether the block is a changeling or underinked gold, in the OP the fading affected not just the gold but other colors (though more so the gold than other colors). In the block, the other colors do not appear to have faded. Might this not be more indicative of under-inking than a changeling?

I agree with this statement, which is why I mentioned it. However, direct examination of the stamp would be required to prove it is not a color changeling. That is why I deferred to the APS determination, since they were able to physically examine the stamp.

Hi All

Thanks for the info

I have high resolution photos at http://1drv.ms/1fdpeXG

Unfortunately, it is not possible to prove it is NOT a color changeling from a picture.

Although its already been 7+ years, you might try asking them to provide a reason why they determined it was a color changeling and not a case of under-inking. The APEX site did not show the actual certificate, but had the text of the opinion as you had posted. Maybe the expertizer made some additional notes. Can't hurt to ask. To me, "all inks still present" (which I completely agree with), is consistent but NOT sufficient to determine the stamp is a color changeling. To me, the scan of the stamp is also consistent with under-inking, as blcjr noted as well). You posted "(APS correspondence attached)". Did the correspondence shed any light on the ink issue?