Chasing The Well Centered US Classics

Finding 1857-1861 3-cent perforated stamps (#25, 25A, 26A) well centered is a real challenge, but finding one with the design free of the perforations on all four sides is nearly impossible! Of course it is impossible with #26 because the side frame lines run uninterrupted from stamp to stamp. Here's a #26A that's clear all around. I don't think I've ever seen another example:

Classic Coins, your 26A is the best example of this type that I have ever seen. I have seen other examples where the perfs clear the design all around but not like this. These are actually equivalent to jumbo margins for this issue; if this stamp is sound it is a true condition rarity.

These are all very nice. I'm going back to more of my classics and look for some more well centered ones.

stallzer, thank you for you compliment on my trio. I like your Columbian. I only have a few of those.

Thanks, Rhett. It's a shame it's under-inked.

These three are pretty well-centered,though, at first glance, that is not what I was looking at.

The scan of this 219D is not very good, and does not do it justice. In person, the color pops, and there is no doubt that's what it is. I thought, despite the straight edge, it is a really nice one.



I looked at these next two, only for their cancels, but going back and looking at a different aspect of them, they, too, appear to be well centered. The cancels throw off that facet of them, when I first was reviewing them.

Since I will not be taking them off paper, because of the cancels, I have them in my inventory as 264's.

A version of a sheild cancel.




A version of man on the moon, with a couple of stars.

cet, you have quite the imagination

Well done!
Your examples are gorgeous when the designs are presented at these enlarged sizes!
While I am not discriminating my US classics based on centering, I agree that the beauty of these early engravings are enhanced graphically when the images are framed with a generous border.

For me, paying a premium for classic material is not an option. I currently count 187 pre-1900 classics; few are exceptionally well centered. In order to gather this number of items without drifting into a much higher budget range, I have purchased a mixed bag -- some mint, a few MNH, a few with defects, but maybe 85% are sound and of average quality.

perhaps not old enough to be called a classic, but here is a nice one I picked up recently:

A little close, right side. But pretty well balanced overall.

Very nice stamps. I found software I like that analyzes perfs and centering. It's from radium.com and its pretty much a one-trick pony. But it takes the guesswork out of assigning a centering grade and measuring perforations. Plus if you sell stamps it could be worth your while to provide this type of analyzing with the sale. Here's a nice Q3 I got at my local stamp club auction a couple of weeks ago. The analyze image is actually a screenshot but you can save the report as a .pdf too.

sorry - that's rakium.com. Auto correct you know!

Thanks for the info! That will come in handy!

Nuts... for Apple products only.

Anyone know of a Windows equivalent package?

I tried the demo of EZPerf and found it not useful.

Why would you need one, you have eyes. All it takes is some practice and the ability to turn the stamp upside down and look at it both ways.

Gorgeous stamp and scan, Southpaw! Thanks for the info on the stamp analyser application too.