Acquired Small Austria Stamp Hoard ...... Omg

Hi, All, I have been an observer of this forum for quite some time, but just recently joined, so this is my first post.
Anyway, I just acquired a 1/4 pound WW packet from my local dealer and found that it contained a small hoard of Austria 1860-1880 Franz Josef and Coat of Arms stamps. So far I have pulled out over 500 stamps covering almost all denominatons. These include regular postage, postal card cuts, stationary cuts, as well as dozens of examples each of Newspaper stamps (Scott P8 and P9). and several dozen Newspaper Tax Stamps Scott PR1.
Needless to say, I am having great difficulty in identifying the several varieties of these stamps (especially the notorious Franz Josef Coarse/Fine print varieties. Even with so many specimens to work with I have found that virtually no two stamps are the same as far as identifying features that distinguish the 'Coarse and Fine' prints. I did find some websites that had fairly detailed treatises on this, but many of the pieces in my hoard fall short on some of the criteria. I have been able to easily ID the varieties in the 5K red series (lower left corner arabesque and FJ ear varieties, but there is still the coarse/fine issue with some of these.
Aside from this, it has been a blast examining these interesting stamps. Many of them have clear bullseye cancels, and a few have PERFECT centering (i.e. the outer frames of the design do not even touch the perforations.) A couple of other things I have noticed...there are many color variations within each denomination, and none of the readable date cancels of this particular lot go past 1870. If there is anyone here on the forum who is an expert on these stamps, some comments would be welcomed!

Sorry...After hitting the GO button I realized this got posted to the US forum.. I will re-post this on the Dark Side!

Milehigh, it is common to click 'post' and not have anything happen ... which leads to hitting 'post' again (and again). More often than not, your message will be posted. In the event that this happens, you have the option of deleting the extra post. It will certainly help reduce confusion:)

Welcome to SCF!

Brian

Welcome milehigh!

Another option you have for an erroneously placed post is to click on the "Send note to staff" link at the lower right of the post and ask that it be moved to the appropriate section on the forum.

Thankee for the Guidance!

Milehigh, show some of your Austria Empire postmarks here:

https://goscf.com/t/12447#12447

Also, do a search for Austria as the subject and you will find information on older Austria, including the Franz Josef issues.

Hi milehigh

I really like the Franz Josef Austrian stamps, and although I am a WW classical generalist, not an expert on Austria, I'll show how I broke down the coarse print/fine print differences....


Austria 1867-72 Scott 31 15kr brown

I call this a coarse print. Note the 'rough" beard, and the fairly heavy eyebrow.

As you know, the coarse print is found 9 1/2 perf, but the fine print also can be found as perf 9 1/2, so no help there.

A big help is a postmark. Since the coarse print was issued 1867-72, while the fine print was issued 1874-80, that should often give a great clue.


Austria 1876 Scott 34 2kr yellow

I'm calling this a fine print. Notice the "non-rough" beard, and the less prominent eyebrows.

Also, besides a perf of 9 1/2, the fine prints come in perf 9,10 1/2, 12, 13,and 9 X10 1/2: generally for a high CV.


Austria Scott 28 & 35 3kr green

"Rough" vs "fine": Note the '81 postmark on the "fine"


Austria Scott 29 & 36 5kr rose

Note the quite marked differences in appearances between the two stamps.

BTW, can you ID the type?


Austria Scott 30 & 37 10kr blue

Hope this helps.

Note: I reserve the right as a generalist to not always be correct.

Good examples jkblue. The 2kr is hardest to distinguish as it is often printed very light, and in different shades.

Bee See - I see what you mean. I few more examples of the 2kr would be nice to compare.

Found another interesting item in this lot - an 1861 .6kr blue newspaper stamp! It's a little off-center and has a small missing section at one corner, but it fills the album space nonetheless...