RB8 View At Your Own Risk!

RB8 You have been warned.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Worlds-most...em51a443cb87

At least he is honest.

that is one absolute fugly item

Brilliant - waiting to see if it sells. What is the cat value in excellent condition ?

Yikes! At least he has the decency not to export it out of the United States.

With the unfortunate life that stamp has had, and the public acclaim attributed to it, I might possibly bid a dollar for it. Possibly.

Terry

Geeesh almost spit coffee but looks like someone already did. Have to say it has some real character. Must be a rarity for "rev" to price it where its at but it would have to come in a mix mash lot for me.

I like the comment "nobody in their right mind would buy it" They are probably right, what a train wreck.

That is great Rev. Love the bullet points:


Unanimous winner of the 2012 CHICAGOPEX BazookaBarf Award.
Upon viewing this stamp, mothers covered the eyes of their children.
Phrase most often uttered upon seeing this stamp: "Sweet Mother of GOD!!"
There is no truth to the rumour that a hazmat suit was required to view this stamp, although one is certainly recommended (not included in this auction).

Hilarious. Some rich collector who loves your humor, Rev, should buy and frame it with your complete description. Someday the description just might be worth more than an average copy of an RB8.

All of the above comments about the stamp itself are certainly justified and I certainly would have no interest in the stamp either.

However, I have a tendency to look beyond the stamp and into the background of the "cancellation" which is from a firm known as "Starkey and Palen" of Philadelphia. It also has the mark "C.O.T.", which I found is probably a reference to their medical quackery product known in the day as a "Compound Oxygen Treatment".

Here's a very interesting summary:



Here are images of both Drs. Starkey and Palen. Their "treatment" cost $30 for 30 days of "therapy" back in the day, which probably was quite a sum back in the day for what proved to be a useless service:

Call me CRAZY but, I put in a bid on it.
I want to see if I can clean it up some, as an experiment.

Art

Heck, if Apfelbaum were selling it, it would be described as "VG-F with a few minor faults that do not detract from the overall appearance."

To those who asked, the Scott Catalog Value is $850.

I put it up there primarily as a joke. I don't expect it to actually sell. I'll get more mileage out of discussions of the listing.

Art - I was thinking the same thing as to how nice it could possibly be with a wee bit of peroxide and maybe a some Mr bubbles. Of all the threads that have discussed cleaning experiments its probably a 80/20 split against it being accepted unless specifically noted. I'm still of the mind that as long as you are cleaning and not removing cancels, changing original colors or creatng something that wasn't there to begin with.

I see you have two offers already. Can you let us know what they were for?

They were joke offers. Despite what some might think, regardless of its battered state, I didn't get the stamp for free.

I actually toyed with making the listing something insane like a $500,000 Buy-It-Now just for giggles, but then realized that someone might actually hit the button, making me liable for a stupid amount in ebay fees, even if only temporarily.

Some warm mildly soapy water and an artists brush might well clean some of the dirt, but I doubt if the top third of the stamp will look any different when all is said and done.