My New US #77 - Finally!

It's no secret I've been looking a for a SC#77, Mr Lincoln's first appearance on a postage stamp. Over the holidays, my Paypal account was flush (thanks to some successful sales on ebay and here on SCF - many thanks to all of you who purchased) so I treated myself to a Christmas present.
I found this well centred stamp and took the plunge.



I know the cork cancel is rather heavy, but I like the red cancel on top, which adds to the value (for what that's worth). And again, I'm very pleased with the centering.
I'm pretty sure it's not a reperf (though I've been wrong before), but even if it is, I'm still happy.
Merry Christmas to ME!

Hi Jamesw, what dpi (resolution) did you scan this very nice stamp? And, which software do you use to get the size down to 100k? regards, yakboomer.

Hi there yakboomer. Welcome to the forum.
I scanned this at 600 dpi, that's as high as my printer/scanner will go. Then I used photoshop to resample it to 72 dpi, at 9 inches in height, and just under 100k.

WOW James! Awesome new addition and one of my personal favorites too. Congrats friend!

From my own experience James, I have found that this stamp is rather difficult to find with great centering and/or for a decent price anyway. I believe you done rather well! I really like it and believe it will be a wonderful addition! I would agree that it has not been reperforated also. Well done!

Hey Yakboomer, I use Photofiltre free to resize my pics. It's free and works very well. It also has a lot of options for photo editing.

Thanks very much Jeff. I had some doubts at first about the right side, but I measured and lined up, and things looked pretty kosher. Also I think that the black cancel has saturated the paper right to the edges on the right is a pretty good sign too.
I suppose, if I were going to be really suspicious, I'd say that the black ink could have been touched up, but looking at it from behind, I don't think there's any indication of excess bleed into the paper fibres. Or, perhaps I'm overthinking.



Certainly the most I've ever paid for a single stamp, but still got it at a reasonable price.
I'm smiling!

Congratulations James! I'm still waiting for mine.

Great pickup