I Discovered A Scott 84 'D' Grill ...

... assuming there wasn't some attempt at deception.

This stamp was in a collection I purchased more than 2 months ago, but I paid little attention to it because of the centering. Last night, I was going through my stockbook and decided to identify this, and another 2c grilled "Blackjack" that came from the aforementioned collection. Imagine my surprise when I realized the grill wasn't an 'E' or 'F' grill (which I don't need a catalogue to identify)!

I honestly didn't know what I had until I opened the catalogue and started looking!

My biggest concern is the possibility of this being faked by adding another vertical column of grill impressions.

Presented for your comments, here is my newly discovered Scott 84 with 'D' grill, 12mm x 14mm, with 15 x 18 pts.


Brian

BRIAN.....Quickly looking at the scan...
The grill looks to have horizontal ridges....
Possible #85B??
You should do the "lead test" on the grill for others to see.
Hard to tell from photo.
Will not harm item.
Either way....good find!

Lots of luck with that collection I see! Congrats! -Jeff

Brian,I'm not counting that many columns but its a bit hard for me to see them. Can you do the pencil thing to better highlight the grill?

Not that I have much more than e's or f's for comparison but I see 14x18 and horizontal tendencies. Can't really tell if points up or down . I hope its a D for cat value but a Z wouldn't be a bad score either. Some unique items in this lot and eager to hear the details.

Brian you have the best fortune when it comes to your stamp purchases! Needless to say I'm envious! lol All the best to you friend! -Jeffrey

I retained Bill Weiss' services and after taking a look at the photos, he wants to take a look at it in person, so I will send it out in the near future for an official certification.

If I have learned anything over the years, it's not to get too excited until I see a cert! Still, it's hard not to be excited as I do not own either a 'D' or 'Z' grilled stamp in my collection.




There was indeed! This collection was actually a worldwide lot, and not a lot of emphasis was put on the US stamps. There was no indication of any grilled stamps from the description or photographs, so this is all icing on the cake for me.

This lot also contained a US 92 (1c Franklin), a 5/ Australia 'roo, lots and lots of 19th century British Empire stamps, and more than 1000 China (PRC) stamps (mostly 1950s).

My investment was roughly $.05/stamp!!

Brian

Re-visiting this thread- That is totally amazing what can be found in an old collection lot you know it? Like that F relief m buddy found and this D grill! I guess it all comes down to knowledge because even if it is staring you in the face if you don't know what you are looking at then it will go unidentified like these one mentioned above. Anyway this gives me great hope so thank you and congratulations on your new-old find! Also, for your return vs. investment- Amazing.

Thanks, ILS! I haven't had time to send it in to Bill Weiss yet as I just got married and am in the process of moving, but I will as soon as possible. Although the size is correct for the 'D' grill, the orientation of the points look more like a 'Z' grill. There is still a chance the grill is fake, so I will update the thread once I get a chance to send it in. D, Z, or fake - this stamp is still a great find considering the collection it came from!

Brian

Brian...
the grill is NOT fake....
Dont worry about that.
Kevin

Hi Brian,
Apologize for being very late to this party - presume your bride has got both her ring and new home by now...congrats on both

For more important matters () - I am curious if Weiss did have a look at your potential 85B?

I am a newbie to 'the world of grills', so I am still reading and learning, this forum is simply fantastic for that purpose! I also found a potential 85B, so your post is most interesting.

Thank you!

I never did send the stamp to Bill. Partly due to a change in priorities - family life has changed a great many priorities - but mostly to my own apathy. Once I became convinced of the identification of the grill, I put it in my album and haven't given it much thought.

Truth is, for the past year, I rarely work on my stamp collection more than twice-a-month.

I intend to revisit it again soon, but for the time being, I'm enjoying summer gardening, berry picking, and family time.

Our back yard ...






Cheers!

- Brian

Nice garden! No wonder you don't have much time for stamps right now. Maybe after the harvest?

If it's not faked, then it's a Z-grill. The leftmost and rightmost columns are partial or "half" columns. These can occur as columns on Z-grill stamps and as rows on all others.

I count 13 columns (partials are not counted) by 18 rows.

https://goscf.com/t/42029#360644

Nice garden!

Brian - It's easy to see on your garden that you have the sense of order as most philatelists do! Very well organized indeed - your wife should be proud. I am only missing some wind shelter allowing you to pull out your stamps in the sun every now and then!

I am almost in the same boat as you, when I am home it's all about the spouse, family, house and garden - in that order. Only some spare time for stamping now and then. However when I am at work offshore, I can set aside some quality time for stamping

H DNA C - You are on the ball as always!

Let's assume this is an authentic Z. The ink of the cancellation is above the grill. Can one expect the ridges/valleys of the grill to cause this kind of pattern to the ink? I have seen other examples where the ink gets more 'spotted' due to the grill, so I have been thinking that is a good indicator. But again, I am a total novice in this game. Any comments on this?

-Jon-

essayk would know MUCH more about this than I, but what you describe is at least fairly common. If the blue cancel is genuine, then the grill is genuine. Blue ink made its way through the weakened fibers to the reverse. It's easiest to see at the center of the leftmost edge of the grill on the reverse picture. If I recall correctly, this increased penetration of cancel ink was the original idea behind grilling.

Edit: Jon, gotta scan of yours?