A Thank You To Dan And Some Pics From Atlanta

I did lots of looking at revenues this friday and saturday at the Southeastern Stamp Expo in Atlanta and brought a bunch back. Thanks Dan for your tip about searching first issue "c"s for misidentified silks. I brought back over 20 including two R20d's (one in incredible uncancelled condition), R55d, R64d, R67d, R82d & R84d!

Here are some other neat stuff I picked up. Not all that expensive, but interesting.

Very nice, southpaw! I especially love the R13c.

yes Rusty - that came in a $40 full red box of 102 cards which included hundreds of first issue revenues, including a bunch of silks and some really nice cancels. I haven't even dug into the other BOB 102s in the box. I'll need to post some of the SON cancels on that latest thread. Got to get back to work now though!

Nice score! $40 for a box of revenues, what's not to love?

I call dibs on the cancels.

The Genuine Sanmetto is a post tax label. There are 4 types with 6 total varieties, two of which I have never seen. This appears to be type lla, one of the commoner types.
I would be curious to see good scans of the backs of the silks you found, they can be tough to identify properly at times.

As I scan these silks in I'll post them up. Here are the first few: a couple of gorgeous R55Ds:










an R81D:







an R89D:






and finally for tonight an R98D! It's got a little bit of gum and adhesions unfortunately

The two entry of goods stamps are not silk papers, those threads are part of the papermaking process. The paper is too thin and the threads are the wrong shape and size. Compare them with the $2 conveyance, which is absolutely a silk paper; notice the threads are thicker, shorter, and straighter. Also notice the paper is thicker, softer, and whiter (although after 140 years the whiteness cannot be taken for granted). The same for the $5 and $20 conveyances, they are also silk papers.

I probably would have been fooled by the Entry of Goods stamps. I'm glad to learn after all this time about the thread shape and size. I don't believe I've seen this information before. Thanks, revcollector.

I wish I had one of those fancy smancy USB microscope, but my scanner is pretty good. I've rescanned the backs at 3600 dpi so take a closer look. First I always look and feel the paper. These two are definitely thicker and lack the woven look of c's. The ink color seems just a tad brighter also. And while I see other smaller pulp threads of different colors in the big scans, the biggest threads are blue:











I may just send for certs. I'll upload some more silks for evaluation later today.

Alas, they don't appear to lack the woven look of c paper. They look significantly different from the other stamps you posted.

Here are some more to check out...

Bart - would you typically find stray blue threads in non-silk revs? I'm not finding any in my other thinner-paper 50c's. Even my seems to be slam dunk R60 with 1870 cancel below has the same paper. I also have another question. There seems to be no silk versions of the ultramarine color revs, even though some are dated 1870-71. Have you read anything about the paper of the ultras?

Ultramarine's do not come silk. Ultramarine's were printed in 1869; silk paper was 1870 although some ultras were used in 1870 as well. Ultramarine ink was very expensive compared to the ordinary blue ink, so it was not used for very long.
All the stamps posted in the second group appear to be silk papers. The 60 cent paper is not quite the same as that earlier 50 cent. Doing this from scans is also not an exact science, some stamps really must be seen to get an accurate feel about them.
Yes I have seen the kind of threads in that entry of goods in other stamps many times, but it is not in nearly all of them. There were at least three different companies supplying paper for the first issues, and the idea of quality control was just a dream at the time. Inclusions and fibers of all kinds show up pretty regularly, especially since making paper out of wood pulp had just begun to be done on a large scale about this time. The rags that had been used previously were no longer available because of the war, it was needed for bandages, etc.

Southpaw, thanks for sharing your Atlanta finds! What a beautiful haul! Such great graphics when your scans are enlarged. I know very little about the Revenues, but the great designs and engraving are very appealing. My first career as a graphic designer and art director has made me appreciate the images of our "classic" period of US stamp design. Over the past few years I've picked up a nice group of Revenues mostly on old Scott National pages and am looking forward to eventually spending time with my Scott Cat to sort them out. I have yet to attend my first stamp expo, but tomorrow I'm heading to a small monthly gathering near me here in Long Island, NY. Maybe I'll be fortunate to stumble on a cigar box full of prizes for 40 bucks.

I too have learned something (the "the threads are thicker, shorter, and straighter" to be a true silk paper) - I have to imagine there are a lot of falsely ID'd silks out there with the longer threads. Perhaps as you suggest, the treads are not the only quality that is different and that they look more different inperson,but based purely on the scans, I'm surprised the silks rise to the level of difference to warrant a Scott listing.

Silks have been recognized as a distinct paper variety since the nineteenth century.