Help Identifying Franklin 1 Dollar Stamp (518B?)

I am pretty certain this is the Franklin Scott 518b, but am just hoping someone else can confirm for me as I'm not very good at identifying the stamps. Seeing that the Scott 518b is rather valuable, it's more likely I'm wrong as all the other stamps I think are valuable aren't worth much more than a 25 cents. I took the picture without a flash and it's definitely the dark brown color and not a violet brown. Thanks in advance for any help!

Sherri, here is a link to a thread talking about the differences in the $1 browns.

https://goscf.com/t/40190&SearchTerms=518b

It is possible that your stamp is 518b but keep in mind that centering and condition are paramount, my old 1996 Scott Specialized catalogue says the 518b is valued in the grade of fine to Very fine, your stamp isn't. Notice how the perforations on the right side are into the design of the stamp? Compare your stamp to the stamps pictures in the thread I linked to. Then there is the large tear running down the right side of your stamp... poor condition. Sorry.

Thanks for your reply. I went to the page you suggested and I definitely think it's the brown color and not the violet brown. I realize that it's bent as a tear would mean that it goes through to the back of the stamp, but if for example one sells for $1000 in F or VF condition used, would one sell for $50 or $100 in a not-so-good used condition, or does it fall to pretty much to the value of a $1.00 or $2.00?

Expertizers and professional philatelists may buy "reference" copies of stamps to help with color comparisons, but the stamp would need a certificate. The value would be in the $50 to $100 range with a certificate and maybe $25 without. However, without a direct comparison to a 518b, it is difficult to determine the shade in isolation. If placed with a group of 518, a 518b would stand out as being very brown.

Clark

In general you can get a good idea what the street price will be on a stamp by counting the faults and awarding them points. Your stamp would have three points for the centering (VF no points, F-VF one point, F two points, Avg three points), three points for the crease or six points for the tear and one point for the blunted perfs at left. Totaling those you get either 7 or 10 points for faults. For each point, halve the value. So if it starts at $1000 then 1pt would give $500, 2pts $250, 7pts $7.50 and 10pts $1.00 (rounding off a bit there in the last two). Dealer purchase price will be between 10% and 50% of street price, depending on their stock and customer base.

I agree. Many of those I've seen (518b) seem to be lighter shades of brown, but not always. But there is no trace of "violet" in 518b.

Clark left out that the cost of obtaining a cert. would be in the $30. range + shipping costs, so after certification, the stamp becomes $50./100. minus costs = $20/70. Without a cert. IMO it is rather valueless because of the bad condition, because without a cert., no-one would ever buy it.

Thanks for all of the input! I think I may go ahead and spend the money to get the cert because I've never had that done before and may just do it to just get my feet wet with this whole stamp collecting process. I've blown #30 before on many useless items, so what's another $30. Do any of you recommend a certain place where I can get it certified?

I think Bill Weiss is going to be cheapest, have him ID it first, then issue a cert if called for.

Is Bill Weiss someone that is on here?

Yes, he replied two posts above yours.

His web site is http://www.stampexpertizing.com/

Don

Thanks, I didn't even look at his name in his reply, so if he doesn't respond here, I'll contact him via his website. Thanks again!

I believe the stamp to the right of yours is considered VIOLET BROWN.




Took colour sample from your stamp on the left and from violet brown sample from the right stamp.

No way anyone can tell what shade this stamp is from a scan, they are not sufficiently different and every monitor will show it a bit differently. Someone knowledgeable will have to look at it.

Hey...Just trying to help...wont do that again.

I understand you are trying to help, it's just really not possible to tell on a stamp like this without seeing it in person.

I will go one further. When two stamp images have been made using different cameras or scanners, at different times, as here, you cannot take an image sample from each of them and then do an accurate side-by-side comparison. The side-by-side images are simply meaningless because the image capturing equipment is not the same and/or not calibrated to reproduce the same conditions.

I respect the many contributions Wert has made to this forum, but this is the second instance in which images have been posted which are useless at best, and deceptive at worst, even when viewed using a theoretically perfect monitor. (The other instance was the posting of a false 3D image based on adjacent color differences rather than actual Z-axis feature data, several weeks ago.) To ensure that these threads have accurate information, it's important to think carefully about the scientific accuracy of what you are doing with software and images. It's wonderful to have members here with powerful image analysis software, but let's be careful about what we propose as accurate information.