Fake US 144?

Aside from the obvious reperf at right (and possibly top & bottom?), and given the poor scan of the back side of the stamp, is anyone willing to offer an opinion as to the authenticity of this stamp?

nystamps listed this one as "US Stamp # 144 Used $2500". The grill looks fake to me (the columns are not spaced evenly) but is there an easier way to identify it - perhaps by color? I can't tell any of the first 4 printings apart by color even though Scott states otherwise.

Brian

http://www.ebay.com/itm/nystamps-US...111665527525

I'd bid 17 cents on it (current bid price). Have you asked NYSTAMPS for some sort of Authenticity for the value they are assigning?

"Grill" appears sideways?! sorry, fake. Don't touch it, not even as an ungrilled stamp. Too many problems.

Wow... what a great space filler... I'd go $.79 with free shipping...

Start at $0.01 and troll for suckers. This stamp will be bid up by uneducated bidders who think it is a 'bargain' and who will subsequently throw it into their album and pat themselves on the back for being able to ferret out such a 'good deal'. Their family will one day find out the truth when they go to dispose of 'dad's stamp collection'.

A large number of sellers use this approach and unfortunately are often successful. And while I agree that buyer's should be better educated and make better buying decisions the sad truth is that human nature and society are what they are and trolling for suckers will always exist to some extent. But it damages our hobby in the long run; I suggest not supporting sellers who use this approach, even as a space filler.
Don

In my experience, this seller will allow you an extension to have something certified if it looks genuine enough to bid on in the first place. It sounds like this one doesn't meet that first threshold.

Okay I asked NYSTAMPS about expertization and opinion on re-perfs.

ANSWER: hi,
thank you for your interest, this stamp hasn't been expertized, but it doesn't look like its been reperfed since the holes are not the same.

best regards
nystamps

This seller is one of the most consistent sellers of questionable US material (as witnessed by the fact that all you need to do is visit Stamp Smarter and search by seller name). Fake grills, reperfs, misidentified stamps, fake coils, fake imperfs, repaired stamps, etc. Oh, and by the sway, he **never** describes faults. Isn't that amazing? And check his Terms of Sale....