116 - How Did I Do?

I recently got this used 116




When I first agreed to purchase it I did not notice that it was centered hard to the right because of the cancel at the right. After discovering the centering I negotiated a lower price, but I'm wondering how much the centering should bug me. It came with a clean cert and the perfs are nice all around and I like the cancel (even though I know it is not scarce)

How can one answer if you dont say what was
paid for the item.
Yes....it is a nice stamp.
If you are happy....that is what matters.

The centering is better than many for this issue, so I wouldn't let it bother you. The color is fresher than many also and is not sulphurized. You did well.

Yes, that is a stamp that would look nice in any collection.

very nice

Being sound with nice eye appeal anything below 40% of catalog value would be doing well on this 116 in my opinion. Very nice stamp and sound too!

The centering for this stamp would likely grade F/VF - you have a rock solid stamp. The cancel appears to be a GE-R 60 (Skinner & Eno page 67) from New York, New York.

Overall, you have a really nice stamp that should retail around $80-$100 with a clean cert.

Brian

How you did depends on how you look at it (as you already know). FWIW Here's how I tend to look at it.

Since the stamp has a clean cert it is a good candidate for using the yellow pages in Scott. Cat for VF is $130, but on yours the design appears to just touch the perfs on the right and is just shy of the perfs at top. So the wide margins at bottom and left are caused by shortfall in the other two directions. For that I am inclined to grade it as a F (70) rather than a F-VF (75). So the cat for this grade is $42.50 (versus $80 for the next higher grade.

What about a premium for the cancel? The cancel is clear and well defined, but you have three clear blades and parts of two others out of an 8-blade rosette. That's not premium. You have just enough townmark to identify New York, but that's an easy call on a very incomplete mark so no premium there. Still, the cancel is clean and does not detract from the overall appearance of the stamp. That's worth something.

All things considered I would rate the book value for your stamp at about $50. How well you did in terms of book depends on how much more or less than $50 you paid for it. But setting price aside, your intended goal is also a factor in telling how well you did. If you were after an example with a great cancel or a pretty face, then you could do better. If you wanted a solid example that you don't have to be ashamed of, then you have that when many do not. If you wanted a stamp to round out a set for an exhibit, then you can show your set, but will want to keep looking for an upgrade.

Based on all this I think you know how you did.

Thanks to all who chimed in (especially Riley for the cancel info).

I ended up paying $35 for it. Normally I want something better centered (but don't require a nosebleed grade), but thought the overall appearance was better than if just the centering was taken into account.

$35 is an excellent price... you did well...

Not to threadcrap, but rather piggyback since the discussion is about Scott 116...

Can anyone identify the red cancel at upper right? This isn't my stamp, so I cannot make a better quality image.

The centering appears solid, but I'm concerned by what may be perf tears at lower right.

Thanks in advance.

Whatever it is, it is sideways. Possibly a UR or UN in the top row (by eagle's neck), 11 6 in second row (possibly a date), and possibly a UN in the bottom row. Red(ish) on orange is difficult.

And yes, apperas to be 2 short tears.

revenuecollector....
red box cancel is a FRENCH receiving postmark.
Similiar to link....different town, of course.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/U-S-116-177...em1c54f27185

Thank you for the information.

It looks like it has had a perf added at lower right rather than just tears.

Possibly two perfs, actually.