Help With What Appears To Be A 79 Unused But I'm Doubtful

I recently acquired a collection that included this stamp cataloged at Scott# 79. There is an all-over grill. I've found a few fakes and such in this collection, so I'm being careful. From what little I understand 79 should be expected to have a lot more perf damage than this stamp has. Some perfs seem odd on the right - easiest to see on the rear scan. Almost looks like some perfs reattached.

I don't know. I'm assuming it is a forgery, but can anyone confirm?

Thanks!

Rick

Something is going on for sure.What do you think about the other pervs lets say at the top? Some one will chime in that knows more than us.

I agree that multiple perfs on the right edge look reattached (#3, 5-9, 11, 13 perfs from the bottom). I'm not an expert in reperfs, but the other edges don't have anything that looks obviously altered to me. However, the grill looks fake to me. I think it's supposed to look like little boxes or pyramids and this looks like pinholes, possibly from a homemade roller used to modify a Sc#65. There are many grill experts here more experienced than me; they can give you a more definitive answer.

Here are 79s to which you can compare your stamp.

http://www.usphila.com/us/stamp/pri...tt-79-page-1

The grill on your stamp doesn't look convincing, as lukus says. What is surprising, however, is the value that real 79s keep even in awful condition.

That's because the condition is a consequence of the grill itself. Genuine examples with all the perfs are few and far between; almost all have damage.

Genuine 65, counterfeit grill.

You might look in the essay section of Scott's catalog.

I think Richard may be referring to this.




It is all too easy when looking at the early grills to forget about the forms of their essays. This grill type is listed in Scott as 79-E15d and is sometimes called an all-over "music box" grill, because of the distinctive nature of the grill points. In this essay the points are essentially pin pricks, and do not have any of the features we normally expect to find in the issued grills. In this example the pin points are "points down" which is opposite the direction of the normal A grill.

Normally these points show very well, but when they have been flattened they are obscured and may be mistaken for the issued grill. When I first saw your picture of the obverse reverse, I immediately thought of this essay.


Here's a comparative closeup of an A-grill on left and the music box essay on the right:




What do you think you have?

Unlike the music box essay, the points on the original stamp are all in line both horizontally and vertically, just as a grill normally is. In the music box the alternate vertical rows are offset in relation to one another. Counterfeit grill seems more likely.

Thanks all for your feedback. I knew I would get some interesting answers. I'm going with 65 forgery as my best guess.