Need Help Identifying My Washington 3c

Hi Tom and welcome to the forum!

The cancel on your stamp G-1 is a clover. I did not not see a good match in my Skinner-Eno book but there are way more than the ~30 illustrated.

Your stamp G-2 appars to be an early full strike of a New York City cancel. Skinner identified it as ST-6P45 (star, six-pointed, #45). A hi-res scan front AND back will help us get a better idea whether this is not a faked cancel.

Your stamp F-2 has an interesting double strike of a "large Boston PAID" cancel.

Thank you so much Kurt!! Love learning in depth about philately, especially about the cancellations! Will certainly have to pick up the "Skinner-Eno" book. Also, is the st-6p45 cancellation often faked? If this cancellation is authentic, would it increase the value of the stamp?


Thanks again everybody,

Tom

Kurt, I will upload a high resolution of stamp G-2. Both back and front when I get home!

Tom

The short answers are:

• Yes, a fancy cancel will increase the market value of a stamp.
• Yes, fancy cancels are often faked.

As for Dr. Skinner's book, until you decide to pick up a "real" copy, the US Philatelic Classics Society has an electronic version available online here:
http://www.uspcs.org/resource-cente...ic-library/3.

Speaking for myself (but yes, I am a Society member), please make complete use of the online resources offered. If you download any of the pdfs, please consider making a small donation. Better still, become a member.

Thanks again Kurt!

It would make sense, that a fancy cancel that would increase the market value of a stamp, would be forged on a stamp with nearly perfect centering.


Working on uploading the larger scans, unfortunately I won't be back home until tomorrow or the following day.

Best,

Tom

Hello all!

Here is a finer upload of the fancy cancellation. I as well included a few scans of an awesome encased postage stamp circa 1800s. It's a shame the back of the stamp is in such poor condition. I'm unable to make out which stamp is even in there!

Now that is a tragedy. Shame to see a scarce item like that in that condition. Casing looks to be in very good condition, hard to stomach what someone did to it.

I agree. . For $90 I couldn't pass it up though.

You think if I hinged one of the 3c Washingtons to the back of the encasement it would increase in value? (See: satire)

-Tom