Mailometer Forgeries?

I'm looking at an ebay auction. here is the photo:



My gut says these are fake. What bothers me is the top and bottom margins. They are not parallel, and one looks curved. I've never seen these issues cut like this, but would like some other opinions.
thanks

Joe

Alub, they look suspect to me also. Why don't you list a link to these, so folks can be warned?

Peter

http://www.ebay.com/itm/U-S-343-347...AOSwLnBX8VKR

Thanks

Joe

Found a couple like that. Most coming from same dealer who I know from auction rooms. He offers 30 day money back and I'm sure you can get certs in a shorter time. Found some others miss cut like that as well.

If you power search in Siegel's you will find some miss cut, not as many.

I think they are legitimate.
Don

If they are legitimate, then why do they have the crazy straight edges?

thanks

Joe

Joe,

You should take some time to learn about the means of production of these stamps - it's interesting. The 343 and 347 were printed flat plate in sheets of 400 subjects each, imperforate, then cut into strips to make linear coils for perforation by Mail-o-meter. Simply stated, the process of cutting large rectangular sheets into narrow strips wasn't perfectly accurate. These variations look within the typical range seen for these stamps. There is detailed information in Steven Belasco's "Guide to United States Vending and Affixing Machine Perforations 1907-1927", available from the United States Stamp Society, http://www.usstamps.org/. The Stamp Smarter site also has some views of the reverse of other examples and you can see cutting variation there, too. See:
http://www.stampsmarter.com/1847_landing.html then look on the right side and click on Private Perforations.

Chris

This seller has sold some questionable V&A lately, but these look good to me.

More than likely these are Mailometer type Ia. Type I was perforated in St. Louis and used commercially. I believe type Ia was perforated in Detroit and supplied to collectors and stamp dealers as "request items" in sheet stock, not coils.

Dealers then cut the sheets in pairs, strips and blocks to suit their needs. Obviously some didn't cut as straight as others.

Check out the article on Mailometers in The United States Specialist from November 2015.

Mailometer type V has now been officially recognized in the newly released Scott's Specialized catalog.

alub, I had a lot of the same questions when I started dabbling recently in Vending and Affixing coils. I had assumed the same requirements would apply for authenticity as for government issued coils (including parallel straight sides). However, as noted above by some of the members here much more experienced than I, the production process was different than for "regular" coils. Also, if you explore the certificate databases (such as APEX or Philatelic Foundation), or look at certified examples sold at auction (if you do the free registration for http://stampauctionnetwork.com, you can do a search for Mailometer in closed [i.e. sold] lots. Many will comment on accompanying certificates), you will find MANY examples have similar irregular sides as those above.

The Belasco book Chris mentions above is well worth the cost. As a general rule, it seems that the regularity of perf hole pacing and the size of the holes correlates more to authenticity for Vending and Affixing coils than other features (at least when it comes to evaluating examples online). The stamps shown above (which I happen to watching on ebay, as well) seem to be well aligned vertically in the perf rows and have consistent spacing between holes. I think they look legit (my disclaimer: I am new at studying V&A stamps and I do not actually own a certified copy of this type).

lukusw---Another good resource for information on private company vending and affixing machine perforations is George P. Howard's book, "The Stamp Machines and Coiled Stamps"

Al,

Thanks for the book reference. I will definitely look in to that!

Someone took the chance they were real. Sold for $183.