US Scott 35 Real Or Fake?

I have a copy of what looks like Scott #35. I thought it was fake at first, because the paper is exceedingly white, see stamp to the right (a normal copy is to the left for comparison):



If it is a fake, the printing looks amazingly well done. Here are closeups of the front and back:





What do people think?

Did someone bleach this to a bright white? Or did they all start this white, and most have degraded?

How do you think that would affect the value?

thanks

Joe

I can't speak on whether or not it's re-perfed but I'm often quite surprised at the results of removing 100 years worth of dirt and gunk with a good bath.

I see no reason to believe that both are not genuine. The one on the right could have belonged to someone who owned "The Dealer's Guide to the Chemical Restoration of Postage Stamps." Light exposure over time can also change the appearance of stamp paper from that era.

Its probably bleached. Small chance it was printed on a batch of better quality low rag content paper than the usual for the period, but most likely it was bleached.

Understand that one of the things that makes the 1857 issue stamps have impressions typically not as nice as their 1851 issue counterparts, is the poor quality high rag content paper used coincident with the 1857 issue stamps. This really made these stamps look bad by comparison. It also makes them harder to plate, which is why I haven't fooled with the 1857-issue as much with regard to plating.

I don't see anything off-hand that screams fake ... appears ok in that regard.

value wise - off-center stamp with the perfs cutting the design, so its not a premium stamp to start with.

Bleaching ... lets just say they sell for high premiums at auction all the time since the paper is so white and pretty... as long as the base color of the stamp isn't substantially altered. If it is, then its a badly damaged stamp. What I just stated is my personal observation about how the market often seems to treat bleached stamps. If its a good non-invasive job, it can add value, otherwise you have a badly damaged stamp. I'm not endorsing or judging this at all, I'm just making an observation of what I see all the time.

Thanks to all for their thoughts,

Joe

http://www.philaworld.ch/buecher/De...20stamps.pdf


dudley here is a copy