Misperfed Stamps

Do misperfed stamps like these have any premium value or does it depend upon whether the stamp itself is valuable ?

There is a fine line between a poorly centered stamp and a collectible perforation shift.

A rough rule that some collectors use is 10% perf shift, before they will start paying a slight premium to buy the stamp. There are some collectors who set the bar at 5% shift. How they can tell the difference by eyeball, don't know. I've never seen them pull out a ruler and calculator. I've only seen them do that for miscut plate numbers on the early coils and booklet panes.

As for me, I usually keep anything in which I can clearly see the complete frame line of the adjacent stamp. In your scan, that would be everything except the 2nd stamp. However, in dealer sales cards, I never see the small shifts shown in your scan, usually only larger shifts. So the items you showed (a lot like mine -- yeah, it's always someone else who finds the major shifts!) will unlikely have any premium attached. But that is just my opinion. Let the buyer decide.

The most desirable shifts, obviously, are those in which the denomination or important part of the stamp design gets perfed off to the "other side".

Thanks for posting your scans!

k

Thanks khj for your reply. Here's another one I've had for quite a while. I had put my stamps on hold while I played with coins. I'm starting to get into stamps again-ergo all my questions. Anyway besides the perf question on this one, I'm befuddled with the color. I've researched and depending on the color which could be dull violet, violet, blackish violet, dark violet or blackish purple the stamp could be # 140, 151, 162, 173 or 198 with a catalog value between $125 and $8500. The #140 has a grill that I can't see so I guess that one is out. How do you determine true color on a faded stamp?

Welcome back to stamp collecting, ellasguy! You were missed!

If you have a Scott US Specialized catalog and are not already using the identifier, you may find the IDENTIFIER OF DEFINITIVE ISSUES -- ARRANGED BY TYPE NUMBERS near the front to be very useful for these type of stamps.

I am very bad with colors, so I can't help you too much with color shades. I can tell you that color ID of faded copies is very unreliable and the expertizers will usually not accept it for certification.

Regarding the stamp you have, since you say it has no grill, then I would suggest first doing a basic paper ID:

151 and 162 are on white wove paper.
173 is on hard (very) white paper.
198 is on soft porous paper.

As far as color, well, faded copy...

By the way, just in case you didn't notice, the 18c Washington you showed earlier (top stamp in first pic) is a plate number coil.

k

Thanks khj, I knew that. I thought the perf thing might make it more appealing. My 2007 Specialized has a used value for that plate # at $5. I'm sure the perfs can help that.