#1552 Printing Error?

Hi,
I have a US stamp collection that I started back in the mid 70 while I was in junior high school and kept it going up through high school until I graduated. I am doing an inventory on the collection and I came across a sheet of 1552 self stick Christmas stamps. The background on most of the are a gold color, but the stamps near the top of the page and along the right side fade into white. In fact, the whole top row is almost all white. Is this normal? I first thought that the stamps had just faded, but all the other colors are nice and bright.

I am putting the collection up for sale, but I really don't want to let these go if they are a rare error or something. I checked ebay and all the ones that I could see the colors had the gold on all the stamps.

The rest of the collection is mostly mint and used US stamps from the late 20s to mid 70s. Nothing too spectacular as I was a poor junior high student buying stamps with my $2.00/hr I got working at the local cafe.

Thanks for any advice and replies.
Mike

That issue is famous for the issue of the glue used discoloring the stamp and migrating up through the paper. There may be a premium for the area of the sheet where the phenomenon has not yet occured but, I think you can be sure it will. Sorry....No great find. Welcome aboard, by the way.

Thanks for the quick reply! It sounds like the fading is not going to pay for my new Corvette then? LOL

As I've been going through the collection, it is like a trip back into time. I no longer remember where I got most of the stamps, but I have just about everything in Showgard mounts. I was somewhat of a stickler not to have those cheap stamp hinges stuck to the back of my mint stamps...even as a kid in junior high.

It has really brought back the memories of my time collecting stamps. Unfortunately I moved into metal working (hence the screen name) and the stamp collection, I am hoping, will pay for some new tooling that I need.

Mike

Welcome to the forum BrassBuilder.

cgrotha is right on! The gold colored ones are the faulty stamps. The white background ones are correct. You might get a relatively decent price for the white ones, but sorry, no Corvette.

Marty

Opps, I reread your post. Only all white stamps completely free of gold would be of any value. Use the rest for postage.

LOL..the GOLD ones are faulty? I thought they were the normal ones because the color is so even on them.

I thought they looked good in the gold color too....

Learned something today.
Thanks!
Mike