Farley Experts

The US Scott's Specialized says that in 1940 the Post Office Department gummed full sheets of 756-65 and 769-70 on demand for customers.

There is no SCV listed. Does anyone have any idea what a set of VF/NH pristine gum singles would be worth? Is there any history of forgeries on these?

This is one of my favorite series and I have an opportunity to buy a set.

I'm not a Farley expert, but Scott does not price the gummed Farley's because they were not issued that way. Most of the dealers I know do not distinguish between them price-wise.

I see no reason to pay extra for having a gummed copy. I'm sure copies with faked gum exist.

I'm sure you already know, but for some of the others -- for 769 and 770, you'd have to at least a full gutter to demonstrate that the stamps are the special printing, as they are otherwise indistinguishable from the original printings.

k

khj, I think that is true for the souvenir sheets. The note in Scott states it for a fact that single sheets can't be distinguished. Only the pairs and blocks showing the gutters can be positively identified.

I am tempted to remove the Farley pages from my album since I am never going to put a single stamp, or a single sheet in the spaces. It makes more sense to collect gutter pairs or cross gutter blocks.

I do have the national parks inperf. Is it your understanding that the imperfs are Farleys?

Yes, #769 and #770 are S/S, and my comment regarding not being able to distinguish from the original printings applies only to S/S.



As a general statement, that is true for the National Parks imperforates (#756-765).

However, some of the original printings (#740-749) are known to exist as imperforate errors. Since PO agreed to gum any Farleys that were sent in, well... you can guess the problems with that. Just like when the PO deliberately issued the Hammarskjold invert.

Any #740-749 imperforates should only be purchased with a certificate, as the original gum is often indistinguishable from the gum on the Farleys. The certification is often based on known history of the item, more than anything else.