What's Wrong With This Stamp?

Some stamp sellers will often stretch the truth (or at least try to obscure it) in an attempt to get the best possible price. Then, there's outright lying/deception. Then, there's just ignorance by the seller. Bottom line -- the buyer has to learn to protect himself/herself.

Motivated by the "Would you buy this USA #1" thread https://goscf.com/t/7430, I thought I'd start a thread, asking a simple question: What's wrong with this stamp? Others are free to join in posting new pics, once the original poster of the pic reveals the correct answer.

Basically, I will show a picture of a stamp, and a typical auction title one might see. Yet, there is something wrong with the stamp that should make it retail for less than 10% of catalog. For example, it might be altered, it might be restored, it might be a fake...

Here's the first one:

US #460, F MNH, fresh solid color, clean and sound!

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS STAMP?

Awesome. What a great idea for a thread!

By the way, I don't know the answer, but I'm betting on the upper right corner?

Kirk

Good eye, Kirk! There is a bent perf in the upper right corner. However, that would not drop the retail value to under 10% of catalog. I'm looking for something more sinister.

Would it be re-perfed?
If line perforated, the LHS should line up the RHS which it does not.

It's doesn't seem to be very well centered either

Could someone give me the height of the stamp printed image please?

Very good, Rod!

What's wrong with the stamp? It has probably been re-perforated!

The general rule of thumb for US flat plate sheet stamps of that era (does NOT apply to coil stamps), is that the perforations on opposite sides should roughly line up (allow 1/4 perf variation at various points due to pin damage). In the picture below, I have extended various frame lines of the stamp. You can see the top and bottom perfs line up fairly well. While the right and left perfs are pretty consistently off by almost 1/2 perf. Even though the perforation gauge is the same, they are consistently off-alignment.




Although we cannot prove it without physically examining the stamp, it's a strong possibility that this stamp was re-perforated! While not guaranteed fool-proof (only a general rule), it's a simple test that might help you from some unpleasant surprises if you ever try to get such a stamp certified!

By the way, for coil stamps it may or may not line up -- but more often than not, it does NOT line up. That's how you get suspicious that a coil might have been faked from a trimmed sheet stamp!

Thanks for participating, KirkS, rod222, and Stampdog!

Wow, it's like being back in school!! WOO HOO

Good stuff, k. Thanks. I counted perfs all around, but I didn't line them up.

Sorry, that info I do not have, as I never received the stamp. Although I won the auction item under 5% of catalog, the seller was removed for fraud before I paid. The fraud was not for this stamp, but several other items they were trying to sell. I bid on the stamp for the sake of evidence, realizing that the seller wasn't going to last long. Had it been real, I think the catalog is $850 (of course, that is for VF centering).

OK, Rod got the first one pretty quick. So here's a much tougher one, so I can go get dinner! This one is not at all obvious. Sorry for the poor pic quality, it's not mine -- the picture and explanation are from another source. (The auction descriptions are always fictional and made up by me.)


US #118, F used copy of a classic favorite, with fancy cancel. Minor fault along the bottom edge.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS STAMP?

Regarding the first quiz, I would still like (if anyone can) the height of the printed image of the dollar stamp, if I had that, I can work out the perforation by math, and to me the perf shown is dicky, it appears to me to be one tooth short.

"The tooth, the hole tooth and nothing but the tooth!" --Anon.

There was an article I read, about digitally checking stamps,
by cutting the image in half and lining up the perfs by matching the two halfs.
I am a dunce as far as image manipulation so I never really conquered that one.

Note: there are existing NZ and Australian states that have differing perforations on each of the four sides of the stamp.

Yes, that is correct, and there are variations to that trick. It basically involves comparing the regularity of the perforations on opposite sides. Well, now I just gave the answer to a future stamp pic.

Rod222, regarding the dimensions. I don't have a #460 with me. But I'm pretty sure the vertical height of the frame is 22mm, give or take 1/4mm. It's suppose to be perf 10. I admit, I did not try to measure the perf. Seeing the perfs out of alignment was enough for me to chalk in the re-perf column.

The "minor fault along the bottom" looks like it has been repaired by adding a new margin from another stamp. Also possibly further repair on bottom right corner.

15c quiz.
A tough one, and toggling between that example and my mint copy,
the colour looks good, the perfs seem passable.
Given the fact the image is so poor, I would then assume it has nothing to do with the stamp itself.

What is left? the fancy cancel.

Perhaps more knowledgeable collectors than I would recognise that
fancy cancel as either a fake, or somehow being alien on this issue?
I am guessing the fancy cancel has something to do with it.