Australia 2d - Red Spots

Hi,

Do you know if it is a color error or a damage?

Back side is normal.

Thank you!

To me, and I am no expert at all, it looks like a red coloured stamp or piece of paper was stuck to the front of this one and some coloured ink bits transferred over to this stamp because of some chemical reaction.

I am not sure if you can soak these in water safely or not, but if you are able to perhaps that would help. It might clean it up a bit. Just a possibility.

Something like that happens of the backs of stamps sometimes when a sheet or pane of stamps, fresh off the printing plate with the ink not completely dry, has another sheet, also just coming off the presses, laid on top of it. called offset printing.

I have never seen a blue "brisbane" CDS before either.

Hi,

Puzzler : I will not put this stamp in a solution... :) This stamp is probably in the Jr Scott since 80 or more years. I will try to look on with a microscope.


Rod222 : I think it is write giste... probably for register. There is no blue canceled like that?

Thank you!

I think I can see numbers and letters
in red when the image is not enlarged.

Maybe someone has tried to remove a pen cancel!

cdnum, yes, it is a registration cancel,
there may indeed be a blue ink canceller, but I have never met with one yet.

The red may be a smudge from the Red wax crayon employed when the article
was crossed.

As in all cases with a poor scan, we can only guess.

cdnum,
I did not mean to put the stamp in a chemical solution but only slightly warm water from the faucet. This would clean any dirt off and perhaps the red marks were dirt or other small pieces of paper still attached to the stamp.

I took your image and turned it on it's side and darkened the exposure to get the following image.



The stamp seems dirty and this may be just dirt but also could be mould (mold) otherwise known as rust or toning. I am not sure as the picture is not a scan so it is harder to tell. Or 3D.

However, even if it is, the red marks can be seen from this angle to be some kind of circular cancel but very hard to read.

So, registered cancels are sometimes red, yes, you are correct, but the state of this cancel (cannot read) and the change of colour of the other cancel (black to blue) makes me think that some chemical reaction has happened to this stamp before now.

You have a good guess at the fact that other cancels are sometimes blue but not like this. They would be a darker blue, not washed out like this, and blue is not used for a postmark in this era of stamps.

Perhaps someone was trying to wash the red cancel off. Perhaps the red cancel was a fiscal cancel of some sort and this would have lowered the value of the stamp a lot so there was an attempt to clean this off of he stamp but whatever it was that they tried to use reacted with the other cancel and perhaps the stamp also.

Do you have a photo of the back of the stamp? And a photo of the front showing the stamp laying upon a dark surface, with all the perforations showing please?

Please take the above statements with kind consideration. They are meant as guesses at to what possibly has happened to the stamp, not as fact. I am not expert at all on the Kangaroos (nor any stamp) but I have seen (and purchased) stamps that have been chemically altered for some reason or by accident. Colours change. Inks can react to different chemicals or even oxidize sometimes.

The ideal way is to examine the stamp itself, not a scan or photo, as then one can see things when light is reflected at different angles, and shadows tell a story also, but it needs to be taken as a whole not just a flat scan or photo.

Ah, yes, now that I read Rod's post about the red wax crayon used to put a cross on the cover I looked again and see a wide line crossing the stamp also from top to bottom of my turned photo. Good eye Rod, I missed that at first.

I see what I think I am going to see sometimes, not what is really there. That is why having the stamp in person is so important.

I look at cancels sometimes and miss the imperfections of the stamp's paper (creases, bumps, rips, cuts) sometimes. This time I missed the cancel and saw the stamp, or what I wanted to see, the remainder of the stamp.

Perhaps that was the idea. they tried to wash off the crayon mark which devalued the stamp.

There are at least three colour shades the 2d has and perhaps a Queensland (Brisbane) postmark is more expensive than others. The stamp, what I can see of it looks to be well centered, so this would make it a desirable item exempt for the crayon mark.

Hi,

I add a picture... There is a number or code at right... maybe it is a crayon (wax...)

Thank you!

Hi,
Sorry to take so long to replay.

I cannot see clearly the numbers or characters. Perhaps it is my eyes (not so good) but I have adjusted the colours and exposure and zoom and still it does not show clearly. These may be catalogue numbers of whomever had the stamp before now from whichever catalogue they used at the time. They may be something else.

It is very hard to tell details from a photo usually, unless you are a photographer well versed in his art (which I am not). That is why we stamp collectors rely so much on scanners and scanning at high resolutions to zoom in on important details to determine things.

Good eyes, good light and a good magnifier are also used of course. Not everyone has access to a scanner. There are also some cheap microscopes available that are electronic and plug in to the USB port on computers.

I think it would be interesting to show your stamp to someone who has lots of experience with this era of Australian stamps and see what opinion they might have. In person if possible.

Blue CDSs do turn up from time to time, and from Queensland, too:

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=161

The red could certainly be from a red crayon, used to mark registration lines. As I recall, the registration rate was 2½d at one point, so this 2d 'Roo could have been used to make up that rate.

I'd rather doubt the stamp has been subjected to any chemical treatment, simply because the colour of the basic stamp seems to have remained fairly true. Wouldn't the stamp colour have been affected as well?

Yes, I had thought of that and then saw an indigo coloured 2d kangaroo on ebay and thought hmmm. My lack of knowledge of inks and chemicals is showing.

Thank you for clarifying things.

By the way, from what year to which year does this new fangled (to me) grading system cover? I just use the G, F, VF system without the +'s or superb ratings.

Is that system only for really old stamps?

I think you might have seen the 2½d 'Roo

Yes, I think I didn't take the time to read the titles closely enough. Strange what conclusions I can arrive at from slightly incorrect data.

Thank you Tony.