Pr15 Or Pr39??

I have this 10c unused Periodical stamp that I need to distinguish between the PR15 "thin hard paper" and PR39 "hard white paper". It appears to be white, and not so thin (but is NOT the later soft paper), so thinking it could be the special printing, PR39. Besides the paper quality, is there any way to distinguish the regular printing vs. the special printing? The catalog lists gray black for both stamps, so the color doesn't necessarily seem to be a differentiator.





Thanks, Dave

Dave....
The stamps looks to be "soft" paper...
Most soft papers have the "unpunched" perfs as
shown here on the right.
My opinion....

Kevin - thanks for the input. I was thinking that the paper would be like the Banknotes for Continental vs. American for the hard vs. soft, so concluded by that comparison that this isn't soft, since it IS like the Continental hard, and not like the American soft. I guess I could be wrong. Perhaps the later Periodical soft paper is a thinner soft paper than the American Banknote paper? This 10c Periodical isn't as thick/mottled as the Banknote soft papers are.

http://www.theswedishtiger.com/xnews3.htm

For what it's worth, the two stamps are described here as "black" (PR15)and "gray black" (PR39.)

KGB - Thanks for the reference. My reference for the color is the Scott specialized catalog, which for PR15 has a black, gray black and greenish black, and for the PR39 has gray black. To me, this appears to be gray black, so since both PR15 and PR39 have a gray black, it's not a differentiator. However, if this is really black, and not gray black, then it is either PR15 or the later soft paper issue. Looking at the Swedish Tiger page, there is a range of black on the examples shown, at least one of which I would consider to be gray black. I really don't think this is a soft paper. I guess I could send it off for an expert opinion...

Correctly identifying the 1875 Newspaper Special Printings (except those on ribbed paper, which are easy) is not a simple job, and even "experts" disagree. You are right that the "gray black" color designation is pretty useless in identifying the SP as the regular 1875 issue is also found that way. One way that some experts think is useful is that the paper of the SP tends to be whiter AND more translucent than the regular issue. You can generally only detect the "whiter" paper under UV light, but the translucency is easier to detect. A specialist I just happened to speak to today claims that using a more-expensive and better grade UV light, he can see that the black SPs paper looks a bit "bluish" - which of course contradicts the "whiter" beliefs of most specialists. Bottom line - it ain't simple....... and even professional expertizers will not agree on a given specimen being an SP or not.

I'm glad not to be the only one challenged by these! I now understand there are no design differences - only paper and possible slight color variance. Thanks, Bill, for your input.