Grilled Stamps - Are They Always Easy To Recognize?

I know with many of the early issues, grills are involved. I even have a number of stamps with the grills. Determining the size of the grills is not easy. But is it always easy to recognize whether the stamp has a grill? What is the best way to recognize and then measure the size of the grills?

BobbyT

Bobby, that is a very good basic question. Have you considered searching this forum - answers are plentiful. Another, even better way is to go to www.stampsmarter.com . It has tons of information:

stampsmarter.org/learning/ID_1867_1868Grills.html



Peter

I use high quality scans (both dry and in fluid) of the stamp front and back. But some grills are very light/faint and detection may require an oblique lighting source, I target an angle of 43.987 degrees (just kidding!). There are some faintly grilled stamps that I have given up on counting and just assume the grill type.
Don

Peter, thanks for your suggestion. How does one search this site? When I have used the search tab, I always seem to come up with outside references rather than posts on this forum. Studebaker, your link has been helpful on other topics so probably will be on this one as well.

Studebaker, do you know Paul Wichterman? He is big into refurbishing Studebakers in the Philadelphia area.

Bobby T, When you search (using the google search) You'll get a few off-site hits, just keep scrolling down until you start seeing SCF logos.

Well I'll be dipped! Sounds like old 51studebaker watches Vice Grip Garage on YouTube. That's fine. I don't know. Probably not.

Ha! I watch him all the time.

Linus

Not only is it sometimes difficult to determine the measurements of a grill, but sometimes it can be hard to be sure if one is present at all.

The type G grill of the 1869 issue is known to have been issued without grill on rare occasions, but even when present is very often faint and easily "ironed out" after wetting. Many collectors think they have one of those rarities when they are unable to see a grill on a used stamp which was supposed to have one. But if such a stamp is missing its original gum then no authority will issue a certificate verifying that the stamp was issued ungrilled.
The problem among the grilled Banknote issues is even worse, since the same stamp designs were issued with and without grill AT THE SAME TIME. I have a few pairs of National Bank Note Co. issues in which the stamps are with and without grill attached side by side.

So yes, grills can be tricky even when you have been at it a while.

The most notoriously difficult grills to see are H grills on the 1870 banknotes. It is not unusual to see a stamp sell on a high end auction house with only a few grill points visible.