Grill? Did You Say Grill?

Hi,

Being not a collector of US stamps I went through the journey in the Grill's world.

I have some stamps and cover and never looked at them very much. So the other day I was looking at my USA files and found that I had a 3 cents of the 1860's with a Grill. Not the best example but still my only one.

Went through threads about Grills and also this topic on https://stampsmarter.org/learning/I...8Grills.html

When you look at these security features, they are beautiful!

On cover it is a bit of challenge. I had fun during my 3 days covid. Now recovering.

So to conclude:

14 column X 17 row, point down, vertical ridge thus making it a E type.

Salutations Hornet

Nice pic of a grill.! Any special lighting? I have yet to get a decent phot of any of my grills; best were under scope with UV lighting.

Edit: Thanks for proving the link to the Stampsmarter page/s on Grills, to which I visited and now have a much better understanding of grills and how to bring out the points. I never would have thought of using graphite.

John

In the image I only count 11 clear columns, maybe a bit showing 12 - are you sure about the 14?

Hi,

jomic-3139, In fact it is the sun light through the window.

Risny, yes 14, hard to see on this picture but goes to the left part of the U. (bottom)

Hornet

Kool hornet Just plain good ol' sunlight! What kind of camera or scope did you use?

John

I'm not convinced those bumps left by the U are actually grill points. They need to be perfectly aligned with the other points if they are. Also I see no sign of any point above that. Not saying it with certainty, because it is hard to see that area in the image clearly, but I'm not seeing it. I often find that I see more grill points than are actually there. I have to examine carefully for a while to be sure. I have 5 dozen 1867 grills listed in eBay right now. It's an area I enjoy and tend to focus on. So I've fallen in most of the grill pitfalls you can fall into by now.

Hornet785, can you scan just the stamp and post it?

Hi,

May be this picture will help. The nice engraving of this stamp makes it harder.

Moyock13, Yes it would have been nice but direct light doesn't work very well. Also where engraving occurs it is even worse.

Best regards

Hornet

Thanks Hornet. Just a standard scan and upload as close to 300KB as you can get.

Wow, nice angle. Yes I see 14 now.

Graphite on grills = More bad advice

Learn how to use lighting and to a much lesser extent (for grills anyway), watermark fluid. Have seen many stamps practically ruined and all of them are devalued by the graphite. Many collectors want there stamps perfectly clean.

Stamps are only yours for a while. Keep that in mind. Some future collector might appreciate it.

hi Moyock13,

Just made it at 297KB.

Hornet

(Edit picture and scan redone, there was a distorsion in the middle)

Hornet, thank you. Looking for grills on cover is sometimes challenging. One of the tools I use is Retro Reveal, it will sometimes provide a different perspective on the subject grill. In this case it did not.
Thank you for humoring me though, I appreciate it.

The B&W image really brought out the features.

If the graphite was properly applied, it neither "ruins" nor "devalues" the stamp. Except perhaps to you. It is not the best method to use, but it has been done for over 100 years and most collectors don't seem to mind. Very few collectors are going to turn down a nice looking example because of it.