Original, Faded, Or Lightened? (Specimen Overprint)

Didn't see it until I scanned it in.

276S

You're a man of few words.

An interesting specimen.

In my opinion and using only an image, removed cancel.
Don

Well, someone was trying at least to remove it!


Peter

I should know better than to play around in the US Classic section, but, that's not a cancel, is it?

Nope.


Bingo.

rlsny says 276S, yes specifically it is a 276SE.
Diagonal "Specimen" overprint, possibly lightened, but they frequently come light anyway.
Here are a couple of examples from Siegel Power Search. I can't find a $1, but the entire series can have the overprint horizontal, vertical, or diagonal.

The general over-all condition (surface stuffs, scruffy perfs, etc.) fooled me, you would think that specimen stamps would not have seen such a hard life.
I didn't lookup the CV, would someone have tried to make a specimen look like a 276?
Don

That second $5 specimen is spectacular.

I will agree with the words borrowed here from Cjd


I had NO idea what you were talking about. Gentle advice. Why not use a few more keystrokes and just say "What does everyone think of the light *specimen* stamped across the upper left corner?" The pronoun "it" had no actual antecedent to refer back to. The fact that several responders including myself were confused .. just saying.

Probably not. If they could remove the overprint without affecting the gum, then maybe.

276 $600 OG, $250 NG, $95 used
versus $325 for 276S

A 278S ($5) more likely, at $400 CV for the specimen versus 278 used at $600 and mint much more.

The one cent official specimens are the ones you really need to watch out for. The O1S and O10S specimen overprints are about $30 each, but genuine used cancelled O1 and O10 are CV $200 and $550 respectively. I've seen some very good, and some laughable "cancellations" on the specimen overprints to make them look like regular "used" stamps.

Me to, I just moved on.

Phil Bansner has had a number of Trans-Mississippi stamps with the same specimen overprint for sale for years. Most have a PF certificate. It is really difficult to see the overprint on most of them. Below is an example:

This is very true, and very good advice. Back in the day 100 years ago or more, collectors didn't like the official specimens, which is why some are very scarce today. So faking cancels on them is an old story.

Thanks all. Sorry for being mysterious. Just having a little fun with you. I thought this was an unused stamp at first. I scanned it, saw a smudge and thought: oh nuts - used. But I caught a part of a letter and then Specimen appeared. The "reveal" image shows the word more clearly.

I had a feeling it might be naturally light. I couldn't see how they could lighten it without lightening the black of the design.

I think I have my answer. Now if only it was a type II - Cat is 10x higher.

Levity Understood. No disrespect intended.

Some of us come with a broader point of view, in regards to broadcast of Philatelic Knowledge.

If the Thread title had been something like "Faded SPECIMEN on a 276SE"
then the knowledge would have been searchable.
It is an interesting observation, worthy of broadcast.

Good threads like these need to be preserved for scholarship.