Russia Scott 46 Quality Control

Both are horizontally laid paper, with thunderbolts, so I think they are Scott #46. The right example looks like the correct color and sharpness. That left one, though, is a few cards short of a deck. How many frame breaks can you have?

On the left stamp, it looks like there are blotches of ink loss scattered throughout the stamp, not just broken frame lines.

Can you examine the surface of the stamp with a magnifier? I can't help but wonder if the stamp has suffered damage from a gummed stamp that was lightly stuck on top of it. When the gummed stamp on top was pulled off, the gum took little bits of the orange ink with it. I noticed that the left stamp appears to have paper adhesion on the back as well.

From an oblique angle under magnification, surface color is very bright and flaky. It looks like little pieces could easily fall off. I don't see any evidence that the paper just underneath the color is damaged, just the color pulled off. Not quite sure.

A great majority of my stamps have paper adhesion due to the "lick and stick" style used by Grandma or Great-Grandma. I don't usually soak off the paper unless I have to in order to see a specific feature.

Anyway, an interesting low-value item with a spot in my collection.

Interesting.

Thanks a lot for checking!