Help With A Spanish Classic Stamp

Hi All,

I am interested in purchasing Edifil #156 from ebay and I have found a seller which seem to have great feedback. I have been using the Edifil and Scott catalog to help determine if it is authentic, but am a little confuse by the Scott description.



Per the Scott's, the originals have 23 white lines and dots in the lower right spandrel. However, I am having some difficulty figuring out exactly what counts as a line in the spandrel.




Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Spainstamps

These are the marks to identify these stamps, according to a book of Spanish philately :



There are 2 types of postmarks with dots/rhombus

Does Scott mean white lines or colored lines?

I count 23 white "spaces" in the lower right spandrel, for what it is worth.

(Hint- not much,as I know nothing particular about classic Spanish stamps )

For these prices, I would think getting a certificate would be wise.

( I note the illustration above is for Type A1, while your stamp is Type A1a-don't know if that would make a difference.)

Hi All,

I just wanted to also add that this stamp comes with a certificate but I am just weary of certificate stamp swaps.



Jkjblue - this was initialing confusion whether Scott's meant white lines or colored lines. However, counting the colored lines, there only appears to be 22 lines, not 23 lines.

jorgesurcl - thanks for the marks to identify these stamps! Can you recommend a book or series of books which list out all of the secret marks for Spanish stamps? I am have heard the Edifil specialized catalog is very help, but I am not sure if it provides these secret marks.

Any thoughts if this is genuine?

Thanks for all your help!

I would like to add that COMEX has always been one of the more trusted certifiers for Spanish stamps, along with GRAUS. I would not have a problem buying an item with a COMEX certificate.

As far as secret marks for early Spanish stamps, you can look for the 3 volume "Tort guide" seen here.


They are kind of pricey (mine cost $100 for the set) and are hard to find, but it's well worth the cost. I use mine all the time. Along with secret marks they go into great detail concerning cancels, and even plating on some issues. They are written in Spanish so I have a hard time understanding much of it because I cannot read Spanish hardly at all, but there are plenty of illustrations.

As far as the Carlist stamps go, I don't really collect them so I can't comment on them. I have 10 copies of that stamp that I got in collections here and there, but all of mine are probably the reprints or forgeries.

spain_1850 - thanks for the advice!

As for the 'Guía del coleccionista de sellos de correos de España', can you recommend a place to find them? They are definitely PRICEY, and if you got all three for $100, then I congratulate you on an amazing deal.

Thanks

Just to say that, aside the above shown 1950 print of the "Guia del Coleccionista de Sellos de España", known as "la guia Tort", as it was written by the Catalan philatelist Antoni Tort Nicolau; there's a second ca 1976 print (facsimile) which is cheaper and it should be easier to find.

Cursus - I forgot about the reprints, great idea!

Spanish Stamps - I got mine on ebay about 9 years ago. I haven't noticed any since, but I haven't really looked either. I also seem to recall a set being sold on the APS website soon after I got mine.

spain_1850, can you post a scan of a couple of pages in the books?

Thanks in advance.

Here are 3 representative pages from vol. I, which only covers the issues of 1850-54.


This first page shows the description of secret marks for the issues of 1854.


Here is a sample page showing the detail the book goes towith regards to plate flaws on the 6c issue of 1854. There are literally dozens of pages like this


This page shows some of the cancellations known to exist on the issue.

There are 400 pages in vol. I and the other 2 volumes are just as large and comprehensive.

My problem is I can't read Spanish very well, so I'm probably missing alot of information. Lucky for me there are MANY illustrations.

spain_1850, thanks for the insight. The books looks impresive.

Hi All,

Just received the "la guia Tort" set, and I have to say these are incredibly helpful. Not sure how I ever collected Spanish classics without them.



Thanks

Congratulations, you are going to love those books. I keep mine hndy and refer to them all the time, especially for cancel identification.

Just wondering, did you find an original set, or are they the reprinted set?

I think he's got the original set. I've a "true reprint" and it looks different.

Spain_1950 - Cursus is correct. I was able to find an original set from an antique book store. Unfortunately, I did not get as good of a deal as you, but I believe these books are worth the investment.