Ceylon S.g. #153 1885 ?????

S.G. #153, 1885 "Five Cents" on 16c Pale violet ??????

worthless ...........................catalog says used postage stamp is valued at $3500.00.But it looks like someone recently put a postal cancel on top of a stamp used for revenue usage.

You can clearly see the original fiscal pen cancellation across the bottom of the stamp. The 'A' or 'V' in bars cancellation doesn't match the original types, which, in any case, were no longer in use at the time this stamp was issued. I agree with Floortrader: a worthless fake.

Thank you.
But according to what I know that this stamp was not used for revenue

First thing I would be worried about is the overprint.

It is most probably watermarked Crown CA not Crown CC.

CC is s.g. 153 cat. Pounds 3000
CA is s.g. 180 cat. Pounds 17

Pagoda

It is not a fiscal cancel, it is a tie marking applied to the stamp to the cover to prove that a stamp was placed on the letter, it was common practice in India & Ceylon at that time,

Pagoda

Please could you explain in more details why the stamp shown is worthless. Doesn't the word postage imply it is eligible for postal use, not only as revenue? Also why do SG and Scott value such stamps as used as well, yet there is no mention it has to be pen cancelled

Thank you all for my participation opinion.

I'm sorry, but I beg to differ. I have. and I've seen, many examples of tie markings on contemporary Indian covers, and none look at all like this. What of the two diagonal lines that don't tie the stamp to the cover?

What, also, of the apparently anomalous cancellation? (I'm going by the illustrations in Robson Lowe.)

I'd still say this was a fiscal usage originally. Someone has tried unsuccessfully to wash off the fiscal markings and apply an anonymous cancellation. It would never get a clear certificate from the RPS or BPA.

The cancel is the large A of Colombo.

The watermark looks like CA which makes it a fairly common stamp and with that thin makes it almost valueless,

Pagoda

That is not the large "A" cancel of Ceylon ,let me post a picture of the different "A" cancel types .

Bottom row ,middle stamp is a copy of the large "A" cancel.

Robson Lowe records the 'A' killer of Colombo as occurring on the Pence issues, which were well before this was issued. However he does record that duplex types combining a letter and the date stamp were occasionally used later. So this usage would be anomalous at least.

However, Robson Lowe shows the 'A' killer as having four bars at top, not three as in the example. I would still conclude that it's a fiscal use, with a faked A cancel added to confuse.

Tony & Floortrader,

neither of you have commented on the watermark, it is a CA not a CC which makes it a 5c. stamp ) I'm being generous)in that condition,

Pagoda