More On Newfoundland #40 5 C Blue Perforate, Not Rouletted

In November I posted a query about five cent dark blue Seal Stamp of Newfoundland in my possession (#40) that is perforated rather than rouletted.

I've now received the verdict of the Vincent Graves Greene foundation, along with an additional comment of J Edward Nixon, the chairman of the Greene foundation.

The stamp itself is genuine, but "probably" fraudulently perforated. However, Nixon writes the following:
"you may be interested to know that we have several of these in our reference collection. All are the same dark blue as your submitted copy. This dark blue shade is darker than the normal blue shade on the rouletted stamps. We do not believe that these are brown or black stamps with colour altered. All of the copies in our possession have a strange variety of perforations including different perforations on opposite sides of the stamp which is clearly not normal for any stamp. All of the copies in our possession have the same cancellation as your submitted stamp. We are not aware of any evidence to suggest that there was a sheet of proofs in dark blue that has been cut apart and privately perforated. Indeed they are very curious items."

So, apparently, the stamp is genuine and the perforation and enigma. It is not the case of some individual mock-perforating a single stamp, but forms part of a group of stamps of the same darker-than-normal colour, all from the same post office, given that they all have the same cancellation – or, someone bought a sheet of the stamps, perforated them, cancelled them, and tried to sell them as a rare variant.

So what do I do with this stamp? I don't collect Newfoundland, but imagine that the specialist collector should have a keen interest in an enigma like this. Does anyone want to propose a trade? I collect the Netherlands and colonies, Luxembourg, and Vatican City. I'll consider any competitive offer. If interested, please e-mail me directly with an offer.

Cheers!

S.

PS I am not configured to receive or send email via this forum, apparently. You can reach me at s, underscore, aitch, eye, jay, em, a, en, s at yahoo dot com (just read out loud and it will make sense; sorry for the paranoia, but I've seen what can happen if you post an email address on a public forum...).

You are not configured to receive email. You can email me and I will make an offer

I am not configured to send email either, apparently. You can reach me at s, underscore, aitch, eye, jay, em, a, en, s at yahoo dot com (just read out loud and it will make sense; sorry for the paranoia, but I've seen what can happen if you post an email address on a public forum...).

Cheers

stevenov21,

thank you very much for following through on this. a couple of thoughts

it is fascinating indeed. in my initial view (though I want to think and research this more) : this falls in the category of some stamps that are altered "fradulently" or shall we say "not officially" for philatelic reasons. for example what comes to mind: there is a Newfoundland "first flight" cover with a non-issued stamp that almost became official and canceled--but was not (the 1930 Sydney - St Pierre - St John flight by the Maritime & Newfoundland Airway coompany). These covers float around and look legit but are not (Walsh/Butts great book refers to them but as "souvenir" items. But folks collect them (I have one).

Your stamp is of course genuine but the alteration is not--so even more collectible, I suppose.

One question : did Graves confirm that the cancel was genuine or not? That seems critical to me because if it was a fake cancel, then it is much more of a souvenir. But if it is a real cancel, then it strikes me as being much more collectible.

Lastly, while I almost always pick up anything Newfoundland, I subjectively would not buy this or trade because if its not listed in Unitrade or NSSC, then it seems to me more of a novelty. But again, very fascinating. Thank you

Steve - tried your code but didn't work. will try again. (it's way too obscure)