Nice Ebay Bargain?

Check out the image below from a recent ebay auction. This appears to be a very nice pair of the Edward experimental coils (#90xxxiv). This would be valued at $3,000 and sold with only one bid for $99.99! I was tempted by this one myself but it is not my area of specialty, money is tight at the moment, and the stamp would certainly need to be expertised to prove that it is not a forgery made from the normal imperforate version of this stamp.

Still, this is potentially quite the coo for an Edward or Canadian coil specialist. For those that are interested, the auction number is 311257568966. The gum side shows a distinct hinge.

looks like TYPE II...Still, something funny about the side perforations or lack of..

90a imperf pair is only worth $60.00...Maybe some one tried to make it look more expensive like a 90xxx or 90iv...?

Exactly wert. This is why I mention that it would need to be expertised. The sides look good to me though. The stamp can always be returned per ebay rules if it turned out to be a fake. I would have taken a chance on this one if disposable income was more plentiful at the moment. I wonder how high a second bid would have needed to be to win it. After all, the winner could have bid only the starting bid (which was $99.99) or he/she could have bid $500. The seller described it incorrectly and gave no clue as to its potential value.

I don't know about the $3000 value but how is it that someone who seems to know about stamps has sold this very nice set for $99?

The $3,000 catalogue value I mentioned is from Unitrade 2015 for the 90xxxiv pair in F-VF condition and no NH factor. Although the catalogue does not explain these experimental coils very well, this pair is definitely 90xxxiv unless it is faked.

My only guess on why a reputable dealer would let this go so cheaply is that it may be very difficult to get this unusual issue expertised. Since the original experimental coils were actually made from the same imperforate stamps issued to the public, it might be very hard or even impossible to distinguish these from a good fake.

I would be interested to see if anyone specialising in this area has any opinions on how fakes can be recognized for this issue.

Here is another Scott 90xxxiv.



- stamporator -

There is definitely a difference in the way the example & the ebay one are cut particularly on the top.

Lot sold!? Just looked at it. Was there no item description? If not - it cannot be returned

They both look fake to me. Would not risk buying these. The top triangle in the middle shows hairs on the first one and lines look croooked on both.

Here is what I was seeing...The angle of the perforation on top of the stamps.


THIS IS THE STAMP ON ebay...66.19 DEGREES


THIS IS A REAL PAIR OF THE SAME STAMP...57.99 DEGREES


SOUNDS REAL FISHY TO ME

The question that I have is.. How were the original ones cut?

I do not believe that they had a machine made to automatically cut the 'triangles', as this was a test to make coils. So the original ones were most likely cut by hand with scissors.

In Wert's last post, which included the scan of Type II (believed to be taken from the 2015 Unitrade catalogue), you can see that the triangles are different. The one at the top left is smaller than the middle top. It is the same with the other two (2)examples in the catalogue.

The only way these can be authenticated is to determine the age of the cutting.

- stamporator -

This seems like a difficult stamp to collect. I'm going to shy away from these, even though they are in my area of interest. Thanks to all for the great photos and analysis.

This is an item that I personally wouldn't touch without a good certificate regardless of the price. Or at least, buying it from a reputable dealer who will let me return it if the cert comes back bad.

Agreed that the triangle cutouts seem to be different across these experiments, so measuring these would be a difficult way to authentic them. Readers should note that I did ask the seller about having additional time to have these stamp authenticated for possible return. The seller replied that there was no problem with this request.

It should also be noted that faked stamps are always returnable through ebay's policy even if they are not described in detail or even correctly. My understanding is that faked or facsimile items cannot be sold on ebay unless they are specifically identified as such. Of course this certainly does not prevent this from happening and it is up to the buyer to beware.

I wouldn't depend on ebay's return policy. Generally, the item has to be returned in 14 days, too little time to get an expert opinion.

opinions?? #40 dark magenta perf 11 1/2 x 12 with re-entry