Austria Red Mercury P3

I got to Austria in the World collection and there are about 8 Mercury stamps - NO, not all red - and started reading up. This has some of the indications of the real deal, but even after going through the 2-3 past threads on here, I thought I would seek out some educated opinions.

This is not my area so please accept for comments as just observations.

It looks badly printed IMO and is not red but appears to be rose on my screen.
I understand that all red Mercury stamps are not a type I which your appears to be (no bar on G).
It could be a reprint as it does look as though it was used.
Certification would be recommended if you thought it was worth it.

Good luck.

Hello AnthonyUK - Thank you for taking the time to comment. Not being a collector, I'm basically starting from scratch and trying to learn. At this point in time I have obtained, acquired and inherited limited reference material for doing research. The forum had been a great help but I will be gathering reference material this weedkend to aid and abet in the research.

What I've read about the Red, in a Scott's from the 70s, is that the original issues were "pale colors and poorly printed" and Scott's had listings for p1-p4. The p3 was a 'rose' color and the p4 was 'scarlet'. I must admit that I've found few, if any, of the p4 in more recent reference material - everything seems to be just "Red Mercury". However, all I can do is look and try to discover. Thank you for the wish of luck. I have a feeling I will need lots and of the 'good' variety, as well.

It is a forgery .

floortrader - Okay, thanks.

There are many different forgeries of these Mercury stamps. I have seen better and worse examples than yours :-)

ClassicalStamps - Thanks. Do you happen to know where I can find any good information on the forgeries? Sort of like 'floortrader' before. Saying 'it is a forgery' is like telling a blindfolded man 'the sky is blue'.

If you haven't run across this exhibit yet in your travels, take a look at it. The third page has a good explanation of the types, with images.

http://www.austrianphilately.com/np...st/index.htm

Cjd - Thank you, very much. No, I had not found that website or the third page yet. I can now put to rest the idea of all but the yellow being real. Not sure what I will do about it since details are nearly impossible to see on that one. I'll figure something out, though. You having pointed a direction was a great help. Somehow, I've never done well with a "It is ....." without a 'why' to back it up. Oh well.

Considering that the yellow was used on the outside of a bundle of newspapers, rather than on a single newspaper, there aren't many survivors, so the odds are not good for your yellow, but I understand why you'd want to check. I've had some luck with other Austrian yellows by scanning and then playing with the color/contrast/gamma/etc. in a photo manipulation program. Worth a try?

Cjd - No, I don't hold much hope for the yellow, but really need to make sure. I've got a couple of programs that are pretty good for the manipulation that I can use. I've never been one to want to play with them that much, not even the photos I take. It's bad enough that the camera does it all nowadays without all the photoshopping, too. Why even bother with a camera, if you want to do that. Thank you for the suggestion. Hmmm, ran out of molasses cookies, so maybe after making some more I'll see about getting to it.

Cjd - I got to the color manipulation on the yellow - deep red is much easier to work with. Comparing it to the page 3 description of the factors indication a real Mercury, it comes in at about 95% of IIC. Dots to the left, no crossbar, color patches, etc. However, it would have to have been a springer, so I figure that takes off another 50%. I really think that closes these, or at least puts them on a far back burner, for the time being. Thank you again for the suggestion - I've added the process to the list of things to remember/try.

Sorry for the delay , was traveling and got banged up a little , things don't heal as fast now that I am 65 .My advice --do not try to stand and out punch a 25 year old MMA fighter in the cage ,sorry I did .Should of took him to the ground and choked the Kid out and got it over within two minutes .------But back to the Austrian Newspaper stamp ------There are a lot of reprints and lots of different forgeries so it would take too long to go into all the details plus many charististics you need the actual stamp in front of you to be sure which type it is .Yours is one of the forgeries -----here is my reference source with some reprints .

floortrader - Now, now, you gotta remember that one never fights fai ..... ah, that one always uses the advantages that come with age and learning over the years when they are up against a kid.

Thank you for the reference/resource. Cjd sent me a link (a few posts up) that you might want to save. It is a very good reference/resource, too, and has other topics that might be of use.

Go get a good massage! :-)