Silks And The Latest Kelleher Auction

Did anyone notice the silks from the latest Kelleher Auction that ended last week?

http://stampauctionnetwork.com/v/v69035.cfm#85

A few of the silks had pre 1870 dates, which would make them unlikely to be true silks.

Frankly I was afraid to even bid on any of the silks, even the ones with good dates, because of the mistakes. I know you can look at other indicators such as paper type and impression, but I'm not yet at that point. Therefore I trust reputitable dealers and auction houses to know what they are talking about. I had thought Kelleher Auctions was one of those, but now I'm not so sure. And to be honest, I also wasn't that sure about some of their partial perfs either.

So what do you guys think?

Any "silks" cancelled before 1870 were not genuine; by that time no one was backdating stamps. Most of the part perf singles fell into the "flip a coin" range; used in the right time period, and look OK, but the margins are too small to know for sure. So they might be genuine, or they might be trimmed from perforated stamps, and there is no realistic way to actually know for sure.

Yea was kinda thinking the same thing, sure would have been nice to have scans of the back of the stamps or certs to go along with the items. Was tempted by the R52d but could not pull the trigger.Prices on many items were stronger then I expected.

Yeah, those prices are higher than I would have expcted. The most egregious early date appears to have either been pulled or garnered no bids, as it should be.

Lot 688 sold for $400, but it can't possibly be genuine. Lot 690 sold for $375, and at ;east one stamp cannot be genuine, and one stamp is very unlikely to be genuine.

Hopefully the successful bidders put them on extension...

I was surprised that Kelleher offered so many questionable silks without any apparent authentication.