Is This A Fake 19th Century Cut Square?

I cannot find an 18 cent black on grey corner in my album or catalogs. It looks like it belongs to the 1861 or 1865 series, but the only 18 cent there is U70, red on buff.

There is a scrape on the left side, and white paper shows through, awfully white for 19th cent. paper. And the back of the paper is white, not grey.

Did somebody make a photo of U70? It has been around for a while, and has been hinged at least twice, so if it is a photocopy, it might have been made before color, and certainly before scanners and computers. Seems an awful lot of trouble for a not terribly valuable stamp.

I'd appreciate your opinions.

Don

Is the ink flat flush with the paper or if you run a finger nail over it can you feel a ridge of ink? Photocopy - flat & flush; original ink - ridge of ink. I don't think they had photocopy capability in the 1800's, but use ink in a printing press

Can you post a scan of the backside?

Yes, but it will take a while.

Don

Here is the back. It appears in reality a brighter white than it appears in the scan.

On genuine stamped envelopes the white areas of the image should be embossed, so you should see a reverse image of the embossing on the back. I don't see that.

Must be some sort of reproduction or copy??????

Did you check trial colors and proofs?

No. I was just pretty sure it was some kind of fake. But I will check them. However, the paper is so white that I doubt it's from 19th cent.

Just a thought:
I have seen, on multiple occaisions, stamp images cut from old Stamp Albums,
or Catalogues, for reasons unknown, that appear from time to time in collections.
This may be one of them.