Scott 515 - Dare You To Figure Out This Oddity.

Hi guys...Tea look at this pair of Scott 515 stamps..


Look at the irregular colour on these stamps.


Look at the over colour associated with perfs.


And coloured perfs going vertically also.



Here is the gummed back of these stamps.


Now look when I overlap the front and back of the stamp.


This only leads me to one conclusion...My sheet of stamps was placed upside down a the time of placing gum after the back, correct side had already had gum applied...Does that make sense..??

I would guess that it is a victim of some bad storage/enviromental conditions.
Don

collected to near death and valuelessness

Is the dark area gum? or just discolored?

If it is just discolored, my guess would be that a few of them were stored in an envelope where the paper was somewhat acidic. The area that is not discolored was not in contact with the envelope paper. The block that overlayed this block would show that discoloration.

Well, tried the lick test on the front of the stamp...Look at the colour of the front and the back..so, so close in colour...Used my colour grabber program as seen below.



Colour copy of front and back below


Bottom line of my "lick and stick" test...Stamp did not adhere...May be picking up colour from the gummed side from another sheet...Just turns out to be an oddity..Worthless, but a keeper as far as oddities go..Thanks for the replies guys.

Very strange effect. The shape of the discolored area mimics the shape of the 2 stamps and selvage, in most respects.

Exactly bookbndrbob...That is why I did not think of discolouration as most people think...But, I guess I have to go with discolour...???

Robert

The discoloration looks like it is from being stored next to some acidic paper. Another block/pair of stamps was between this set, and the acidic paper, and it too, turned brown. It is not reversible.

Left in the sun, I think.

I would guess that it is a storage problem rather than a sun/UV light effect. Sunlight degrades red and yellow printed colors badly, and the red printing doesn't seem to be affected.

I have seen stamps that toned like this when they were stored in a old cigar box (acidic environment).
Don

I cant remember where I got them Don, but a good possibility

Robert