Over & Underinked Embossed Covers And 1 Cut Square

I have a total of 4 envelopes and 1 cut square, 2 envelopes over inked and 2 envelopes under inked and the cut square is over inked. I saw an over inked envelope on ebay selling for quite a bit of money but the under inked I found nothing. The cut square is on buff colored paper. Can anyone explain the two diverse phenomenon and value of these items?

Thanks - Sharons25

Could you please provide a link (or auction number) to the envelopes/cut squares you have questions about.

The first two envelopes (3 cent purple circular die) appear to be typical overinked envelopes. The same for the 2 cent Mercantile. Just plain too much ink being applied during the printing process.

The other two appear to be wiped dies. This is probably due to the press operator cleaning his machine. The key is the ink smeared into the recesses of the die, which under normal operation are uninked (and provide the "white" portion of the design.)

The value of your envelopes is very much dependent on who's buying. There are no catalogs for this type of EFO, to my knowledge.

I bid on most EFOs that come up on ebay, if they are priced reasonably and I have a "need" for them in my collection. I just paid $6 for a wiped die. If an overinked item I wanted came along I would expect to pay $1 - $5 range. Most are pretty boring and not of interest.

In all cases, if there was something unusual about the piece, the price could go up.

Maybe some other EFO collectors can chime in to give you more data points on pricing these.

ebay link to over inked envelope:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/U436-OVERIN...57Ciid%253A1

Sharon25, please check the seller. His "bargains" run way higher than anyone else. The cover you show is not worth that much - probably not even one-tenth of that.