Speaking Of Jumbos ... How's This!

I recently acquired a parcel of stamps and found a Scott 158 jumbo among them. It appears to be lightly cancelled. No gum. Note the arrow in the upper left hand corner, as well as a small portion of the adjoining stamp on its right. I can't even begin to grade this stamp. I have no experience with jumbos. Any ideas? Thanks!

It seems cocked to me.
No denying the huge margins, but it's not centered north and south very well. I'm not an experienced either. Curious to know what members will think of this stamp.

This is probably pretty close to the maximum size; the parts of the next stamp showing at right is a nice plus. There is also a rarity/scarcity factor since jokers were always trimming stamps like these and trying to pass them off as imperfs. Money-wise, the natural straight edge at left is a minus, as are the tiny faults. I like it, regardless; nice find!

Thanks, for the input, hy! As I mentioned, I have no experience with jumbos and need the community's opinions! I really appreciate it!

Alan Campbell's piece on centering in the November 2007 Chronicle might explain what happened to the rest of that pane to produce that jumbo.

http://chronicle.uspcs.org/PDF/Chro...16/12964.pdf

Phil, I briefly looked over that article. I'll look at it in greater detail in a bit. Based on what I read I can understand how one or two margins can be made "jumbo," but my stamp has four, that is, three "major" jumbo margins and one smaller jumbo margin. It's a mystery.

Thank you, littleriverphil, that is one great article!

By the way, the cancellation, although light, is a purple star cancel. Does anyone have any idea what an odd stamp like this might be valued at, because I have no idea?

I used to think Jumbo was a level above Superb. That is, when you have a suberb centered stamp with huge margins. But I've come to realize that jumbo has more generally been used whenever there are 4 large margins. I have a stamp graded 80J. Is it a jumbo? Yes. Is it Superb? no. Is it valueable? It would be a lot more valuable without what appears to be a tiny tear on the right and some sort of damage on the left. As a natural straight edge it isn't as much a detraction as many straight edges but still a negative for price. If it wasn't a jumbo I'd say 25% of cat or so. With the jumbo maybe 40%? Just a guess.

Mizar,
The star cancel is faint but appears to be one of the 'star in circle' types. None of these are rare and Cole rates them as a 'I' - 'Markings relatively common and/or not much in demand'.
Don

Its a great stamp, even with the bottom margin being less but still quite generous. Straight edge stamps have traditionally been underappreciated, but they can be great position pieces. Very nice find!

Thanks, Doug. Good or bad, with all of its inherent faults and deviations away from perfection, it's still the largest 'jumbo' that I've ever come across and that, in and of itself, I believe makes it nice to have. --- James

Wow, congratulations, a very nice find indeed!

Thanks jconey, stamp collecting keeps getting better and better. I don't know how old you are, but when I was young, very young, I get a box of Crackerjacks and open the bottom of the box first! Why? Because that's where they put the prize ... on the bottom of the box. You never knew exactly what the prize was going to be, but you knew it was there waiting for you. That's what stamp collecting is like. There's always a prize waiting somewhere! All the best to you! --- James

Hi James, that is what I like too, the treasure hunt in collecting!!

Among most serious collectors, "Dutch," the sense of "treasure hunting" has universal appeal. The hunt or 'riding to the hounds, as it were, is where the enjoyment is. Isn't it? It's the nature of the hunt that augments our knowledge about the fox. That said, I believe that actually catching the 'fox' is something else entirely ... a different sort of fun. Of course, once the hunt has ended, what's left to do? Why, it's on to another hunt, right!