First Issue Revenues - 2c Orange Partial Perfs - Do They Really Exists?

I was thinking of this the other day, and would like your thoughts on this. Sorry it's kinda long.

There are six 2c Orange first issue revenues: R6, R8, R10, R12, R14, and R15. As listed in Scott, only two of these reportedly have a partial perf. variety: the R6b (Bank Check) and the R10b (Express)

According to the Boston Book, partially perforated stamps (as well as the imperforate ones) were released early without going through the perforation process in order to keep up with the extreme demand.

Originally the 2c stamps were to be yellow, but it decided in early October 1862 to switch the color to blue because the yellow stamps were less than impressive.

The Boston Book says:



What is unclear from the Boston Book, were there any of the "yellow" versions released to the public in 1862? This is important because only those stamps released in 1862 would have a chance of having a partial perforate variety.

Scanning over the current listings in ebay and Hipstamp, finding a pre-1864 date on any 2c orange stamps is almost impossible. I personally have a 2c Certificate (R8c) dated December 3, 1862. So I do know there are some out there.



There are no known imperforate varities of any of 2c orange stamps. Of the two (R6b & R10b) partial perforated stamps listed by scott, there are no pairs known of either, according the Curtis Census. There is also none listed at the Philatelic Foundation.

There is only one genuine R6b and one genuine R10b listed in the PF. Both are questionable in my opinion.

With a Scott catalog value of $60, the R6b would seem to be the most common of the two, although finding a convincing copy is very difficult. Dan has one of the best convincing copies that I have seen on his website (https://revenue-collector.com/pages/2888.html).

Another was sold at the Matthew Bennett International, Mar 2012, Sale 344, Lot 4831 (http://www.usphila.com/us/stamp/pri...tt-r6-page-1)



It even has a 1862 date which would further support that there was some "yellow" stamps released to the public.

Its much harder to find a convincing R10b. Again Dan has a descent possibility on his website (https://revenue-collector.com/pages/2241.html, but as Dan has pointed out on another post how easy it would be to trim a perforated stamp with very large margins.

The fact that no pairs exist is problematic.

If the partial perf. stamps do exists, there can't be too many available. They are definitely far undervalued in Scott. I've been looking for convincing examples of both of these stamps for a couple of years now. Haven't found any.

If anyone has a convincing R6b or R10b, please post it, especially if you have a certificate for one.

So do they exists?

Hi

Here you go.

Jim

The USIR's are trimmed. They were not issued until Oct of 64 to begin with, much too late to be an issued part perf. The top example is a right margin example that was wide on the left side, used in Philadelphia in 1868 (the stamps were printed in Philadelphia). Sheet margins often did not get perforated, so the only way to PROVE that it was an error would be to have a pair because perforations were so widely variable. To my knowledge no genuine pairs exist. The bottom stamp could have been a sheet margin either way or just a very wide stamp, again something that often occurred. The same really holds true for this bank check used in 1865, really much too late.

To answer the original question about yellow, there are yellow 2 cent stamps out there, they are far less common then orange ones obviously.

The R6b was done many years ago, but the R10b was done within the last few years. It's tied on a document by both a cancel and a fold in the document. It shows part of the next stamp at top and a high power examination showed no sign that the stamp had ever been lifted or that any part had been removed after being on the document. It is a late usage but there is no evidence that it is not what it appears to be, and no reason to think that it would have been cut if there had been perforations there to begin with (most perforated stamps that appear cut were applied by an affixing machine which cut them).

So, so far at least, there are only two known certified copies of R10b?

That's pretty cool.

Jim

No offense Jim, but I don't like the color on that R10b with PSE cert, assuming the scan is accurate. That shade screams mid-to-late period to me, rather than the more pale yellow shades of the early stamps.

There are many imperfs and part perfs where no known multiples exist, so that can't really be a litmus test, unless you want to delist all 1st issue revenues where there are no known multiples.

I own several candiates for R6b and R10b, but none that are expertized by the PF. I'll show them below numbered for future reference and discussion.

1. Color shade is correct and timing is early enough.



Closeup:





2. Date too late, but odd that a stamp would be torn across both top and bottom margins.




3.





4. January 1863, so early enough.




5. 2011 Weiss certificate, but no offense to Bill, his revenue knowledge wasn't the largest out there. To his credit, however, he did frequently consult with others before rendering opinions.

So you're implying that the $79 that I spent on this Epson V39 scanner at Best Buy a year ago might be a bit off???

Well!

Ok, fine, I'll start saving for a better scanner, but I won't be able to buy stamps in the meantime.

Jim

p.s. Yeah the actual stamps are nowhere near as red as the scans came out. Blue-green stamps come out as white. And it tops out at 1200 dpi.

Anyone have any suggestions for a good, relatively inexpensive USB flatbed scanner that works with Windows 10?

Is the scan a different color (more yellow) than the actual stamp? Then yeah, might be time.

The margins on #1 are so close that there is no way to know what it started out as. Number 2 is just a damaged stamp, impossible to prove. Number 3 is a nice top margin DT, but very orange. The last digit of #4 is in a different ink then the rest of the cancel, so we don't know what year it was used. Number 5 is from before Bill was sending me scans and asking my opinion.

Epson V600 works well.

I used the V500 for years and upgraded to the V550, which is what I use now. Any of the V500, V550, or V600 will do the job nicely.

Also, I would spend the one-time $79.99 to purchase VueScan Pro with lifetime updates. It allows you to control so much more than the bundled scanner software.

Dan & Jim. Thanks for posting those pics. It is interesting that there are no slam dunk examples, so far, despite the certificates.




Not as many as you think. Besides the two listed above, only the R51b and the R60b are without known pairs. Even the $1 partial perfs (which is another topic altogether) have known pairs.

I am definitely troubled that there are no known pairs on these issues, especially the R6b, even if there was a short supply. Their counterpart, R5b, is found often enough in pairs.

Typo on my part. I meant to say "There are many imperfs and part perfs where no known multiples exits". More imperfs than part perfs, actually.

The pairs on the dollar values are usually fakes.

Not really many imperfs either. Only the R11a, R77a, and R80a. There are a few with less than 5 examples, but they are known.

R77a and R80a are understandable since they weren't issued until April of 1863, well past the imperforate/partial perforate stage.

What is unusual is that there are some issues that have multiple pairs known but were issued well after the time you wouldn't expect to see imperforates or partial perforates. Namely R79a, R84a, R87a, R100a all issued in April 1863. R101a issued in May 1863 and R102a, issued in July 1863.

I don't believe there are any multiples known of R13a, and no *convincing* multiples of R53a.