1294B $1 Eugene O'neill Black Violet Variety

Every few months I buy a package of used 1294's on ebay for the fun of it, searching for a 1294b. Found only one (certified by PSE) so far out of roughly 800 stamps. But there is definitely also a bright reddish violet variety that appears with a frequency of about 1 in 150. Mention of other color varieties is in the Feb. 17, 2017 Linn's Stamp News article, "The $1 black violet Eugene O'Neill stamp, explained", specifically in the comments section of the article. http://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps...s-stamp.html

Thanks pastime! Great link. "No interest by the Scott editors in listing the color variety."

They did finally list it. Even when they do not, specialists can get together and cover that gap in a organized manner. One should not let company dictate what is real or not. However, we know many stamps are available in a large variation of shades so would be a cataloguing nightmare...unless of course it is a classic stamp.

In this instance, the editors had clearly verified information about a major color variety...and they chose to ignore it.

I have discussed with some at Scott about some listings and seems to be what is listed is the based upon the specific editor at the time and philosophies change.

I have never seen one in 40 years of collecting stamps

This block of 4 was supposedly the first certified example of this color variety(not sure if accurate or not). The owner went ahead & separated the block & included copies of the original cert.(cert was before Scott established a #)

I ended up with 3/4 stamps & original certificate. I then had each certified as singles, w/ the new Scott #.

I sold 2/3 examples I had & included color copies of original cert w/each. I kept this example for my collection.

Thanks for all the useful information. It inspires me to keep searching for these color varieties.