Washington-Franklin Ebay Listings

Family,

There is a current mixture listing of unidentified W-F stamps for those who may be interested. It could provide many hours of fun for a cheap price. I have already purchased 1, 2, and 3 cent packs.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/US-STAMPS-2....m2749.l2648

Jack Kelley

Jack, would like to know if you find anything in your purchases. I've looked at his offerings; all but one of his current listings are various W/Fs offerings,(some bad coils and a lot of heavily cancelled stamps) so it would seem that he has at least some working knowledge of W/Fs. I'm cautious of listing that say "unsearched" and show pictures, like this listing showing only "2-cent" stamps; no "Two Cent" stamps, no coils, no imperf's, no multiples etc. which, to me, indicate they may not be so unsearched. Its certainly possible to find something. I did find a #500 this way once. Large lots like this can sometimes hold something good.

The seller is offering two 10¢ Franklin as a "not expertized" 10¢ Washington bluish paper (Scott 364) and one perf 12 Washington as "bluish paper". The front and back images of the Washington stamp were muddy and too small to be useful. The other two listings are the wrong design.

Regarding Washington/Franklin mixes: There is no free lunch. Lower denomination stamps were packaged in bundles of 100. While most bundles have been broken, some still exist in unbroken condition. The bundles may or may not be "productive" depending on the year they were packaged. While most of the better higher denomination stamps have been found, some good low denomination stamps may remain, depending on who looked at them over the years. Some plate varieties will not be found in a quick scan because magnification is required. Most of the dealers or collectors who scan accumulations like this lack the skill to pick out better stamps quickly and are likely to leave most of the accumulation for others.

The most difficult mixes to scan contain 2¢ stamps from the entire date range of production. I once looked through a lot about 2000 perf 11 2¢ stamps in envelopes that had been separated from the rest of the 300,000 stamp mix. I found 20 Scott 500 stamps in the group in about three hours. While it is helpful to know who looked, or didn't look at the stamps in the past don't assume that they were able to spot and remove all of the better types or varieties.

It is possible to find mixes that are good value foe the money, but don't expect to find top tier stamps. Most Washington/Franklin stamps will never find their way into a better collection. Stamps that are off center, have heavy cancels or minor damage will find their way back into a mix. Many dealers will toss all under a dollar catalog value and less than very fine stamps cataloging up to $5 or $10 into a mix without further examination. Some denominations can be tossed into a mix without checking perforations or watermarks. A good Washington/Franklin mix of 500 used stamps could catalog more than $200 if it includes perf 10 and perf 12 examples and a good range of denominations.

The value of a mix depends of the buyer.

Hi, I've bought mixtures from the seller, and always been happy with them!

Mixtures such as these are a lot of fun.

Stampmaster

Al,Clark,

I am skeptical as well. But I couldn't pass it up for the price. I'll keep you posted.

Jack Kelley

I just checked the link and in less than 1 minute of viewing his other items I found 5 imperforates Buy it Now for $1 4.00. The 5c is so clearly a trimmed perforated stamp that I have to wonder what else he either does not check before listing or worse. Two perfs are visible on the lower left. Three more of the five stamps have such small borders that they could also be faked imperforate stamps.

He also lists several items with "shift error" on the reverse that is totally absurd. The "shift" is a common result of flat press printing in which ink transfers from one sheet to the back of a sheet on top of it. The transfer is a tiny bit of not quite dry ink adhering to sheet above after coming off the press.

With apologies if I have not used correct terminology.