To Authenticate Or Not? 2017 Ebay/Hipstamp Auction Purchases

Hello all!

I'm new to stamp collecting and wanted to seek community input on my collecting activities so far. See scans of purchases and if you think anything looks potentially fraudulent/faked I would appreciate that input. If anything looks worth investing in a graded certificate or some other type let me know your insight and feedback on that undertaking.

Thank you!

YoP

Is that one cent Franklin from Anthony's supposed to be an "8"?

yes it was sold to me as an 8

Could you scan just the "8" by itself? Also the back of the C3 separately. What was the green Franklin sold to you as?

Were the stamps all purchased from Anthony's?

Franklin is also Anthony's 387 NH

See

Anthony was source of "8" and Franklin #387 NH

Dr. Jim for C3 NH

hipstamp seller for Used Boat Revenue

There's no benefit to authenticating the boating revenue stamp. It's definitely legitimate. If it were a first day cancel (April 1, 1960), it might be worth authenticating, but otherwise no.

Can anybody give a link to the #8 sold by Anthony's?

I tried to find it Winston. It does not look like it was a recent sale but I will dig deeper.

I purchased the #8 in a Thursday night auction in May 2017.

Thx for the tip on the boat stamp being likely authentic.

I also purchased a 6b Franklin this year from an auction run by Anthony's -

Could you post some higher resolution images? Those images are absolutely tiny.

You need to post much better images if you want any meaningful input.
You should learn right out of the gate that identification of some stamps requires expert knowledge and cannot be done with poor images.

At best, Anthony's can be very casual about stamp identification and at other times, downright dishonest. If you continue your current buying habits, you are going to need a lot of luck and a good ability to recover from disappointment.

Yop, a question or 2, or more observances....

You said you're new to stamp collecting-- I find it a little, let's say different, than the types of purchases we normally would see from a "new" collector. Can I ask why you purchased a type Ic and type III 1c 1851 as a new collector, and what was the draw for you? Im only asking this because if I had to guess, I'd guess that if you look at all US collections, less than 1%, and maybe less than 0.01% of those collectors would own either stamp. They're basically specialist items, and the people purchasing those stamps are usually familiar with the 1c 1851-7 issue and all of the types and the plates and positions on those plates. So they wouldn't have normally purchased either those stamps without taking a good hard look at them and knowing exactly what they were purchasing.

If either are as advertised, congratulations and as somebody who is a student of that issue (maybe not as much as some on this board), I'd be very envious.

If you're purchasing these stamps to fill holes in an album might I suggest that you first spend a couple of hundred dollars to pick up a couple of reference books. The first is a must have: The 19th Century Postage Stamps of the United States by Lester Brookman. After that there are several references on specific issues, including the 1 cent 1851-57 Franklin issue, by Ashbrook and updated later by Mortimer Neinken. Absolutely must have for any serious student of this issue.

We all hate to see new collectors get taken. But I think as a lot of us do that if you are going to be a serious collector, and it certainly appears that way, there's an awful lot to learn, and any dollars spent on literature and reference material are the best dollars spent in the hobby.

Good luck collecting, and always feel free to ask questions here anytime.
Ray

If the 2nd stamp you posted with the supposed #8 is the 6b, it is definitely not. It has a recut on the top curved line and can only be a Type IV number 9, which is the most common of all of the 1851 one cent stamps.

The supposed #8 cuts into the top of the design and a #8 must have a broken curved line at the top and bottom. If the stamp has been plated to the exact position it could still be identified as a Type III #8; however Anthony's doesn't have anybody who plates.

Maybe Mr. Sinclair can plate the stamp for you, if you can scan it and provide a better image.

Ray

YoP - the books mentioned by Ray Mac can be downloaded for free from the United States Philatelic Classics Society's webpage
https://www.uspcs.org/resource-cent...nic-library/