Is This A Cracked Plate Or Something Else - Ceylon Scott 1885-6 A23 Type I (I Think)

Hello again,

I was going through some stamps and this one puzzled me because of the mark going diagonally from the upper right corner of the stamp into the cancellation mark. I am wondering if this is a cracked plate or some other sort of imperfection. I can't tell if it is simply a mark from possibly being stuck to the glue on another stamp? It may be that you can't help because of the quality of the picture - the stamp is more lilac than is showing in the scan,it is not that pale. Here is the stamp:

I am also having trouble figuring out how the proper way to read the Scott section below:


I will go back and re-read about the numbering system, in the meantime this just looks so confusing, is the lilac stamp 1885 or 1886 or another choice? Could someone show me how this stamp would be identified in writing?
Thank you for all of your help! Julie

Your pictures are somewhat too small to tell anything, but the diagonal streak does not look like a cracked plate. A plate crack usually looks like a ragged line, in the same color as the stamp,

Peter

Julie.
You have identified this correctly.
Sc#131 1886 Lilac (Stanley Gibbons=dull purple)
Should be Wmk Crown CA and perforate 14

There is an imperfection, possibly caused during its use, or storage.

Typical "Barred A" cancellation.

Thank you Peter for pointing out that my image of the stamp was too small - I am wondering what the optimal size is for an image of a stamp? I have been sizing mine to a width of 500 Pixels in photoshop which works for upload size - the one above however came out smaller than 500, it was 256 pixels - so I just left it not realizing that it would make the image less legible here. I will be consistent from here on out - thanks for pointing this out to me.

Rod, Wow! - what a beautiful stamp you posted, I can tell it has a much higher grade than the one I posted, yours looks perfect - you have inspired me to look for better stamps. Thank you so much for confirming that I identified the stamp correctly and for showing me the proper way to write the identification - I will be keeping a copy of your sample nearby to help me learn how to write the identification correctly.

Thanks to both of you for clarifying that the mark I am seeing is an imperfection of some sort and not a cracked plate.

Thanks so much, both of you
Julie

I have some more questions and thought I would add them to this thread since they are related. As I said in the above post, Rod's stamp inspired me to look for nicer stamps. I think the following is Sc#1881 61 A18 Brown.



I have a question about the grading of this stamp. To me, this stamp looks Very Fine (VF) or a grade 98 - maybe I am shooting for the stars with the grade but the stamp looks very nice to me and is centered well - would the one bump there along the side of the right hand margin change the grade?

Oh, and it is MNH - or maybe OG, in this case don't exactly know how to tell the difference looking at this stamp. The description of granite paper in the Scott catalog for this stamp describes the colors of the silk threads in the back - this stamp matches the description having blue and red threads lightly dispersed in the paper.

I do not see a cancellation mark. The glue looks original to me, but heck, I could be easily wrong about the glue. I keep looking at the glue under full daylight and it looks like it has always been there to me.

Thanks so very much, and thank you for being patient with my questions. Julie

Julie, that is a great picture! Congrats.
As ar as grading is concerned, I am not a fan of it. I collect for the fun of it, not for any monetary satisfaction.
However, I believe your stamp is very fine. The "bump" as you call it is nothing but a perforation chard that did not get totally discarded. I would not pay any attention to it.
Again, there is nothing wrong with looking for nicer stamps!

Peter

Julie.
For your reflection.

Exchange stamps for better examples, sure. Be wary of chasing ever better examples, it can be an unhealthy obsession.
I have the grungy, every stamp tells a story you will find.

Here is my lot, the cross indicates either a "Manuscript cancel" or, theft prevention ( the cross ties it to the cover)

The brighter coloured stamp (As your initial scan) is a sign of (probably) soaking in hot water, that purple does change colour (poor stamp husbandry)

Cheers, keep up the fascination, I think you are hooked on stamps already...

Hi Rod, From what I can tell that is a very pretty set of stamps you have there. How did you happen to focus on collecting a set of this particular stamp, I would be interested to know.

I am not sure when I will be in a position to buy any stamps, I have so many here that are loose and must be gone through. Many of them are stuck together and have not decided whether to try putting the stamps in the freezer to "crack" them apart (this is what my nephew who is co-owner of the stamps with me whats to do them - I am not so sure, everything I have read says to soak in lukewarm water).

And to be honest, I do intend to sell many off them off - but I am not adverse to keeping those that I like and preserving them properly with identification - nor am I against buying stamps that I would like to include in the collection that I will be building - I guess that is what I will be doing? - honestly I am still trying to figure it all out...

Thank you Rod for sharing those lovely examples of what look like "VF" examples to me. I am also fascinated by the rope or string cancellation stamp with the "X" that you have, very cool.

Thanks again for helping me, Julie

Julie.



When I began collecting in earnest, (some years ago) I was on welfare, and I had a budget of I don't know, maybe $5 -$10 a week.

I would attend this auction in Perth (Hidden behind a washing machine repair shop) and buy anything, in my price range.

I'd buy pages of stamps for $2 to $5 etc, any country any Cinderella, it didn't make any difference to me.
That's where those Ceylon originated from. They are reasonably common.

If you are a city gal, look for local Stamp Club, they are out there, and members always want to unload their duplicates. It's a gold mine if you want to study / purchase cheap stamps.

I still do chase the mundane, I just bought something like 12 auction lots,
all for under $2.40
Collecting stamps is the best fun for the price of a movie ticket.

PS: "soaking stamps" you can search this forum...heaps of good advice.

My advice, use cold water and patience, for ordinary gum, avoid coloured envelope pieces, and be wary of any early purple stamps, they do tend to fade /run.
Start with 5 or 6, and get the feel of it.

Hi Rod,

Thank you so much for answering my question, I was truly curious as to why you had collected that particular stamp. It sounds like you have had countless hours of entertainment from the stamps you buy, for 5 - 10 bucks it sounds like a great deal to me.

And now I must confess something I have not told you all yet, I am a seller on ebay, have been for years. I am an older woman who lives in northern California, I am a widow and do not live in a city. I make a fixed income each month so I augment my income by making ebay sales. If you were to look at my auctions right now you would find that for the most part it is jewelry that I am selling, although I do sell most anything. I am not a big seller - but it does help make ends meet to make the extra money each month - I have been sort of afraid to mention it here because I thought you all might think I am here to just take advantage to sell stamps, I am truly fascinated by the stamps and I agree, I am hooked already. I do have some stamps up on ebay and have sold a few - with very limited knowledge of what I was up against - I started selling stamps last summer for my son and have only made about 10 bucks so far for my trouble.

When I get enough posts I would like to try selling stamps here as well, I like sales and intend to continue working on selling stamps. I also intend to buy them. That is how I make money with the jewelry that I buy and sell, buy low, sell high - but as with the jewelry, I am sure that I am going to run into stamps that I don't want to part with at all - those I keep and will not sell. And the collection of stamps that my son has, the 10 binders, is very, very nice - I pulled out the US stamps yesterday and realized again that the collection is a nice one, something I knew before but didn't really appreciate.

So Rod, I thank you for sharing your story about those stamps, I loved hearing it. Also, I have never been to Australia, it is of course one of the places I have always wanted to visit.

And thank you about the tip to search the forum for "soaking stamps" I will do that next. I really don't know how I am going to convince my nephew (who lives here also) not to freeze them.

Thank you to all of you for being most welcoming here in this forum, I have really enjoyed being here the last few days and intent to contine to be an active member.

Julie