Help Identifying This Stamp, Maybe 177?

Thanks.

Not the Special Printing; probably #166. Reperforated at right.

Thanks again Tipzi.

Nice catch on the reperforation.

A cartel stamp.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1875-US-Sp...AOSwyfRajuWY

This same stamp is now being sold by a different cartel ID, stampdeals.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1875-US-Sp...AOSwYgFaoR9a

Sold again for $2555. Yikes.

That one in the listing looks a lot like this one I got several years ago. Mine is either #155, #166 or #191, I have no idea at present; probably #166, and given what I had paid for it...



My Scott Specialised notes the colour of the special printing, #177, as being violet-carmine. The colour of mine, and that within the ebay listing, looks a bit brighter and rosier. I took the image directly from the listing and diminished the brightness and contrast to as near as my own as I could perceive, and as if it were before my eyes...



But the sellers' images on ebay can vary considerably. I do hope the buyer has it expertised. In that an interest was taken in a stamp of that calibre, hopefully that will be a given.

As for my own, it's used and toned from its gum arabic, the stamp probably having remained affixed to its parcel for quite some time before its removal. In addition, I'm rather enjoying the mystery as to exactly which one mine is in fact.

The stamp will never get a certificate. Never. Ever. It is a CARTEL/PHILIP RYLE listing.

Yes, I've been reading a bit more about that during the interim; very bad thing, that.

Well, it arrived today, and guess what...

It's a stamp that I purchased, and on the 9th of this month. It was shipped with a USPS tracking number, but it didn't arrive until yesterday, the 23rd. USPS lost all contact with it on the 18th, incidentally. I'm somewhat amazed that it arrived at all. I purchased it from the ebay seller noted previously within this thread: "bank-notes". They list their location in California, but the stamp was mailed from New Jersey. How about that. Also, I've seen a third location, online, for this seller...England. Oh well, do I really want to know what's up with all that. In any event, I don't think I need to be concerned about this stamp as being "worked over", as I only paid $8.50 for it, plus $3 for the tracked shipping. Upon its arrival, I set about in its conservation, and utilising my enhanced technique; and after the usual cool, soapy bath and a dip in the hydrogen-peroxide. The result is nothing short of fantastic, and most satisfactory...

1904, 5¢ in dark blue, and the foreign-letter rate of the Louisiana Purchase exposition issue...



Before and after, front and back...



This was a great buy, but given my shipping nightmare, and from what I've learned here, I may just pass them by in future.

Alan

Perfs look a bit suspect on left. Please reconsider supporting one of the most notorious criminals in our hobby.
Don

Edit: He is located in England, he uses reshippers to mask his true location and identify. If you look at the location in the listings, it may say any location; but if you click on his feedback you will see his location is in England.

Ah, a perforated straight-edge; perhaps. I did think that that side looked a wee bit funny, but I didn't explore it further. Oh well...not a chance of a bad day at the Bureau?

Oh, that's probably where I saw merry mention of the seller originating in England.

You know, that's my least favourite value of the issue, so it's not a total loss. McKinley had nothing to do with the subject at hand. He was simply chucked into the issue as a memorial.

In light of this new information, I will not be patronising that seller further. I also remember thinking at the time I bought it that his username, "bank-notes", came off as a bit off-putting.

Hmm, I took the right side and placed it over to the left, and a bit further inward to form circles. I now no longer think that the left side had been monkeyed with...




Try it for yourself.