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Bedrock Of The Community
Australia
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Moderator

United States
4788 Posts |
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Bedrock Of The Community
Australia
38679 Posts |
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Bedrock Of The Community
Australia
38679 Posts |
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Quote: Nice ones, Rod. Your pages always look so neat! Hi Captain, Thank you, nice words. Do you collect Switzerland? I have duplicates, free. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Grilled Gum" My failed attempt to illustrate the above. Serendipity, arrived on a page of stamps purchased for pennies. Sc#173 A CV $50 Perhaps members shall be able to detect on my scan. To me, grilled gum, has that fine patchwork stitching / weave effect, one sees on a cotton tablecloth. Held on a angle to the light, unmistakable, to new students of Switzerland, as myself.   Grilled gum appears to be slightly cream, against the white of the smooth gum.   |
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| Edited by rod222 - 03/27/2018 12:31 am |
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Pillar Of The Community
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Valued Member
United States
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Valued Member
United States
233 Posts |
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I'm no expert on the Swiss stamps but have been collecting them on Steiner pages for about 5 years. I had a Swiss collection in my Big Blue and had every space (including the margins) filled in. It came to me that I wanted to remount them but after some consideration I really liked the way they looked in my world album so I printed out the Steiner pages and started again. I bought some Swiss pages from old album collections and was on my way. I'd say 98% of my new collection came off of ebay. Some experiences and observations on this…Firstly I started with the standing and seated Helvetia issues. The perf types drove me crazy and as learning from some of the experts here on SCF there are a variety of fractional perfs on several issues. You really need a Zumstein catalog to figure out the differences. As a general rule the best way is to have a complete date stamp. That way if the stamp has a 1883 date it can't be a stamp not issued till 1901. Of course it could be back dated, which does happen. There are some other identifying characteristics which I won't go into now. On the 1882-89 numeral issue there are 2 types. These have to do with the width of the watermark. Pretty difficult to identify but the Type 1 granite paper has a significantly higher value (at least according to Scott). One trick I use is to wet the stamp with watermark fluid and put a light pencil mark on the edges of the WM. When the stamp dries, I use my digital micrometer to measure it. It is a speculative adventure at best. Steiner doesn't have separate spaces on his pages for Type 1 granite paper. He mixes the 15c yellow/yellow-orange in with the Type 2. If it is white paper, you know you have Type 2. One comment on the grilled gum varieties…Be careful when a stamp is offered as having grilled gum. I have bought no less than 3 lots which were offered as ordinary paper only to have them turn out to be grilled and visa versa. Some dealers just don't actually check and some just don't care. Some grilled varieties are worth more than their ordinary counterparts and some less. The grilled gum shows up well on used ungummed stamps as well. So then after all that, I filled in my semi-postals and the airs. I have all the airs used except C12a and C1. I'm a bit hesitant for the C1 because of the potential for fakes and the C12a which is relatively inexpensive but hard to find at a price I'm willing to pay (see previous post). My semi-postals are complete used through 1940. I generally go after the higher CV (used/unused). Now my next goal is to complete the officials.   |
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Bedrock Of The Community
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Quote: Very nice, Rod. I also collect used Swiss stamps on Steiner pages. Thank you very much, if Kirk is not interested, you may have first refusal, on duplicates. Quote: Doesn't look like grilled gum to me. Cracked gum at best. Thanks for your opinion, I'll have to search for further information. It's definitely not "cracked" but machine made. But I'll be open to reconsider if "grilled" or not. Quote: The grilled gum shows up well on used ungummed stamps as well. If this is correct, then I don't have grilled gum, however I am a tad suspicious of this. Appreciate your observations. |
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Pillar Of The Community
Canada
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Great work stampwolf......  I have not done inventory of my Helvetia stamps yet.....but I have many in old Albums bought buy my father in the 60s It should be fun !! and I will not hesitate to ask for "dups"  René |
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Bedrock Of The Community
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I identified Sc#307 yesterday, (Bus on granite paper) and was rather surprised, the red and other fibres are quite scarce compared with other granite paper stamps I have seen. One really has to scrutinise.
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Bedrock Of The Community
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Yep, Rod. In your example of used and unused, you can clearly see the grilling on both. Gum color, in my opinion, probably has nothing to do with it, but might. Cheers! Wolf-==- |
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Bedrock Of The Community
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I did learn something though Stampwolf, I had no idea, one could ID on a used stamp.
I had seen one on a page identified as used grilled, and presumed the previous caretaker, was just being optimistic.
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Trust you haven't been roughing up gum after consultation with the Leadership Group, Rod.  |
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Bedrock Of The Community
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Ouch! There wouldn't be many fellas on the planet, that would not have cheated, some time in their lives, even, being paying cash to your tradie. But this....... Sheesh, it will sorely test our national ability to forgive.
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Bedrock Of The Community
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38679 Posts |
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Replies: 152 / Views: 22,317 |
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