Double Perforations On R29c

Curious if double perforations are a common thing on the R29c?

Alas, very. Back in the 1890's they were very hot items to collectors. Also back in the 80's 90's, ABNCO was absorbing many of the other bank note companies, and selling off the unneeded archives for scrap. This included some dies and perforating wheels. Most of the material was purchased by dealers, not all of whom were honest. Shocking, I know. So the desire in the market was filled. Some excellent fake inverted centers were also produced as a result.

Most revenue collectors now consider "freak perfs" to be a negative rather than a positive. You will still see clueless dealers trying to get premiums for freak perfs, but they don't sell for the same as "undamaged" examples.

P.S. Given the cancel date and impression of the posted stamp, you may want to check the paper closely for blue silk threads.

Genuine double perforations do exist, in addition to the dealer-prepared varieties.

See:

https://goscf.com/t/57287

Jim

How can one distinguish the fakes from the real ones?

Robert Mustacich wrote a very nice article about distinguishing them. It may be found at:

http://www.battleship-revenues.com/...FreakoF.html