R60B -- Odds At Being Genuine

Comments please



Sorry for the poor image. It's from a website.

I thought the 1867 date was late for a part perf but the PF lists a certified copy with an 1867 date.

Although the image makes it difficult, I believe the date is 63, not 67. This is a stamp that really must be seen; ordinarily I would suggest that it might be well worth it to spend $27 to send it to the PF. The website it's on might make a difference too. This really needs a much better scan to have any chance at any kind of realistic opinion.

I would say the bottom margin would be of the greatest concern. Imperforate top margins on perforated revenues are known and there is no easy way to detect if it is trimmed at top unless the faker is an idiot. If the bottom margin is correct (no gaugeable bumps) then the question is do you accept a part perf stamp with imperforate margins as small as the bottom margin on this stamp, assuming everything else is correct.

It could be a misperfed top margin single. Is that a tear, a crease, or part of an embossed cancel I see running through George's face?

If legit, that is one of the toughest part perfs.

The biggest problem is that the outside margins on many first issue sheets did not get perforated. So having a large top or bottom margin does not prove anything by itself. The shade, paper, impression and date are very important in determining part perf stamps. That's why a poor scan is basically useless and even a good scan has limitations.

The bottom margin appears to be cut at a slight angle with smaller margin on left and larger margin on right. Also bottom perfs don't line up if that makes any difference. How tall are these stamps supposed to be?

I don't know anything about revenues, altho I found about 30 of these blue 50 cent Original Process stamps in a lot I recently purchased. They are all perforated on 4 sides.

Perforated 50 cent Original Process stamps are very common, even in multiples. Single imperforate examples are also fairly common, although not quite as common as perforated examples. Imperf multiples are scarce, and blocks of four are VERY scarce. Part perf examples are a relatively recent find, and are also very scarce.