Well... I Suppose It's Better Than Outperforate Stamps...

Inperforate, outperforate, same difference.

The travesty is that EVERY single stamp in this lot is a trimmed fake.

Might as well just burn the dollar bills the winning bidder ends up spending.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/12x-R43a-t...132579626632

Same seller. All the part perfs and imperfs here are fake too.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/39x-R4c-to...AOSwtGdaz5up

Alas, the person who has those listings on ebay, knows little about first issue revenues. I have written to her to take down those listings in an attempt to rescue her reputation. I will keep all apprised of her response.

The US first issue revenue stamps were all printed on paper without perforations and later the perforations were added. As documented by Butler and Carpenter, sheets were sold that had no and partial perforations.

Now, 155 years later, the only way to conclusively determine that a stamp is an imperforate variety is to have a block of 4 stamps or larger. In the case of partial imperforates, you need a minimum of 2 stamps. But most stamps were used individually. Some of these individual stamps have 4 large margins and are determined to be authentic imperforates. So that means that for every 5 stamps in the sheet, only one could have large margins while 4 stamps would have small or no margins. Does that mean that 80% of the original sheet are now "fakes" because they have small margins?

All the stamps in this lot were printed by Butler and Carpenter, so to destroy them because they do not meet your specific collecting criteria is unreasonable. If one of them had a Benton's Tree Pine cancel on it, I suspect that you would not want the stamp destroyed.

The listing states that "Many of the margins are small. So these are space fillers until you find stamps with larger margins." In this hobby, everyone collects differently.

Kristin

I disagree. The vast majority of the stamps pictured in these auctions are the wrong inks to be imperfs or part perfs. It's not a matter of that they "might" have been artificially created, but based on the colors and cancel dates, it's a definite.

Yes, if you want to get right down to it, given the production issues of the era, technically ANY imperf or part perf single could be illegitimate and just and EFO of a fully perforated stamp.

These, however, are egregious.

RevenueFun That is not correct. While it is true that all stamps are printed first and then perforated, the reasons for the imperforate and part perforate first issues are well known. The perforating machines were from Europe, and no one in Philadelphia knew how to adjust them properly. There were 10 different sizes of first issue revenues. Butler & Carpenter were under a lot of pressure because of the war and the fact that the government needed the tax money very badly. Therefore the decision was made to send out stamps either unfinished (imperf) or half finished (part perf) for a period of time (exact length unknown but not more then a few months). Because it was a relatively short period of time it is possible to know the paper, shade, impression and approximate time period when they were used, and use that information to determine whether they are genuine or not. These are clearly not genuine.

I am having a difficult letting go of this conversation. If one wants "space fillers" for imperf and part perfs of the first issue, wouldn't it be cheaper to offer fully perfed stamps and a scissors so the buyer can do it him or herself?

Ahh yes, a "Rare Revenue Stamp Do It Yourself Kit".

GENIUS!

As Seen on TV! Call in the next 10 minutes and we'll double your order. Just pay separate shipping and handling.

Only if it comes with the Ginsu knife set. Gotta be the 14 piece set with wooden storage block - not the cheapo 6 piece version...

Ah, is this the source of the "sewing machine" perfs?

The lot of imperfs that started this thread was killed by ebay I have been told. So our discussion was heard by someone with influence with ebay (not me!).