Is This US #2 Altered/Modified?

I think that it being offered as sound condition and appearing to be an XF+ stamp with generous/wide margins itself is very suspect. IF it is such a gem stamp, it should either have a certificate to opine on soundness, and potentially a graded certificate. If this stamp is what it appears to be, it should garner at least one or more multiples of the VF catalog valuation.

The fact that it doesn't have a certificate seems to scream that it isn't what it appears to be. If I owned this stamp, and wanted to get best value from its sale, I would certainly certify it.

BTW, I agree with some of the other observations about possible added margins, design augmentation.

In the sellers description

"Shown against a bright halogen backlight and/or in Super Safe watermark fluid to illustrate soundness."

Obviously this one is the bright halogen light?

If the successful bidder sends it for a certificate and it comes back with a negative result, will the seller refund?

According to the "GUARANTEE" at the left of the page, anyway, NobleSpirit does offer extensions for buyers wishing certificates. It also says "Failures are refunded at 100% of the purchase price, plus shipping", which sounds great except of course it doesn't specify what a "failure" is. Is "genuine, but rebacked and margins added" a failure? I would hope so.

If I was interested in bidding on this lot, I would tell NS up-front that I was suspicious that repairs had been done to the stamp, and wanted to purchase pending a certificate saying it was genuine and sound, i.e. since it's being sold as a "Superb Gem" I do not expect hidden faults. I would only bid if I knew they would stand behind their guarantee.

"Failures are refunded at 100% of the purchase price, plus shipping both ways only; actual certificate costs are not refunded.

Cert would be in 45$ range.

Would agree re: a possible sealed tear at bottom. Plus, there's some kind of odd mark under Washington's nose, within the lower curl of the 'S'

The thing that bothers me the most are the drawn in border lines that Winston pointed out.

What if the original stamp was cut right along the lines. This would make the lines "fuzzy". Then the stamp was used and then cut from the letter/paper that it was sent with. And that border is the original paper, hence the cancel on it and the fuzzy lines. Possible, I guess.

No. Those blurry lines are lines that have been painted in. The stamp should be taken down. This is a pretty common thing to encounter...

0.6% would be 1,380 certified copies. .006% is almost correct .0065 is 14.95 stamps when rounded up is 15 certified copies. I used a calculator since I'm not to good at math.

Here are a couple stamps that I have that have been worked on. Once you see enough of them they are pretty easy to spot.

Yea no kidding, those are some serious frameline paint jobs.

I sent a message to NobleSpirit regarding this stamp but time is slipping away for them to look good and do the right thing.

I challenge anybody to find an example of a #2 with a right frame line that looks like this one, especially at the upper end. The frame lines are always further away from the design than on this stamp...

I guess that even using a fine line archival marker like the Micron (Hobby Lobby) will not give a sharp line when the repair paper is not exactly correct.

".006% is almost correct .0065 is 14.95 stamps when rounded up is 15 certified copies" you don't understand percents: a 0.0065 ratio is 0.65%

The seller is well-known and has a decent reputation, but has previously offered some material with unmentioned faults. This is not unexpected given they move thousands of stamps daily. However the seller did NOT show the stamp with the REVERSE showing a light from behind. This oversight alone from a lesser-known seller would indicate to me a possibility of trying to hide something. NobleSpirit has previously INCLUDED reverse-stamp pics with back-lighting, which is way different from the FRONT being back-lit. Why not this time???

Also the hinge remnant looks suspect--likely it is a very peelable remnant. Conveniently it obscures an area of questionable, being the top margin. Why has no attempt been made to carefully remove it? Is there something to be gained by letting it obscure an otherwise clean reverse side? There's also also a very white area along the top edge of the stamp. To me that is too reminiscent of a cleaned, repaired or altered stamp. A different online seller with a larger customer base discussed often has far too often offered glaring, crudely made "repairs" using a common paper-enhancing office product.

Rarely do we see sellers showing their lighter-fluid-soaked valuable offerings, but it does happen. This would unmask flaws, thins, repairs etc. Is it too much to expect this extra step especially as it could pay off with a higher selling price?

Then of course scans and pictures can and often are tweaked or otherwise altered to downplay negative issues. This is downright fraudulent with intent to deceive but cannot be proven, until it is too late and you have scanned and compared the stamp in question yourself.

At least with NobleSpirit there is little or no history of blatant altering of stamps, but that is little consolation to a collector paying good money expecting a sound, unaltered classic stamp. It would be helpful if the seller offered some tangible semblance of provenance....But, hey this is ebay.

Do we really expect a highly critical collector to be happy with anything less than a full-fledged guarantee like one still expects at a highly reputable dealer or auction house? Or does the allure of getting a "good deal" color our otherwise better judgment....


Jim Wentzell
stampguyaps177-681