Starter Revenue Collection Acquired.

I have always had an interest in revenue stamps but never started a collection to speak of.
I have been looking for a good starter collection with some value. I think I found a decent group to work with.
I am not sure if I got a good deal or not yet. I am sure there is some junk in the lot.

I would appreciate any comments.

It all depends on how much it cost.

Well, I did look at them in the catalog for a once over.
Good or bad, I paid $105.
There is a total of 195 stamps in the lot.

The lack of response probably means that I did not do well.
I did see some better items in there, but what do I know.
Was not that large of an investment to learn something new.

Welcome to the wonderfully frustrating world of revenue collecting. Most time I think I've found a gold mine when in reality it's just a hole in the ground. I wouldn't have paid that much, but you did get the collection for roughly 50 cent a stamp. That's not terrible.

Revenues seem to carry a lot of plate scratches and printing errors. You might start by scanning your new collection and taking a closer look.

And I'm curious, second sheet, third row, third stamp, looks like a R18 3c Proprietary. But it's odd, the dark ovals around the left 3's. Could you scan just that stamp and post it? Thanks.

I do not have the stamps yet, but I will when I receive them, Moyock13. I am curious what you would have paid for the collection.

I know I did not hit anything big, I was not looking for a great bargain, just a good start on a Revenue collection with a little more than basics.

Hmm, I'd have probably stopped around $50 if an auction. I'm always curious about a seller and if they really know what they've got to sell.

It's all about what makes you happy. If these stamps bring you 30 hours of enjoyment doing the research and looking them over, you paid $3.50 an hour.

It appears that the black around the 3's is an image manipulation issue. It is likely that someone used a 'fill' tool with black on the background and the tolerance of the 'fill' tool allowed the space around the 3's to be accidently filled. Note the connection between the background and the ovals

Don

Edit: Note the bottom arrow which points to the same issue, the image has been manipulated with a black background 'fill'.

I would say that this appears to be a very good starter selection. There are a number of stamps that are very nice appearing, and possibly some interesting varieties (as Moyock13 points out).

When you ask the question "how did I do", you will typically get answers all over the map, because there are specialists, advanced collectors, dealers, buyers of collections, buyers of individual stamps, etc. Each person has their own filter and experience, and this lot has a range of material.

I think you did just fine. The important questions (to me) are: (1) Are you happy with your purchase? (or since you haven't received it yet, when you get it and explore it, answer this question).
(2) Besides the obvious condition issues, once you explore this selection, do you find any (good) surprises or things that exceed your expectations?

If you are interested in this type of material you may want to look at this upcoming lot on Stamp Auction Network. 2400 revenue stamps, along with thousands of cut squares and postal stationary along for the ride, with a starting bid of $85. You could probably get it for $150 max. Lot 168.

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/d/d4679.cfm#28

Orstampman, that's the way I look at valuing this treasure, too. My general knowledge of U.S. revenues is very shallow, and I don't have time to become an expert, so if that nice starter collection had been offered to me I would gladly have thrown a couple of Ben Franklin C-notes on the table and skipped home with my new treasure and sporting an excited grin on my face. Even with the tears, holes and splits on some of the stamps, I would be thrilled to own them!

Don, interesting! Why would someone take the time to manipulate the image of one stamp in a lot like op pictured? Curious.

Hi Moyock13,
All the images have had the background 'filled' with black. Although the images were scanned on the black Vario (or other) pages, the scanner often picks up artifacts from the reflections of the plastic. People use a 'fill' tool to quickly make the black background more consistent and make the stamps stand out better. It only takes a few seconds to do, especially if they do not pay much attention like this person did. All the images have also been cropped.
Don

Edit: Image manipulation with stamp images is out-of-control in my opinion. I trust very few of the stamps images I see on-line anymore. People play with the software tools and never bother to say that they have heavily manipulated the images. Even folks who mean no deception manipulate image; thinking that just because they make the image 'look better' on their computer screen it may or may not make them look good on 10,000 other computers.

Interesting! Thanks Don.

I think you misunderstood Don's comment. The seller(?) manipulated the background of the images to somehow enhance the photos. Probably for better contrast. In doing this, the stamp in question was inadvertently also manipulated. The breaks/dark spots pointed out by Don's arrows in the stamp confused the computer program into thinking that was part of the background and thus darkened that area also.

To slow to respond as usual.

Maybe, back in the day, an unscrupulous stock transfer agent figured out that he could remove previously used transfer stamps from stacks of old certificates which were piled up on shelves in the cellar, and attach them to the myriad certificates which he received for processing and he kept those nice little fees in his petty cash box for guess who.