Washington-Franklin Experimental Bluish Paper-Complete!

With my acquisition of Scott #363, one of my "key" 20th century pages in my National Album is now complete!

Congratulations!

Since many of the copies of Scott #360 and 363 were originally "traded out" to fill voids for stamps needed for the national collection, I have to ponder what treasure was forfeited by the original collector to procure this copy?

congratulation! as we do not often have the opportunity to see images of real bluish paper stamps here in the forum, may I ask: what is your opinion about recognizing a bluish paper stamp in opposite to the normal stamps? is it just the grayish look, the easy to spot watermark, the missing setoff on the back?

or did you perhaps once look at your stamps under magnification to see the paper fibres of the rag content? actually the last news I read somewhere were that it's not the rag content which makes the paper gray but the bluing which was used and the small bluish spots which remain (not to confound with the "black spots" which are also there sometimes but not always).

actually I guess many here would be very happy to see one of your stamps under magnification (15x, 30x - or more, of course).

Reedededge,

What are the red stars for?

Jack Kelley

The difference iin the paper color is very subtle, however once you have looked at these experimental papers repeatedly, it is much easier to recognize them. The watermark, as you correctly pointed out, is more prominent. The paper, for lack of a better word, has a "cast" to it which is unique to the type. Of course, there are scientific ways to determine the paper content above and beyond the visual litmus test. Since there are obviously many imposters in the marketplace, it is, in my opinion, mandatory to get an expertiization certificate (PF, PSE or APEX) when purchasing these scarce stamps.

Red stars = PF Certs

Amazing! IIRC, there was one sheet each of 360 and 363...100 of each, ever.

There are a lot of us who would LOVE to see your collection!

Congratulations, Ray

Great set; nice colors and centering! It is always a fantastic feeling when you finally complete a set like this one!

Anybody who is traveling to or through (the more likely scenario) Cumberland, MD is welcome to stop and view my collection. I am a collector who enjoys sharing my philatelic passion with like-minded individuals. PM me if you would like to set up a time and day. Rob

Sorry Rob - that page just doesn't work.

Clearly you need PF certs on the 1c & 2c. (Or, just feel free to add 2 additional red stars!)

More importantly, that goofy piece of selvedge is just an eye-sore. You should either:

1) get another 5c

or

2) get all of them with a piece of top selvedge.

(Getting another 5c is probably easier?!)

(Notice I'd never dream of suggesting to remove the selvedge!)

:)

Really an awesome & stunning page. Congrats!

Given that I'll not likely be in the greater Cumberland, MD area anytime soon - it would be great to see close-up individual scans of each. Ideally - just the backs - perhaps next to their poor non-blue counterparts - for comparison purposes. When you have the time...

Thanks for sharing - a remarkable accomplishment...

thank you for the description, that is interesting and helps. As said it's not often to see someone showing them. If you one day have a microscope photo let us know, as I never found any in any website, catalogue or PDF. Of course it would also be great to look at your stamps in real life, but I am not living too close. Anyway it's always nice to see some of your pages here.

Beautiful page. Thanks for sharing.

If you look VERY closely at the 5c BLUE, you will see that it's not just merely selvage, but actually a plate # single (the plate number is faint), and perhaps the only such one in existence. Despite it being a bit off-center, that was my attraction to the stamp. Although nowhere near as rare as #360 and #363 (4c and 8c respectively), the 5c is still very scarce and tougher than most people realize.

Rob,

All I can say is I'm jealous.

Congratulations on accomplishing something most people never even dream about trying, let alone doing.

Well done!
Greg

I do have the 1 cent....