Newspaper Stamp Collectors

There is a fairly robust trade of the N & P stamps on ebay and – if the truncated names can be trusted – quite a few different buyers.

I have not much here on them, however. A gentleman who wrote an excellent series of books on these stamps recently made a few posts then apparently moved on.

Newspaper stamp collectors, where are you?

It's a difficult and expensive area to collect. It requires a lot of study to even think about beginning to collect them in any remotely serious way.

I love the Newspaper issues. Particularly the giant PR1 - PR8 from the National Banknote Company. Fun stuff. Great area of study, particularly in paper types, as all the banknote companies printed Newspaper stamps during their run.

LOTS of fakes, too. :-(

I agree on the difficulty. George Sloane wrote, "If you asked, 'What are the most difficult stamps among the Scott U.S. listings to correctly classify according to printings, etc?' I would answer, 'The Newspaper Stamps.'" [Sloane's Column 10 July 1948]

There are lots of fakes. Some specialist feel there are more fakes than legitimate stamps. Most of them are easy to identify as they are so poorly done. Most of them... The facsimiles are relatively inexpensive and an interesting area unto themselves.

Plating the first series of 1865 would be a nice project – if you happened to have a few thousand of each denomination to compare.

All-in-all I enjoy studying them. I have organized an extensive bibliography of resources in print and on the Internet.

Once you get good with the paper identification, finding the fakes is not so hard. That's where the fakes identification comes in, and to a large extent, where the ID process comes in as well (it's always my first step, in ID, to help weed out any fakes and color variations).
Then, with some time and experience the color variations (particularly black vs full black) become easy enough to spot especially with a reference copy.

You are making it sound somewhat easier then it actually is. "Some time and experience" tends to be at least a few years at best, and that assumes seeing at least a few hundred stamps and more if possible. It's similar with officials and postage dues. These areas require real dedication and effort. But it can be very gratifying to become even reasonably good in these areas.

the postage dues departments and newspapers are areas were good natural lighting, an eye for color and detail and both references and experience are required. I agree it can take quite a bit of time and effort to get going.

My "time and experience" has confirmed to me that this is a difficult area to collect. My reference collection is larger than my authentic one. I enjoy collecting both.

It was the comment about ebay that caught my eye. If it takes some time and experience to collect, then that also applies to those that sell. My observation is that many/majority of PR1 - 8 that are offered for sale are facsimile/reproductions with only a few that are identified by the seller as such. While many are easily identified as such, there are some that are quite convincing and have been sold for large sums. Perhaps the buyers were aware of this and were building a reference collection, if so, drive on. If not, well ....

I had face to face with a dealer once, where I pointed out that he was selling facsimiles, not authentic stamps. Understandingly he was quite upset and I encouraged him to seek a second opinion. He did so and confirmed my assessment. I did buy them from him but as facsimiles. He was quite professional about it and I respect him for that.

It is a difficult area to collect yet still can be rewarding. Enjoy!

When I started collecting in earnest I purchased the lowest cv stamps of different paper types and colors that had PF certs to use as tools to help identify difficult items that are expensive and difficult to identify. It is a tool in the box that is very helpful. In the end though I just seek stamps with certs since I find that they are much more saleable and achieve a greater return than those without. Having the certed items as comps helps me when delving into old collections that contain items that need a decision on my part as to whether to proceed with submission to PF.

What I find is a lot of people on this site (not saying this thread, but you know who you are) discouraging others from pursuing "difficult areas".
The difficult areas are the interesting ones. We've all made mistakes, we've all been taken advantage of, we have all learned from our mistakes. Sure, we want to help others form making those same mistakes, because we know how much they annoyed/embarrassed/frustrated us. But sometimes, you 'got to let people make their own mistakes. I'd rather encourage people to take the plunge, and when in doubt, come here, and we'll help where we can.

All interesting comments; thank you.

I agree with CLASSIC - 'the difficult areas are the interesting ones.' Else from where came the high interest in the W-Fs?

FYI-My intent is never to discourage anyone from collecting anything, but to help people to understand that some areas are much more difficult to collect then the catalog listing might make them appear. When one adds to that the fact that many have fairly serious catalog values, then it should suggest that perhaps this is not an area for beginners, or even advanced beginners.
Except for the coils and a few waste issues, the W/F are not nearly as tough overall. Anyone who knows how to use a perf gauge and a watermark tray should be able to figure almost all of them out fairly quickly.