Help To Nail Down This Issue Cape Issue

Does anyone feel confident on which catagory this stamp fits into?

I'd say it's Scott #5, with a fiscal cancellation.

Hope this helps

Sorry to ask, but I remain color blind: 5A,B,C, or D?

Of course it helps.
Thank you.

Oh, and I also remain pretty muck ignorant in stamp collecting. What is a "Fiscal cancellation" mean?

Can't type either....

I think it's Scott #5 Pale Lilac.

A fiscal cancellation (without getting in too deep) is either a pen cancel or a non-postal cancel on a stamp that's also valid for postage.

Thank you for sanity check and info. Does that type of cancel affect the value in personal appeal or monetary value? I am attracted to pen cancels that I see but not sure how that fact applies to the phil value or $ value.

Also, have another that is a bit hazy, I think it is scott 20 but the four is hazy to me:




AS always, this is a great site!! Please stay with me, as I have many questions to come on so many issues.

A fiscal cancellation will ordinarily reduce the value because, where a stamp can be used either for "postage" or for "revenue", the latter cancellation means that it's no longer a postage stamp for the purposes of the catalogue. Many higher face value British Empire stamps were primarily used for revenue purposes, and it is a way of getting scarcer stamps at a lower price.

However, a pen cancellation doesn't have to mean non-postal use, either in 1850 or now, as the occasional incoming mail with felt-pen across the stamps shows.

A fiscal cancel affects the value tremendously; some aren't worth even 5-10% of postally used stamps.

Scott #20. You should show the whole stamp. "Four Pence." is awfully rough and looks forged. This stamp should normally have a double bar along the bottom. There is a variety without bars that is known. Go to:
http://stampforgeries.com/album-wee...f-good-hope/
find this stamp and check the measurements given under "Genuine". We'd appreciate your findings.

I don't know for sure, 'cause I'm a newbie with a measuring stick, but from the left base of the F to the right bottom of the R was 6mm. Here is the proper pic (I will do better in the future because I ignorant about forgeries):

Since you are new to stamp collecting, here are a couple of thoughts for you.

1. Investing in stamps is typically a losing proposition, but buying them because you enjoy them is not. So if you are an investor find something else because you won't typically even get your money back. If you enjoy studying the history and other facets of collecting welcome aboard.

2. If you are new, stick to low cost stamps until you understand what you are doing. There are plenty of good suppliers, and some that are not. So you have to learn what you are doing first. This means understanding the terms, how to evaluate the condition of a stamp and how to determine a real stamp from a forgery.

3. There are a lot of ways to learn about stamp collecting. This forum is one. There are stamp clubs, and organizations like the APS that might help. Make sure you reach out if you have questions - like you did to this forum.

4. If you don't have some sort of catalog, make sure you obtain one. It doesn't have to be this year's version. There are plenty of older ones available at a big discount. If you are collecting Cape of Good Hope, the Scott Catalog is not the best option. Consider getting a Stanley Gibbons Catalogue, or even one of their specialist versions instead.

Have fun. Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither is a stamp collection. It is a process, so enjoy the ride.

My goal is to put together a WW collection to start. I will probably sell a lot of them in the end after I know more about what I have, but as it stands I will probably keep German, Japan, Israel, and US. I in herited a rather small collection from my dad; I loved it when I got into really going through his collection. It calmed my mind to work on these, as I am disabled with no real income and deal with some nasty PTSD. Working on stamps has been the best medicine I could have found, and it is just darned interesting to me. I realized quickly that I would not do any good if I didn't have more stamps to keep me busy so for a month selected some risky ebay auctions and purchased about 1500 plate blocks to compliment my dad's healthy collection for 15 cents each, I bought 45 lbs of WW stamps that a hoarder had stuck away and also found a guy who cleaned out a surgeons home and was told by the kids to "just throw them away". The seller didn't take pictures of the actual stamps, just piles and piles of glassines sorted into many countries. I bought cheap, about 5 dollars a batch a week for 8 weeks.

Okay, now I have sorting jars everywhere going through this stuff and have found many, many potentially valuable and somewhat collectable stamps. I have cataloged about 11000 stamps since Dec 18.

I have a complete set of 2017 Scott catalogs I bought from a library. I have the scott specialized and the Michel Deutschland-Spezial 2017 volumes. I also use stampworld site to help research and Id.

I have barly scratched the surface of this huge batch of WW issues and have enough to keep me busy until I croak.
Then my kids can do what they want with them but I hope they would just keep them for their kids or whatever.

I struggle with colors mostly and have learned so much but much, much more to learn about the stamp making process and forgeries are bound to exist in them so I feel I can not safely id all of them but the more valuable ones I will get checked by competent folks like you. I also joined APS and MAY use them for certification if I find that to be of value; not sure yet.

Thanks for all the help.

#20 again: Hate to say it, but you actually need to do both measurements and do it they way they say to do it. However, this is the normal stamp (thanks for the full view) with little reason for forgery. Plus, the other measurement looks to be correct by comparing with what you have already measured. So this is just a genuine heavy print of the red surcharge. Must have been a bad day at the printers.

Good to see you got the catalogs and found the stampworld site. That will help you a lot. When you get a chance, read the intro section in Scott (same in every volume). It's not exciting reading so you might want to do it in small chunks. But it will help you a lot also with stamps in general and with using Scott. So will the stamp identifier in the back of each volume (same for each volume).

Use the search here on SCF to hopefully answer a question; they go back years. In any case, the members here have a very good knowledge base and are always willing to share.

JB - Send me your address. I have a bunch of stamps you can sort. I usually donate them to the APS for new collectors, but if you want them I would be happy to send them to you. They are British Colonies from various collections I have purchased - all are "scratched and dented" but still might be some interesting things for you.

OMG

You guys just made my month.

I have way too may stamps as it is; seriously I WILL NOT run out in the next few years. I can not believe what I got my hands on; the catalog value (which I would expect 5 or 10 percent return current value) is exhorbitant, rather unbelievable, so I am crunching through them and loving every minute....mostly.

I have learned so much world history that I am franlky astonished that a good old American education did not come close to providing.

I love the art; the folks that designed these. Their lives, what mattered to them.

Then their are the users, the peoples of our world that actually had a need to use these stamps to communicate to those that mattered in their lives.

I can't even begin to imagine Their struggles.

Thank you all for your great suggestions and generous offers!

I know I will be either selling CHEAPLY or giving away this stuff at some point IF I don't die first!!

But, a few collections I will focus on, the places most affecting my life. I've lived in Japan...unforgetable. Not sure why I am attracted to their art. US seems the right thing to try to collect....I love the 1948 to 1990 Israel stamp collection I mostly purchased; I am raised in Arkansas so no real connection, except the struggle. I now have almost 4000 Germany stamps and suspect about 30,000 more given the contents of what work I still have to do. WHO NEEDS THAT MUCH? NO JOKE!!!

I have to ask: does this happen to all "phil" folks or just us crazy old folks? It keeps me busy when I had no real goal except to go through every dull TV day. My life has changed to the better because of this "hobby", not investment...hope I don't ever get bored with it.

Wanted to let you know this has been great for my illness; utterly life changing to keep the raging demons of PTSD and anxiety at bay!!!!

You all have a great night. This is stuff I share only with the community; not even my kids. That's too hard still.