Two Ceylon Stamp Errors

Hi folks,

I have just found two of my first ever error stamps and was just wondering what your thoughts of them were. One is quite significant and the other just a small dot of ink above the boatbut I'm over the moon to have found anything really. I've only been collecting for a few months and my collection is all over the place in terms of where the stamps originate but I'm having fun regardless!






Thanks for taking the time to have a look.


*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Opinion:
First stamp, not an error, an EFO, and a minor one at that. The stamp is also damaged.

2. The Ceylon is an absolute "cracker" nice find indeed.
I cannot see how that happened, it is from a comb perforator.
If I had seen that on ebay, I would have been very suspect, thinking perhaps photo shopped.
The only source I can imagine, if this is genuine, is that it is "printer's waste" come on the market.

What's also odd is the left half of the pair has no perfs across the top and possibly across the bottom. Then all the stamps further to the left in the strip have vertical perfs cutting well into the design.

Can we see a scan of the back?
Don

I didn't have my Gibbons handy when I first responded. Gibbons lists 2 versions of this error:

SG 487a is the imperf pair, priced at GPB 48
SG 487b is the imperf pair, one pair imperf on 3 sides, priced at GBP 150

Given what I can see, this appears to be SG 487b however I cannot really see the bottom edge. If it is likewise imperf, this is a strip containing 487b. If the bottom has perfs, it is SG 487a.

Right, thanks,
any opinions on how that may have occurred from a comb perforator?

All I can think is perhaps multiple sheets were attempted, and the bottom sheet somehow missed the punctures at that spot.
If the comb pins had broken, (not the boss, they are too heavy) surely the operator would have heard and stopped the machine.

Aha! I was assuming the feed was advancing top to bottom of the vignette,
that defied explanation, however, if we assume the sheet was sideways, and the feed was advancing left to right, then the explanation may have been an advance hiccup, it jumped (for whatever reason) 1 line of stamps.
That has me more confident.

Hi Rod! Am going to have to correct your terminology.

It is a corker not a cracker.

I agree Rod its very strange and interesting.

Thanks for that folks! Not bad for my first error stamp I guess... Corker/cracker indeed!

This is the reverse of the stamp. Apologies for the previous poor quality images.

Based on the new image it's definitely SG 487b

After much thought, I think I would like to sell this particular stamp (in order to buy more lots). Has anyone any advice? I have sold other items online but never stamps. How would you package this strip and can you trust the buyer on the other side? I was thinking of simply putting it up for auction on or near its CV and seeing what happens. However, I am aware that the CV is for a pair and not a strip so I'm not sure what impact that has on CV.
Thanks for any of your thoughts folks.

The vast majority of ebay sales and purchases proceed without any problems. Put the strip in a standard dealer card, and send tracked/signed. The rough expectation against SG CV for better BC items is around 20-30%.

An auction shouldn't start at or near catalog. You won't get any bids. It's not really an "auction" if you want full catalog price, it's more of a "buy it now." Kind of like a price list.

I generally agree with Geoff however I think you may be able to sell for higher than 30%, though not much higher. That said, if you start the auction at 30%, you're like to only receive 1 or 2 bids at most.

One option to consider is to try a buy-it-now with best offer sale. That will give you an idea of how many buyers on ebay are interested and the kinds of offers they are willing to make. But I would not start at GBP 150, it may be a turn off for some buyers and you may be insulted by some of the offers you receive.

To provide an illustration to rod222's post, using the illustration of the reverse side, the stamp was produced with a comb perforator and the paper advanced 2 stamp widths instead of the normal one left/right, thus leaving 3 sides imperf. Never seen one before - very interesting!

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'm in no great hurry for it to sell so I am willing to experiment with a few options on ebay and see what buyers think. I'll make sure to get a few stamp dealer cards to put the strip in as well. You folks are all great, cheers!

That's an interesting item. I've not seen it before.

SG 487a would be a regular imperf pair, with both stamps imperforate on all four sides.