594? Where To Have This Beautiful Stamp Appraised?

That's a very small picture and little advice can be given at this point. Why do you believe it's valuable and worth appraising?

I would search this message board for "594" first. Every few months we get somebody who thinks they've found a copy; the much more likely case is this is a mistaken identification. There were billions of stamps of this design printed, and only a few dozen 594s have ever been found.

What steps have you done to verify the identification yourself?

Rotary Perf 11

19 3/4 by 21
1/4 millimeter

How did you measure the stamp? With a known rotary/flat press printing, with a ruler or caliper, with a digital measuring tool? It makes a difference. The first one is the most reliable way.

How did you verify the perf measurement?

If you're convinced you have a 594, the next step will be to submit it to the Philatelic Foundation or the APS for a certificate. That'll cost some money, at least $30 or so, so you want to be reasonably sure you have the real deal first.

Has the same perforations as #552 but is the design size of #597. Also used an alum. gauge.

Welcome.
We have so many threads like this one of our members wrote this article.
http://stampsmarter.com/learning/ID...arities.html

Don

If it's the same size as the rotary press #597 (i.e. you've directly compared them) and gauges perf 11 (not 11 by 10 1/2), you might indeed have a winner. But you'll need the cert, both to verify the identification and to eliminate the possibility of a reperf job.

StampSmarter has a good page on the rotary press rarities, if you haven't seen it yet:

http://www.stampsmarter.com/Learnin...arities.html

I know the need to get cert. At the same time feel uncomfortable mailing.

People send valuable stamps to the PF or APS for expertisation all the time without issues, including things much more valuable than #594. You can send it insured if loss in the mails is more your concern, though of course that will cost more money.

How do you go about insuring stamp that have not been certified? Also I wouldn't know the price since it is the two stamps connected.

You would insure it for what you'd want to be compensated if it disappeared in the mail. USPS postal insurance has a limit ($5,000), you might need to send with a private shipper if you want to insure for more. But again, insuring something for $5K or more will be quite expensive -- you want to make doubly sure you have what you think you have first.

If you directly compared a known rotary press issue to this issue and got an exact match (the difference is just a fraction of a millimeter, so you need to be very careful doing that), and you are sure it's perf 11, the only way to realize its value is to get the cert, no way around that.




Take a look at the Siegel census page for this issue, you can see some past auction realizations for this issue:

https://siegelauctions.com/display_...s.php?id=235

A genuine, fault-free #594 will sell for around $20-30K at auction. With faults, it might only be $2-3K. A pair might realize around double, maybe slightly more or somewhat less (it can be easier to sell two singles than a pair). There are actually some known #594 pairs shown on that page, some of which were broken up to sell as singles. But you can see the value varies greatly depending on condition, so consider condition first.

scpal9,

The odds of having a 594 are very, very, very long. It is also good advice to read the previous threads and the linked article to be absolutely sure of ALL of the identification points which differentiate 594 from the far more common look-alikes.

You seem convinced, but most of us are going to remain skeptical knowing the odds and without hi-res scans of front and back, scans of top and sides against a perf gauge, etc.

You may have the cart before the horse. Why worry about shipping and insurance before having a fairly good second-eye confirmation of what you have?

Just me talking but if I was that certain on the identification, and that concerned about losing it in the mail or whatever - it's a great excuse for a road trip. Of course I don't know where you live.

Wisconsin. I live to see a cert.