Is This A Candidate 28A Or B?

Alas, without knowing when and where the images were taken this means little. Plus everyone is seeing it on their own PC, which affects how we each see it. At an ASDA show several years ago someone put up an exhibit which included all the shades on one page. That is really the only way to differentiate between them.

Alas, the image, not images, containing the four stamps was taken with the four stamps in the image. In other words at the same time. Together. Like the exhibit you reference.

Since you did not say so at the time, no one had any way to know this. If you are going to post shade comparisons that info is essential.

In the meantime I asked siegel if this could be stuff for their auction. I revealed that I'm in europe and would certificate the stamp there.
Here the response:
"Dear Mr. XXX
Thank you for sending me a picture of the stamp. It is hard to tell what the color shade is. The most important thing is whether it is truly unused or if it has a cleaned cancel. For that, you have to send it to the Philatelic Foundation in New York to have it reviewed and get a certificate.
If you wish to send it to them, you can ask that if it comes back as unused, you can place it on our account to pick up. That way, we can pay for the certificate and then just deduct that when it comes time for auction.

Sincerely,
Andrew

Good luck! Hope it certifies as genuine unused!

thanks bud
is there possibility bring the stamp personally to the Philatelic Foundation in New York and assist the certification? I have also other US stamps to certify.

Yes you can bring your stamps personally. It actually is an interesting experience. I had an item that needed to be certified, brought it in and actually got to speak with the lead expert in the area which was an education in itself. I also got to see a number of other experts at work. It is a cluttered space but there is interesting material on the wall like photos of the reconstructed sheet of C3a and full Zeppelin sheets which are just cool to see.

Bob

The lead expert is a wonderful man who I know for almost 50 years. It's well worth the trip for anyone who can bring material there in person.

bobplates, revcollector
thanks very much. Is Siegel the best auction house for rare stamps (only if this one is unused thats not clear at all, the cancel could be erased and than the value is a fraction of the price of an unused one)and did they only approve certification from the Philatelic Foundation in New York or are there other possibilitys to certificate it maybe in europe some good adresses there?
It makes no sense if the big renowned auction houses only approve US-certificates for US-stamps and I must it certificate twice so I ask if maybe someone from europe had experience with bringing stamps to Siegel auction.

Siegel is not pushing the Philatelic Foundation (PF) on you, nor do they absolutely require their certificates. They and we are well aware that for US classic stamps, the PF has the reference collections and the people to interpret them. I can think of a couple of major European experts that might give an opinion. But in the end, if they had any sense, would probably consult with the PF or one of its experts to confirm the shade/color or send it to the PF outright. And that shade/color is your basic concern here, is it not?

A European expert's opinion may have value to you, but it has virtually none to collectors of US stamps. That is why Siegel rightly referred you to them. Any competent expert should be able to render an opinion if this is actually cancelled or not, and that part would probably be trusted by US collectors. Color/shade identification, no. And in the end, experts render an opinion and not the absolute word of God. Why not use the expert/expert group that specializes in what you have rather than someone who conveniently lives next door?

If you do not trust international registered mail (both ways), then you lose. If you are thinking to save a few euros, then you lose.

I strongly suggest you go to the PF site and check out their requirements, particularly their charges.

As to "best" auction house, you will find a great range of opinions. You should make yourself aware of charges and requirements to sell via individual stamp auction houses. But why contact Siegel and get a free consultation and a friendly offer to defer expert charges and then be perfectly willing to snub them? You are jumping to conclusions about its appropriateness to anyone's auction house; see what the certificate results are first. And we would like to see the certificate results here.

The major expertizing committees in the United States, PF, PSE, PSAG and APS and the Greene Foundation in Canada have the necessary forensic equipment to detect removed cancels. The APS recently received a VSC-6000 as a donation to replace the CrimeScope, returning them to the top tier with respect to forensic capabilities. The APS was the first to use modern forensic equipment that could detect removed cancels when it acquired the CrimeScope. PSE and PSAG acquired older model VSC equipment before the VSC-6000 was available. The Philatelic Foundation finally obtained a VSC-6000 a couple of years ago, the last to have the ability to detect removed cancels.

If others can provide a more precise timeline, it would be helpful when looking at stamps with older certificates. Technology is a moving target, now that the VSC-8000 has been released. The Philatelic Foundation also has an XRF which may be helpful in cases where inorganic ink pigments were used.

UY is still useful for looking for removed cancels as well.

cfrphoto....The VSC-6000 is a great machine...I had the opportunity to go to BNAPS and was shown the machine in action...Good stuff.

Robert

re: 'bobplates, revcollector

thanks very much. Is Siegel the best auction house for rare stamps ....'

Siegel is on the top of the heap for the auction of rare US material... there are others of course. I have bought and sold through a number so I speak from experience. Seems like worrying about the right auction house is putting the cart before the horse. You will need a certificate to maximize value to you.

In terms of the PF, I see no reason not to use them and if you happen to be in NY you don't have to worry about losing your item(s) in the mail. That seemed to be the question to me. The idea that Siegel might be directing sellers to the PF seems to be conspiratorial at best.

My 2 cents.

thanks for this very valuable informations.
cfrphoto made a very good statement. Only the P.F. in N.Y and a few others in north america and canada can exclude for shure with special equipment if a stamp has a cancel removed or not. Now for me it makes all sense why Siegel whanted certified it by the P.F. and not someone in europe . They don't pushed me to anything and it was not my intention to give you the feeling.
this is the way to go like Andrew from Siegel mentioned it on the email. I had the wrong assumption that maybe someone in europe could certify it but now it's out of debate.
I came to reason that not only it's abouth the unused state but also to identify the stamp correctly. That should do only the P.F. in N.Y. if not it has no importance to Siegel. I understand this now fully thanks to your great inputs hy-brasil,cfrphoto, bobplates .