Another Ebay Chuckle - 37d?

The misidentity of the perf 12 1/2 37d is a pet stamp peeve of mine, I didn't chuckle at all when I saw the OP with an 1890's cds. It is only found for a few months in 1870.

The shade of a 37d is somewhat variable, partly due to them being 150 years old (under variable storage conditions) and partly due to variations in ink formula. The example I show here is as close to the "peak Indian red" as I've seen, hope the reproduction here does it justice.

I added a rule rather than a perf gauge so viewers could scale the image.

I'd also add that the cancel of the stamp I show is a NS grid oval, consistent with what you'd expect to see on genuine examples. Saint John 2R7, Pictou 2R30 and Truro 2R54 cancels confirm its use in NS / NB. Montreal dated examples are also known.

It's printed on a specific high-quality wove paper, I'll post a back scan in a few days.

I think the example shown with 2R7 cancel in thread is definitely an Indian Red too, have some concerns about perfs at bottom being recut (note how the cancel doesn't extend to edge, giving a halo effect) but I'd have to see in person to judge.

The image here was enhanced with side lighting. The paper of the 37d is good quality and white. Of course the ravages of time can alter the whiteness of the paper, but the surface pattern from the papermaking roll should look like this.

I believe only one paper type was used for the stamps perforated 12 1/2. I hope these images are an aid to those who seek a "find" in a pile of the otherwise common three-cent Small Queens.

A fascinating study of this stamp, Archerg! Thanks -

Thanks Archerg

One of the pictures earlier of a three cent small queen showed a "rare shade" per the description of it - looks to me like a regular stamp oxidized dark brown.

The 37d is a distinct shade and rare and not worth the 1,400.00 I saw one dealer selling it for in this post. These used 37d usually realize around 500 to 600 dollars hammer I have found based on past auctions.

Don is correct....I have a few below that make me think...But as people post 37d, it is hard to distinguish from what you have and what is the true stamp.

An oxidation makes it even harder unless you have a 37d in hand to compare...I know mine are not 37d, but makes it hard with computers now a days.

Robert

Seeing colors is a subjective sensory perception with a large dependency upon ambient lighting. But if we put the very important ambient lighting aside for the moment, consider just the sense of seeing color by thinking about another sensory perception, taste. There are several primary tastes that we all have including salt, sweet, sour and bitter. If we all lick some potato chips we could probably get the consensus that it is salty. So that works. But the trouble comes with trying to further define 'salty'...just how 'salty'? Some might say 'a bit salty' while others call it 'very salty'.

So if we all look at the same stamp in hand, some might call it orange while others calls it red-orange . Then try to account for different ambient lighting conditions, scanners, saved files, different display monitors...yikes. In my opinion catalog publishers who assign different numbers and values to stamp colors ought to be slapped up side the head with a big Canadian lake trout!
Don

For stamps line perforated 12.5 gauge, there is one Canada postage stamp Scott # 37d (1870) and one U.S. postage stamp Scott # 536 (1919). The U.S. stamp was perforated by a Rosback Pony rotary perforator which is still around.