Hi all! I came across this 183 on a cover. I placed it under the microscope to find the secret mark. I looked the stamp over even more. The letters in POSTAGE, especially the TAG, don't seem right to me. Am I just seeing things or is there something there? I thank you in advance.
This stamp is vermilion, not brown. It can only be a 183 on soft paper or, very unlikely, a 178 on hard paper. A long wave UV light can be used to tell the difference. Soft paper looks grayish under long wave UV. Hard paper is brighter. The 1883 date on the cover and the paler vermilion color point to 183.
The color and the the number are not what I am questioning. I guess what I am trying to find out is if the line cutting through the top of the letters in POSTAGE is a normal thing or not. It just doesn't look right to me. I circled the areas I am questioning.
Not sure that is a "cutting" through those letters. Could be an inking issue in the printing process. Look at the lower part of this stamp which is much like the one of yours in question. It is an inking issue with missing ink where the shading should be.
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Posted 08/16/2020 10:46 am
