Christmas Purchase, Penny Black, Blues And Red.

Sheesh!
I searched the forum, and could not find it
(I was searching HODSON's)

Thanks for clearing that up.

Yes 23,000 postmarks in the database, your's is not shown
so yes, POSITIVE !

Funny because I bought the lot for exactly £1,5 (the starting bid) along with other common GB stuff. I just wanted the horse. Here is the actual lot I won.



You sometimes get good prices when the auction ends on weekdays/workdays. Also, blurry scans can sometimes hide small bargains.

In any event, rare/valuable or not, I'm glad I found something decent. It's a nice cancel nontheless.

There was no judgment in the reply. If you are happy with your purchase, that is good.

It pays to look around for Queen Victoria issues. If you want prime quality you will pay for it, or you must be lucky. Most of what is around suffers from "quality" issues. Sellers will use a catalogue and determine their price. But the catalogue rarely is applicable to most of what is around.

SG prices the imperforate stamps as having four margins that have approximately the width of the margin between two stamps. Postal clerks were not interested in stamp collections of the 21st century. Cutting the label so it was valid to prepay for carriage of mail was what they were paid to do. These were issued in the many millions. The scarcity is in the "catalogue quality" margins.

We speak of cancels, but these were obliterators. They were not intended to cancel a stamp with a nice date. They were intended to stamp the labels into oblivion. The GPO was concerned with forgery. When in 1881 stamps could be used for revenue payment, the inland revenue added to the paranoia. With many millions sold, the pricing, again, is for those that are much better than regular (or rare, identifiable) cancels.

With classic British stamps, you will notice that stamps are priced to (the lack of) rarity, unless the condition is above average and then they are priced as artefacts. SG prints the most important catalogue for this field. Their catalogues are catalogues and not general trade prices. They reflect the policy of trading in the high-quality range with collectors interested in those items. They do not reflect what is paid on ebay for the normal quality of stamps cut by post-office clerks working in bad lighting, not interested in collecting stamps, and told to obliterate stamps.




Risking a similar reaction. There is a caveat to what is "new." It is very much determined by the database consulted and the contributions made to that database. If you do not report it and your neighbour finds the same cancellation for the same date, that will again be a new discovery.

As Rod says: "positive" as it adds to knowledge. If it is indeed rare, that is very positive.

Another positive: these high values often were used for registration fees or to pay duties on imports. This appears a postal cancellation. That is very good.




From the pic, it looks stunning. Great cancel. It appears to be a postal cancellation and not fiscal or registered. So, excellent.




If you look at the "B" in the lower left corner, the top loop appears bigger and wider than the bottom one. It looks like an inverted and reversed "B." That would make it very recognisable. The Nissen examples, however, show no example of the BA (position row two, stamp 1) with this characteristic. Ignoring the outer end of the top loop (as a speck perhaps not sure from the picture) makes plate 4 – I think that is a much better fit than plate 1 - a suspect: The "B" is well-centred, maybe slightly below the vertical centre, strong serifs, slanting slightly upward. The box has strong lines as far as visible (that is why cutting into the design is an issue).
The A – and this is why I now think plate four – is also well-centred, the foot lining up with the top of the foot to the "Y" in "PENNY." But what is better in 4 than 1B: the quite long diagonal right leg of the A and the apparent slight nick in the middle of the left leg. The lack of strength in the bottom line of the box is more a 1B-feature than 4-feature. However, the shape of the "A" does not really fit plate 1B.

http://maltesex.com/cgi-bin/doctarr...0947.JPG~~~~

I certainly apologize if I came across as being rude in my response before, It wasn't my intention just my dry sense of humor with a taste of irony. I am, of course, very thankful for your replies. I was aware that the price for the pennies & seahorse was in the higher end pricewise but last time I bought Old French imperfs from him and got 50% discount so it was time to give back a little. :)

To add to the 5s seahorse stamp: it appears a post office in Victoria Station. So, parcel carried by rail maybe by ferry to the continent via Dover is a possibility.

Hi ubiyca,
Is it possible to get clear images of the star and check letter boxes of your penny black?

Here are some more 'B's to get a general shape comparison.

I have another blue seahorse, where the blue ink has escaped and migrated to some small areas just like in the picture, but not in the perfs.

Generally, that is caused by soaking and considered damage.

Yeah, it was like this when I got it.

Here is another example that's similar to my seahorse, although somewhat less, but it shows what I meant. It's like small blue clusters of tiny dots and small blue streaks/smears. In this picture you even see color being visible through the gum. This unused example with small hinge fetched close to €200.


https://www.ebay.com/itm/313792703063

In the last week or two we have had a few threads that discuss philatelic nomenclature, and this thread also seems to touch on this theme. In my opinion there are several types of 'values' which often are used in this community.

Market Value
Market value is often used here to mean 'what I can sell this stamp for today'. Like all market values, stamp market values are dictated by supply and demand. Market values are ephemeral and can fluctuate frequently over time. As such, determining a market value requires effort and typically involves discovery on recent 'sold' values. This might be talking to others (i.e. dealers and sellers) or examining auction results. Market values are distinct in that everything has a market value.

Catalog Value
Catalog values are typically, at best, guidelines and often do not reflect actual market values. There are a number of reasons that catalog values do not reflect actual market values but the important take away is to not confuse them with market values. They are often used as 'puffery' in stamp listings to generate perceived value. For example, a listing declares '$100 CV' yet is for sale for 'only $25'. Catalog values also frequently assign a 'minimum' value which is the smallest amount needed to cover a seller's cost of inventorying a stamp or cover.

Philatelic value
Philatelic value is the perspective that every stamp tells a story and carries value. The story might simply be that the stamp design causes a person to dive into its history or foreign culture. Other times the cancellation might increase interest or other times a tiny printing flaw can be found. These things may or may not impact the market value of the item. I consider rod222 an expert in this type valuation, he always looks for the story behind every stamp or cover and is quick to promote its story.

Personal value
Personal value is a subjective determination and a situation where an item carries intrinsic value. It may be simply a favorite collecting area or it may be have some nostalgic connection. Or it may simply be considered the 'fun factor' of the material. For example, I often buy based upon what I estimate the amount of time and enjoyment that I will get adding the material to my collection. If I figure that I will get 5 hours of enjoyment out of a lot, and I am willing to pay around $20 per hour of hobby 'fun', then the value of the material for me is $100. It does not matter what others might pay, I know exactly what the value is for me. The good part of this kind of valuing is that if the material every gets dispositioned it is 100% profit; I already got what I paid for when adding the material to my collection.

While we all probably collect in a way that makes 'value' sense to us, we should be tolerant of whatever type value scheme others may collect under. Occasionally we see some sarcasm or snarky posts regarding valuation, and we certainly see the different types of valuations interchanged in the same thread.

I recommend that folks try to include which type of value they are talking about to avoid confusion. I also recommend that folks embrace their valuation type; if you are a 'treasure hunter' then embrace market values and invest your time in understanding supply and demand. Learn market trends and how they impact valuations. Learn about the various buying and selling venues. If you love 'the story' behind every stamp or cover, then devote your time and effort in furthering your understanding of its development, production and/or history.
Don

Something is off with that stamp shown in the link. The perforations look funny and the paper looks very white. I cannot say whether it is the scan made by the seller or whether something funny is going on.

Yes looks like more a modern reprint, paper is white as snow, and looks strange.
It might be the lighting too, or the camera, as you said.

How do you guys manage to get crystal clear BIG scans like the one in this thread, the blue penny without the line??????!!!! I have an Iphone 6, some years old but still....

I want to take a good high definition picture of the penny black, and the letter "B" and corners as requested..