I Just Registered, And Would Like To Say, "Hello"

Hello.

Welcome.
Don

Hello you will enjoy it here.

Hi, Don. How are you today.

This is my first few minutes on this forum, and I want to get familiar with what you guys do (and don't do) My goal in coming here is to discuss stamps! What a surprise, huh?

I have been collecting since I was 5 (as I said in my brief bio) but I have not been active for 10 - 15 years. My daughter is now getting interested in stamps and she found your site. She and I are going through the collection, and trying to get a sense of the value. I expect this collection will be her's some day, and I would like her to continue the collection rather than sell it to MYSTIC.

Since I have been back, my daughter and I have been expertizing some of the stamps, and she is picking it up very fast. However, there are some stamps that puzzle me as well. For example, I have an early French stamp that is perferated, but the horizontal perforation two centimeters too high. The top perf goes through the face of the stamp, and includes the complete, unperferated margin below it and its adjacent stamp. The bottom perferation cuts off the stamp that was under it so the stamps price, which was at the bottom is missing. The thing that impresses me about this stamp is that it is CANCELLED! With no value on it.

Have you seen anything like this before and should I throw the stamp away or offer it up for $1M?

Hi, MRITE75

If you have an opinion on my question, you can answer as well.

Good Day, I am amazing today (vertical and dressed!)

Your stamp sounds new to me but I am just a hobbyist like you. Please consider posting an image of your stamp and perhaps some of our other members will offer their opinions.
Don

51Studebaker (I remember those!),

Hi, how are you?

Actually, I would have posted a photo if I knew how. My daughter is out of the house right now, and I have to wait for her to come back.

I hope this works:

This is the stamp. Note that the entire upper margin is included in the stamp, and the part of the next stamp on top of the margin is perferated.

Any opinions?

Bad centring of the perforations.

NSK,

Hi, how are you.

Yes, I see that the perfs are off. But does that make it worth less? Or worth a bundle. As I see it, this is not just a millimeter off, this is a new stamp. I want that to be true, so I see it that way. :)

Not an expert on French colonies. Normally, this kind of bad centring does not add to the price at which the stamp is bought.

Let me note again, the entire bottom part of the stamp, where it states the stamps value is missing. I believe this is 1863 Scott 25 10 centemes. The part where the 10 c is printed is entirely missing, and (and this is a big deal to me, but maybe it really isn't), but this has been cancelled, therefore, it has been accepted by the French postmaster!

NSK, you may be right, but I am hoping this may be enough of an error (like the US Dag Hammarskjold error.

Anyway, I can dream.

In that time, perforating stamps was quite new. Bad centring of this type was quite common. For many countries, well-centred stamps command a premium over such stamps.
On an international scale, this is not a very big deal.
Maybe one of the France and colonies experts can tell you whether France was better at centring and this would be a valuable perforation shift.

I suppose the Dag Hammarskjöld is from after his death, at a time when perforators were very accurate and quality controls much better.

In my heart, I know NSK is probably right, but I am not throwing the stamp away.

In my collection I think I have more than my fair share of forgeries. I find them all the time. If anyone out there is interested, I can post some of them. For example, I have a phony France Scott #1, a phony Basel Dove, and a phony Romania Scott # 1 Fortunately I also have genuine France # 1, but sadly no genuine Basel Dove or Romania #1.

Interestingly, a dealer once showed me his Basel Dove which was very similar to mine, but his had an Expertized Certificate saying that his was genuine. I looked at his very carefully, as I did my own, and neither one of them was genuine in my opinion.

Any Basel Dove experts out there? Of all three of those stamps that is the one I want to be genuine.

Welcome - this is a nice perforation shift. Yes, the stamp is France Scott 25 (Yvert 21), 10 centime value (you can see the bottom of "10 c postes" cut off at the top). The cancel of "415" refers to the town of Begard, France.

The stamp has a modest value used, this would maybe add a little bit to it, but the condition is quite poor, and perf shifts not uncommon on this series, so you still end up with a modest value stamp.