U388 Albino Error On Blue Envelope

I am looking to buy this is it a good deal for under $20?



*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

I find that most albinos on common late 1880's to early 1900's go for about $2 - $10. If the issue is scarcer, then more. For me, if the CV is $2 or more, I would go 1.5 to 2x CV at most for a retail purchase, likely less.

Thanks Orstampman! I never collected albinos, but lately I have been accumulating this series.

This is the Australian Stamps and Covers forum. You may get more answers in the correct category.

Sorry my bad. not sure how that happended.

Definitely under $10 imho. Thomas Galloway is the EFO collector for US postal stationery so we should see what he has to say.

In my collection of EFOs, I separate albinos into 3 classes.

Class A - the albino is of such clarity (mostly this means quality of strike, but other attributes can get involved) that the UPSS number can be determined.

Class B - the albino does not reveal its UPSS number, but a certain amount of information (relating to the indicium) is revealed, but not enough to be a class A. An example of this class would be the albino in the OP. Its a Hartford 2 cent, but is it a U388 or a U398? If it can be determined to be a U388, then can you differentiate U388, U388a, and U388b? So, we check for setoff on the backside of the indicium.

Class C - the albino is of such poor quality that both the Scott and UPSS numbering systems are not useful. I then go to a different catalog numbering system that I developed for this very problem (inability to provide a useful cat number).

[Universal caveat: We make room for special cases]

I would pay a lot for a Class A albino. Maybe three digits. Class B's value would span the gamut, but the range expressed above ($2 to $10) I am comfortable with.

Class C are mostly worthless, maybe a buck now and then and occasionally, if certain attributes make it rare, more $$.

We mustn't forget there are envelopes that look like albinos, but are really missing colors. They usually go for bigger bucks. Much bigger.