US Scott #83 C Grill? Need To Confirm

I have a stamp book and this stamp is hinged in the #83 spot. I want to make sure it is not mislabeled. I know I probably need a magnifier for this but was hoping maybe someone on here could tell.

E591AA22-8E01-4655-A99D-3451D4307037-scfopt

F2CCCDE8-692A-4E07-A01B-BAC668514E29-scfopt



6F987BE5-05F6-4925-89B2-ACD6C154328F-scfopt.jpg

Not a C grill since the points are facing down (away from the face of the stamp).

This may help you:

https://stampsmarter.org/learning/I...8Grills.html

I have read about the points facing up or down and I still don't understand how to tell that?? Even looking at pictures I'm confused and they look the same to me. Can anyone explain it and how to tell if they are up or down?

7AD3E179-8908-4FDA-A4A4-3C7D27FE98E3-scfopt.jpg

81DF6993-FA88-496B-8780-439BF295BA16-scfopt.jpg

Mike - If you were to run your finger across a points up stamp you would feel the amplitude (bumps) from the raised grill on the front (design side) of the paper. On a points down stamp you would feel the amplitude on the back side. On your stamp you can see on the back of the stamp that the tips of the points have become dirty and are clearly visible. You can also light the stamp from an oblique angle and see the raised grill embossing much better. Another somewhat controversial way of detecting a grill, especially weak grills, is to apply graphite which serves to accentuate the grill. It would then look a lot like your stamp already looks with the points clearly showing as raised upon the back.

Ok thank you so much! I will go feel the stamp and learn!!

I don't know if it is just me, but all but two of your illustrations appears not as images but as a text string,

The OP has only uploaded two grill images and both are shown above, the other strings are extraneous.
Don

Ok so I unhinged the stamp and also unhinged one that was hinged as #94. I am wondering if maybe they got swapped… the grill on the one I though was #83 does appear to face downward… and the #94 seems smoother on the back. I will attach pictures.

My count on the grills: lightly cancelled 14x16 with a horizontal half row at top. This checks out.
Heavy cancelled counts as 12x16or17. Also checks out.


The stamp which is lightly cancelled is a #88. The other is #94. Both are points down.

Thank you so much!

Mlkierx, my fingers are not as sensitive as rogdcam, not enough to feel most grills. I prefer sliding the back of a very light knife blade over the grill to sense the points.