Scott 38 — 30¢ 1860. Legit?

Glad you were able to have someone knowledgeable examine it.

While looking through the "Show Us Your Perforated 1851-1857 Stamps" thread I noted two examples of 38s which, similar to my example, shouldn't exist. As discussed in that thread, of them came back with a bad cert from the PF (this was back in 2020). I plated it this evening against the Ashbrook photos of a 30¢ proof pane (200 subjects) and there is no matching plate position. The other example is also suspicious, with no matching plate position and lines that appear to be painted in.

I wonder how many of these are out in the wild?

I can corroborate this account--the dealer was in fact getting quite fussy about essay-proof coming back again and again, but his trepidation can be understood when the dealer is selling the stamp as is without taking into consideration alterations

oldboldandbrash, thank you for confirming. It was an awkward situation but it turned out OK. It's understandable that the dealer would get fussy because he has a good reputation to uphold, didn't know me, etc. But I think in the end he realized that I was right (and so was the expertizer) and agreed to reduce his price. Win-win. And it was a learning experience for me in expertizing stamps.

I haven't named names (and won't) because no one's done anything untoward, no intentional dishonesty, etc.

In the meantime, in answer to my own question from my previous post, I've identified no fewer than 13 unique copies of Sc #38 on ebay, dealer's websites, and PF certs. I'm amazed at the lengths to which fakers have gone to alter these stamps. At some point I'll post some examples of what I've found.

That should have read "no fewer than 13 unique, **similarly altered** copies of Sc #38." Here's one of them.

Not sure if this is one of the 13. It has a Crowe cert calling out the added bottom margin.




https://www.ebay.com/itm/385467805704

Yup, that's one's on my list. But I guess I have an issue with only calling out an added bottom margin when such a bottom margin would never exist on the stamp as issued.

Regarding 52L1 which rogdcam posted about previously in this thread, here's a good view of it from the Ashbrook photos of a 30¢ proof sheet. Note how the highlighted "arrowhead" in the lower RH corner looks smushed. Elliot Perry documented this arrowhead as having been retouched. This is about the only oddly-shaped arrowhead that anyone should see in a legit copy of Sc #38.

That said, the appearance of this particular arrowhead (one of 6 in the design) varies from subject to subject across all 200 subjects. Some appear more complete than others, as shown below from two other stamps on the same pane.

Starting to make records of these for, um, my records and as part of my ongoing research into #38. This example is particularly bad. It wasn't identified as having been altered in the listing and sold for waaaaay too much money. I'm posting this for academic interest, educational purposes, and discussion. Not interested in "outing" the seller, hence the redaction.

Essay-Proof - FYI, the stamp above is relisted with the same seller. Must have been returned. Wonder why? He still does not list the repairs/defects other than the top reference. I did not post a link in order to keep in line with your redaction.

Thanks rogdcam. Interesting! At least the repair is acknowledged this time around but it doesn't go far enough. But the seller may be genuinely unaware of the extent of the repairs. (My comment about the cancel is just a guess tho.)

Regarding (3), I wouldn't jump to conclusions that it is a fake cancel, the entire stamp looks rebacked (perfs trimmed all around and pasted on top of another/different stamp), thus no cancel markings in the margin. Usually the faker draws a continuation of the cancel into the added margin but not so in this case.

Thanks for that info ZebraMan.

You should change your name to essay_sleuth! Love to see these kinds of posts

Thank you for keeping us safe, sir.

Love that idea! I'll write to the powers that be and see if they can change it.

Here's your daily #38 alteration, with no faults noted in the offering description.