Umm. Are These Really Both Scott #70B?

I have my doubts. Neither cert mentions being a color changeling.

Not my area at all, but seeing these side by side in the same auction made me do a double-take. I doubt that scanning aberration/inconsistencies would cause this great of a disparity, assuming they were not imaged years apart.

Top example appears to be a color changeling.

I noticed this on quite a few ebay and hip listings. I haven't looked at these online until recently and assumed the color variation was a scanner issue.

the top one is a color changeling.
Scott even has a footnote about this "Color changelings, especially of No. 78, are frequently offered as 70b. Obtaining a certificate from an acknowledged expert committee is strongly advised."

I too see these erroneously listed on ebay quite often (the 70b CV is more than twice the 78 CV). Surprised that Kelleher didn't offer any commentary ("cert says XXX, we disagree" or "offered as-is").

Numerous examples of shades similar to the top example can be seen in the PF cert database, submitted as 70b and the PF opinion is "It is not a Scott 70b Steel Blue, but rather a changeling of Scott 78".
(search for catalog number 70b and keyword "changeling"),

http://pfsearch.org/pfsearch/pf_grd...lledfrom=lkp

Note that this is another great example of the ongoing debate where it is nice to be able to search for certificates "Submitted As" 70b versus the PSE where you can only search for what they decide the actual catalog number is.

Does the APS have the analytical equipment that the PF does?

Steel blues are tough. I've gotten it wrong on a few. The legit ones generally aren't very blue. Maybe they should be called blue steel. But here are two to compare. One more steely and the other is the most blue one I have. Both certified genuine by the PF.