US J29 Postage Due, Possibility?

I'm sure people have seen enough of these threads, and I know what the chances are. But, going through a batch of about 100 1c dues, pulled out of a disintegrating envelope, probably from the 30's, I found 5 that MAY fit the description. Everything in the envelope were perf 12, and all but 5 were double line watermarked.

Those 5 were unwatermarked. 4 are previously joined pairs of 2 and a single. But, they all appear to originate from, possibly, the same sheet.

Anyway, I did my checks and it came down to the color, which is tricky on postage dues where the red ink bleeds when you soak them.

Then, I found a topic here where someone mentioned that the vermilion issues will be orange under UV light. So, I checked that and low and behold BRIGHT ORANGE, on all 5.

Here are a few pics:

Here are 2 of the suspects (top), along with a different claret due and a Sc 183 for comparison, from phone camera.



Same image on flatbed scanner.



Same stamps under UV light.



All 5 suspects under UV light


Opinins?

@spain_1850




I could not tell you anything about your stamp. However, I would expect people have seen enough threads where someone thinks every of the many stamps bought at a car boot sale is worth at least $ 10,000.

Having seen your earlier posts, I do not think you are among those people. Also, you have shared your knowledge.

I hope and expect someone will reply with pleasure.

The 1¢ Postage due stamps shown under UV in the orange yellow shade may well be Scott J29, Vermilion. J 29 and J 30 will glow differently under UV from the next series. The same holds true for Scott J15-J21 vs. J22-J28. J22-28 will glow similar to J29 and J30. J15-22 will not.

Plate 34 was only used to print J30 and of course it's the same color (vermillion) as J29.

NSK - Thank you for the kind words. While it would be great to stumble across rare stamps at a regular interval, I do realize that is not reality. I looked at these things and did all the checks I knew of, before seeking other opinions. If I come to the conclusion these have a good chance of being J29's, I will probably send at least 2 of them in for a cert, as a final confirmation. 3 of them are thinned so badly, that even with a positive cert, the market value will probably be less than the cost of the cert.

wtcrowe - Great info, thank you! My Scott catalog doesn't seem to provide any info about fluorescence on these. Glad I decided to ask here.

postagedueguy - More great information to store away. Not that I'm likely to run into a plate block, but you never know............

A while back on ebay I found a plate block of J30 among a bunch of other postage due plate blocks and singles (not the one in my last post) for $89. I thought it was a J62 at first until I blew up the picture and found it was plate 34.

postagedueguy - That's great to hear. Finds CAN be made, and knowledge is power. I'm not specifically a US collector, so my knowledge is in the area is also limited. These 5, possible, J29's came in an old, deteriorating envelope, tucked away inside a random bankers box mishmash of floor sweepings. Always a joy to find something unexpected.

Just a short update:

Not long after my last post, I went ahead and sent the 2 best ones from the group shown earlier, to APS for certification.
Hadn't heard anything form them and the website shows "not yet rendered" under the "final opinion" column, so I decided to email them for a status update.

Was told they are both correctly identified as J29, and that they SHOULD be mailing them back within the next week or so.

These is my first experience with APS for certs.

That is very good news ... congrats on your find.

I also had the same experience with APS. No news for quite some time until I send them an email asking for an update. Viola! Results back in a week after that.

Now for the next find.

Great to hear Spain_1850! You have motivated me to add my "J29s" in line for my next to-do list and revisit them. I purchased in a larger lot, and they fit the image and had been identified as J29s, and I haven't looked back. My issue is that my "to-do" list(s) start as one thing and before I realize - I tend to get far off task. Had planned to sort through some of loose China envelopes that have been gathering dust and 3 hours later I haven't finished the first one I opened, find myself going down too many rabbit holes and reading forums related to the topic. But hopefully this week I will be done and on to the next!
Cheers!

Sometimes you just get lucky!!! Congradulations!!!

On the subject of 1c and 2c perf 12s glowing a shade of orange under UV, is that limited to Vermilion? Or are there other colors that glow as well? I have a couple I will show later.

This is a shortwave image:



My apologies for the blurriness.

Same stamps using my regular scan method:

Note: I'm 99.9% sure these are double line watermarked. So what color could they be that glows under UV?

And now the longwave UV:

Clearly not as much of a glow as Vermilion. Would these then be deep claret or just claret? If so, why don't my other copies glow?

According to the the Scott's Specialized J29 and J30 fluoresce orange under longwave ultraviolet
light. J31 and J32 don't. In the Durland Standard Plate Number Catalog J29 and J30 fluoresce under
both short and longwave ultraviolet light.