The truth is within and only you can reveal it 03 Jan 2017 05:28:44pm
re: US Scott # 1: Legit?
Looks like a nice stamp to me, although XF/GEM is a stretch due to the tight left margin. Very few early U.S. stamps have been known to be counterfeited and I do not know of any #1's being forged and I have no doubt this stamp is genuine. If the stamp is actually sound without any faults or repairs the price isn't far off. If a seller clearly overrates a stamp, in this case centering, I always have to wonder what else may not have been described correctly or not even mentioned.
If you are really interested ask the seller for a high res scan of the reverse.
I would also ask for a back scan and whether there are any other faults.
It does look clean, meaning the cancel for some reason looks barely visible. Whether that's a concern I don't know. Its not XF to me but its four margins, one close. $299 for XF #1 with no faults seems low price to me, but #1 pricing seems to be declining.
What do you know about this seller? Sold 202 items all I can see. But, you could return it if there are problems.
Old forgeries of this issue are crude but I also wouldn't underestimate the potential for shenanigans on Ebay sales.
That is a very nice stamp. You can see the seller has rejected two offers, wouldn't hurt to take a shot. I've been pretty lucky with "Make An Offer" on eBay recently.
If it's too clean for ya, you could always do the Sharpie thing! Nice margins but what a cancel!
If we go by Scott grading standards, it isn't VF, more close to F/VF if you ask, I've seen perforated stamps in which the perf. cuts into the design and they are called F/VF, at any rate a nice looking stamp nevertheless.
Scott uses different grading standards for early issues. For the 1847 issue, F-VF has all margins clear, but one is very close to the frame line. VF shows all margins sufficiently clear. XF has larger margins approximating the illustrated stamp. However, I wouldn't call it XF due to the top right corner. I would call it VF, but I can see where someone might consider it to be F-VF once again due to the top right corner.
Michael, I think that we must be looking at different stamps, to me it is the left margin the one that renders the stamp to F/VF. My 2006 ed. of Scott shows the penny black as example for the F/VF, VF and XF classifications and the F/VF is the closest match, I don't see anything wrong with the top right corner, actually the top and bottom margins are just as even as you can get and the right margin is very generous.
I think Michael was looking at BenFranklin's image, which was shown as a joke. The real stamp is on the eBay listing and appears to be a very nice stamp indeed!
But I agree it's F-VF based on left margin, but it's pretty darn close to VF for sure!
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
There are a few forgeries of the 5c but are quite crude unlike the very good Sperati 10c
There is a modern reproduction made from a plate coming out of Florida which is excellent in every detail. The paper has even been aged.
So Tom bamboozled me and it isn't even April 1!
