GB SG 511 - "a nice solid stamp"

Hello, How are you all.. well I hope.. I have not written about stamp quality for a while and thought it was time I did. I am motivated to do this by the fact I bought a stamp on eBay recently and when it arrived it had a lovely ( derrgghh) crease in it.

I have to give full marks to the seller who immediately refunded my money. Sad that they tried to sell it without an accurate description. The description they gave included the words "fine" and "excellent".. it was far from it and I am going to be generous and say they did not know their description was not what they thought it was.

So my message for tonight... is know how to describe your stamps and know when you receive stamps what the correct quality of the stamps is..... by example, tonight I found this on an auction site I have used a lot and one I promote
- but what do you think?

How many of you would describe this stamp as .. and I quote .. " .... a nice solid stamp.." ok, maybe it is solid as it is not torn with pieces missing ( that is a joke ok ) but seriously.. what does "solid stamp" mean.. not a generally used stamp quality description is it... well to me it is not, and I hope to you - this is heavily franked, with maybe some slight toning and maybe a crease.. ( I say maybe because until I see the actual stamp I cannot be sure and it may be what I think could be a crease is just the plastic of the card the stamp is shown on. but.. and here is the message,..... it is up to the seller to tell you these things.... or, if in doubt, for you to send an email to the seller to ask for clarification... don't be shy about asking.. it is your money after all...

How to tell about a stamp when maybe you have little or nothing to compare with.. a good question.. and I am glad you asked me.. maybe this will help...
here are 4 stamps from my collection..


some brief comments.. I could write for hours but I doubt you have the time to read..

top left.. clean, not well centred, reasonable franking, reasonable perfs. no tears or thins

top right...full postmark, better centering, good perfs, no tears or thins

bottom left...very clean, poor centering, good perfs, no tears or thins

bottom right... nearly lovely postmark , clean, good perfs, quite well centred, no tears or thins.

Now compare these 4 with the copy that is for auction.. ok, so you want a space filler... go for the auction example.. ( a bit of advertising here if I may.. my GB specials on my web site will include this stamp and in better quality and many other high value GB......... http://www.cddstamps.com/ and all for a fraction of the price you will pay at auction for this quality of material.. and quite frankly this auction example is only a space filler.. harsh of me.. maybe .. as long as you are aware and then happy, then ok, that is fine with me too.. but please don't think you have a quality stamp with near catalogue value.

Now.. how to get a better copy of this stamp..

I will give 3 copies away.. the 3 runners up, shall I call these...... to each person that writes a piece that I publish.. any stamp topic.. and with a scan of a stamp or stamps..... any takers..???? I look forward to hearing from you... and....

I will chose one entry as the best ( ie a fourth entry as the first prize and publish it as well and give a set of the GB GV SG 509 - 512 average used (cat for fine used is GB £25 I might add..) Please try to keep article to about 250 words or less

Look forward to hearing from you.. you have until the end of January to email me at cddstamps@gmail.com your text and scan of the stamp(s). If in doubt .. just email me a question...
Enjoy your stamps.. best wishes.. Michael