Grade a Stamp - Final

Hello.. and I promised this is my last word.. but if you have something to add I will maybe pass that on. So I wrote to the seller of this stamp and all credit to him/her.. I don't know which and they immediately posted a scan of the stamp with a black background. I thought that was very responsive and suggested to me they were an ok seller.

I will say most of you were pretty critical of the stamp.. and while I agree the perforations were not perfect I found it interesting to read your thoughts about other possible faults. The key message is that this stamp was not well described. and certainly in the first place not well presented.

I would go as far as to say the stamp looked worse with the white background as it does with the black. and then there is the view of the back of the stamp.. actually quite clean.. you wouldn't have thought that from the first viewing.;. would you.. some of you said there was staining.. maybe not when you see this view.. again.. poorly described.

Those are two points I want to stress but there are others.

Colour of the stamp. In this stamp there are different shades and the pinkness of it could be shading or it could be the quality of the scan.

Centering, in this stamp it is unusual to get good centering.. but I agree it is not that good but then again I have seen a lot worse.

Tears and suspect tears.. you really cannot tell can you.. until you see the back of the stamp.. which I have to say suggests no tears.. from the front maybe there are signs there maybe tears as some of you pointed out.. the answer.. ask the seller.. or if you are the seller..

The crease.. what crease.. well quite few of you saw a crease in the first image I showed.. I think it was a line from the strip holding the stamp and the black image from behind further adds to the confusion or confermation it is just the strip hilding the stamp .... moral of story.. ask the seller.. or should the seller better describe what he / she is selling.... well I think you are getting the message

finally.. as for the perforations.. well there are shorts and clipped perfs.. these should have been mentioned for a stamp of this genre.. and, did you know, in SG this is catalogued at £275 ... as very fine used I might add.. which this is not .. as you all pointed out to me.. but.. did you know you can buy a fine used copy from a very reputable dealer in the UK .. on the internet for £55, or an average used copy for £27.50. ......the seller of this stamp was asking a starting price of £22.55 ...my guess is, if you bought from the dealer I did not name you would get a better copy of the stamp than if you bought from the auction I found this on.

Final final comment.. and maybe this sums it up... the stamp did not sell.. and in my view appropriately so.

I have more stories.. maybe I will share another in a few days.. as I will be away from a computer for next three days.. have a great weekend... enjoy your stamps.. Michael