Identification needed

[Ebbo]

Have a stamp I can't seem to identify. Came in album I bought a couple weeks ago. It is a one cent Franklin, green in color. All the one cent Franklin s I look up are all bluish in color. It was put in the book in the 1861 to 1868 area, however since it looks like 1851 to whenever they stopped making them, all are bluish and not green. Even if it was discolored, I still can't tell what ear. Seems that 3 sides were probably trimmed since I can see a perf on the top. Here are some pics.

[samb]

If I had to guess, I'd say that it is a Trial Color Proof. I've seen this stamp in black and brown before... I'm sure green was a color used too. Remember I'm just guessing here

[samb]

I did some searching for you and found this...

Trial Color Proofs


When new plates were laid down and ready for printing postage stamps, it was often a common practice to make trial color proof impressions for evaluation and final approval.

Shown below are five trial color proofs on India from the new plate for the 1 Cent Benjamin Franklin stamp of 1861. Following the evaluation and approval process, the actual issued stamp (Sc. #63) was printed in light blue.

[Ebbo]

Thanks for the info. Are these rarer or more common that the stamps themselves?

[Admin Bear]

just to be a pain .. i have a few issues to point out (please help me understand)

first trials were not generally perfed, correct? the top of this stamp is clearly perfed.

regarding the perfs, those do not look like a perf 15 (which would be accurate for perfs of the era if used at all)

and having been canceled does not fit the color trials idea either..

not trying to be a pain but there are some bits of info we either need or may not beable to get -

lets start with is there a grill? this may help a lot

next are any other stamps in the album near by also discolored in any way? (here i am thinking chemical alteration, or some other means)

what are the actual perfs?

Do you have any indication as to when the collection was started, or that piece may have been added? (again i know this is not likely)

[Admin Bear]

here is a very helpful site www.theswedishtiger.com/

[samb]

I have seen proofs with perfs before. And I'm sure if one fell into the hands of someone that didn't collect or knew what they had, it would end up on a letter. I agree with Bear tho.... There's still a lot of questions needing to be answered.

[Ebbo]

There is no grill, it may be a scott# 65-TC1 according to this here from site Bear posted - [bottom of page] www.theswedishtiger.com/55-scotts.html

Don't know why there is a perf on top though, still am looking and trying to find more info on it.

[Admin Bear]

i am very interested to say the least... i am by far no expert but this one does intrigue me..

[Ebbo]

Also, on the back of the stamp, in pencil, someone wrote the number 55 on it.

[gbauer8946]

It looks like a Scott #55 but a #55 is blue.

[khj]

Scott #55 is the old catalog number for Trial Color Proof Scott #63-E11e. I think it's a safe bet it was penciled in as either wishful thinking or misIDed. I seriously doubt it's #63-E11e, but you never know and I've been wrong more than a few times.

I've looked at the 3 pictures in your first post. The 1st pic is off-color, as noted by the yellowish album page. Your stamp looks blue to me in the other 2 pictures. If you 1st picture has an unintended yellowish hue -- yellow + blue makes green, so your stamp looks greenish in that 1st picture.

Are you basing your color conclusion of green on that 1st picture, or are you actually seeing a green stamp under natural light?

[Ebbo]

Oct 31, 2013 23:02:18 GMT -5 khj said:

Scott #55 is the old catalog number for Trial Color Proof Scott #63-E11e. I think it's a safe bet it was penciled in as either wishful thinking or misIDed. I seriously doubt it's #63-E11e, but you never know and I've been wrong more than a few times.

I've looked at the 3 pictures in your first post. The 1st pic is off-color, as noted by the yellowish album page. Your stamp looks blue to me in the other 2 pictures. If you 1st picture has an unintended yellowish hue -- yellow + blue makes green, so your stamp looks greenish in that 1st picture.

Are you basing your color conclusion of green on that 1st picture, or are you actually seeing a green stamp under natural light?

I see the green under natural light.

[khj]

OK, thank you for clarifying and confirming!

k