I have been staring at this for quite awhile now, Can anybody tell me if this is actually Scott #315 or is this Scott #300 trimmed ? Any Help would be appreciated, Thank you in advance.
Kris, that is one of the most trimmed stamps out there 304 to 315. Standards require minimum measurements of 21.5mm by 25mm to qualify as a Scott No. 315.
Crying shame. Not particularly valuable, but those margins. They ruined beautiful margins trying to defraud and chase a dollar. Is there a stamp jail for people that do this? Because there should be a stamp jail for people that do this. My collection is at this point, the only holes I have left are all stamps that I can maybe afford one a year. This kind of stuff scares me because I know just enough to get myself in trouble.
In 30 years, I have bought only 1 collection that had a legitimate 315 in it (and it had a horrible horizontal crease across it). I have always hoped that the collections that have had bogus 315's that the person either made their own fake from a 304 just to have a "filler", or that they found one in some other lot or collection and didn't actually pay top dollar for a fake. And generally speaking, I suspect they were not ripped off (at least too much) because most of those collections were valued under $8k. A recent collection we acquired was quite high value, and the 315 in it was legit. 315 from 304 fakes are among the most common fakes, right up there with fake FW coils. And that's because its just so tempting for a less-than-ethical stamp manipulator to take very cheap material (sometimes 25c) and try to make it work something far grater. The 315 is such a strong candidate too because the used 304 is extremely cheap and common, while the used 315 is more valuable than an MNH one. In memory, I don't think I've ever seen a fake attempted on an unused 304, only on the used ones.
While there is merit to that, don't let the real thing slip through your fingers either. As Andrew mentioned, the 21.5 x 25mm measure is a surety so long as you don't find any perf remnants floating around it. But to be fair, the one in my collection, to remove any doubt, is a plate # single. (And a PF cert).
Comments
Magnification is everything.
Note the arrows pointing to visibly evident perf valleys.
My collection is at this point, the only holes I have left are all stamps that I can maybe afford one a year. This kind of stuff scares me because I know just enough to get myself in trouble.
315 from 304 fakes are among the most common fakes, right up there with fake FW coils. And that's because its just so tempting for a less-than-ethical stamp manipulator to take very cheap material (sometimes 25c) and try to make it work something far grater. The 315 is such a strong candidate too because the used 304 is extremely cheap and common, while the used 315 is more valuable than an MNH one. In memory, I don't think I've ever seen a fake attempted on an unused 304, only on the used ones.
As Andrew mentioned, the 21.5 x 25mm measure is a surety so long as you don't find any perf remnants floating around it. But to be fair, the one in my collection, to remove any doubt, is a plate # single. (And a PF cert).