When you buy anything sight unseen, there is a degree of risk you take. Pictures do not tell the whole story. Best to deal with sellers you have dealt with in the past and are please with their items and service.
To answer stuart mount...The perf on the top of the letter "A" in the word commemorative on the left side of the blue pocohantas stamp is extremely short and technically is a damaged item in my books....If you want to be critical and pedantic to the extreme, put everything into the catagory.....As well as that, the centering is to the top and part of the frame of the picture is horrific...How on eatrth can this be anywhere near XF when i have spent less than 30 seconds and have found 2 huge defects..... I honestly would say it is F/VF ( 75 ) as i cannot see the back of the stamp and as you know, these days with the MNH and hinged craze, that pays more importance than the front... However Stuart.... may i suggest if you only want the high quality items , then go to a well known stamp auctioneer and bid against the room...Have a nice day
Attn again Stuart Mount..... In reply to your comment QUOTE " I was 5 years old when my Mom bought me $1 U.S. album and some commemorative packets at a Ben Franklin's 5&10 store in 1959. I want my stamps to go to someone who will appreciate and enjoy them, rather than a dealer who is only looking at the profit potential. UNQUOTE..What do you care who they go to as long as you are paid your money for them.. Otherwise you will be keeping those stamps forever as the younger generation does not care ....Just trust me on this one as with the generations coming up, if it is not a computer, mobile phone, tablet, nook, game boy, or anything similar...they will want to simply start a bonfire with our stamps. I had a near complete collection of Israel ( including the first 3 Doar Ivris ) in plate block form, mint tab , used tabs and FDC..In the late 70's, i could have sold the first 3 stamps from 1948 at close to $10K as their retail was close to $14k...But being like you , i felt they would appreciate with time but i was wrong... I was in my early 20s then and now that i am in my early 60's... I did not sell them at a loss but i did not get a much as i could have.... Then i went into normal everyday stamps but from the sheet...NOT P & S... As you see most people these days are lazy and only want to peel off a stamp from the booklet or so...However to find stamps from the sheet in present times postmarked of the bottom left corner are like trying to find davids slingshot that he took down goliath with. If the stamp has the postmark on the bottom left corner, one can honestly say it was genuinely stuck on the top right of the envelope and genuinely gone through the mail...I charge a premium for these stamps and are in a separate stockbook entirely...If anyone simply wants a used stamp and does not care about wanting to earn profit, i let them pick out of the stamps postmarked any of the other 3 corners as we all know they were CTO and never genuinely used...Of course you are going to have your critics or skeptics say it could have come from a block of 4 , but who in their right mind will destroy a block ( other than me ) to get the left hand corner cancel?? Once again i have found flaws in your comment Stuart ...Would you like to start another topic??? Have a nice day
What about a piece of postal history going further back than the penny black which was released in 1840, but has a few stains on it??? Are you going to pick holes in that as well. Is dates 1820...See how you look when you are 190+ years of age
Lee, I am pretty sure Hal has read through the entire thread, including the parts where his "bottom left corner cancel" presumption was roundly debunked. He is like Mitt Romney, though, who could be proven, point blank, that what he said about a candidate was untrue, yet repeat the words the next day.
Ted...how can that be debunked or nonsense??? Do me a favour and place any stamp at the top right corner of an envelope ...like as if you are going to mail it...Then visualize the postmark on the area of the stamp...Are you saying that the 2 top corners and the bottom right are going to receive the cancel in completion so the date , town , zipcode and state can be read??..I DONT THINK SO!!!!!...You keep your way and i will keep my way and i know who can say under oath with all honesty what stamp has possibly travelled through the mail system.... If you cant visualize the stamp on the envelope, try having a look at the FDC pictures and see where the stamp has been cancelled...Not only that but the postmark is a solid date and only found at maximum, 10 times in a century ans 1st Jan , 11th Nov post offices are closed. You will see the date on my envelope is 1.1.11 Have a nice day
All anyone has to do is have some postal history that shows examples of stamps being cancelled elsewhere. Most of the stamps on those envelopes are not cancelled in the lower left hand corner. (I have a lot more examples)
And i have had, or seen, tons of stamps with bottom left corner cancels, that never saw the light of their supposed issuing country, much less actual postal duty.
It's been my experience over the years that US 330 is extremely difficult to find well centered. Typically they have tight margins and to find a copy qualifying as XF is quite a challenge. I haven't found an example to meet the standards of other issues in my collection (due to scarcity or prohibitive cost). This has had to fill in until I come across that elusive gem within a workingman's budget.
The Jamestown Issue is known for its poor centering. A #330 superb/gem may well be worth the $300 you mentioned. A nice NH VF example sells for around $80 based on my findings. As someone said, its all about what someone will pay and what the seller is willing to accept. There is no shortage of them for sale on the internet
Hal - I totally agree with you about postal history covers from all periods and the different ink definition and placement of postmarks. As they say "beauty in in the eye of the beholder". I recently found this 1923 United States registered postal history cover in stock and I find the back of the cover with it's postmarks and wax seals much more interesting than the front.
#325 is one of my favorite commemoratives. I would be perfectly happy with a VF copy and use the $3000+ I saved to build a complete mint Trans-Miss collection. To me, 1 millimeter of centering one way or the other is not worth over 10 times VF value. Just my opinion. It truly is a gorgeous stamp, but not for me at $3400. I checked the value with The Swedish Tiger and his valuation is: Full perfect gum, no postmark, no trace of stamp hinge mark (MNH): $40-$100. Many very nice VF+ copies for sale at under $200. Scott value is $185 MNH VF. If you are asking $3400, why not ask $5400 or more and make the buyer feel he has the best one anywhere. Apparently you cannot ask too much.
There once was a man from Weems, Who carried his plan to extremes, He was mentored it's known, To save well-centered alone, His collection on display in his dreams
Comments
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/517-vf-xf-original-gum-mint-never-hinged-with-nice-color-see-pic/27406972
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/517-vf-xf-original-gum-mint-never-hinged-with-nice-color-see-pic/26461589
$1 U.S. album and some commemorative packets at a Ben Franklin's 5&10 store in 1959. I want
my stamps to go to someone who will appreciate and enjoy them, rather than a dealer who is only looking at the profit potential. UNQUOTE..What do you care who they go to as long as you are paid your money for them.. Otherwise you will be keeping those stamps forever as the younger generation does not care ....Just trust me on this one as with the generations coming up, if it is not a computer, mobile phone, tablet, nook, game boy, or anything similar...they will want to simply start a bonfire with our stamps. I had a near complete collection of Israel ( including the first 3 Doar Ivris ) in plate block form, mint tab , used tabs and FDC..In the late 70's, i could have sold the first 3 stamps from 1948 at close to $10K as their retail was close to $14k...But being like you , i felt they would appreciate with time but i was wrong... I was in my early 20s then and now that i am in my early 60's... I did not sell them at a loss but i did not get a much as i could have.... Then i went into normal everyday stamps but from the sheet...NOT P & S... As you see most people these days are lazy and only want to peel off a stamp from the booklet or so...However to find stamps from the sheet in present times postmarked of the bottom left corner are like trying to find davids slingshot that he took down goliath with. If the stamp has the postmark on the bottom left corner, one can honestly say it was genuinely stuck on the top right of the envelope and genuinely gone through the mail...I charge a premium for these stamps and are in a separate stockbook entirely...If anyone simply wants a used stamp and does not care about wanting to earn profit, i let them pick out of the stamps postmarked any of the other 3 corners as we all know they were CTO and never genuinely used...Of course you are going to have your critics or skeptics say it could have come from a block of 4 , but who in their right mind will destroy a block ( other than me ) to get the left hand corner cancel?? Once again i have found flaws in your comment Stuart ...Would you like to start another topic??? Have a nice day
All anyone has to do is have some postal history that shows examples of stamps being cancelled elsewhere. Most of the stamps on those envelopes are not cancelled in the lower left hand corner. (I have a lot more examples)
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/e3-ll-corner-margin-block-lower-left-is-superb-gem-og-nh-jumbo-wl976-sra14/11065222
https://www.hipstamp.com/listing/us-325-pse-98-nh/27652619
Who carried his plan to extremes,
He was mentored it's known,
To save well-centered alone,
His collection on display in his dreams