US Scott #806: Need advice on one with Orange Color

Thanks for your post, Greg (tanker ).  It's good to see you navigating the boards!

Please let me begin by stating that I have no special expertise in this particular case.  That is a really nice-looking shade of orange on a stamp that is supposed to be rose carmine, according to Scott.  I think that there is little doubt that this is a color changeling, but I am not sure that simply prolonged exposure to the sun would be able to make this color change.  Exposure to sun usually leads to fading of the original color, not darkening.

Since yours does not appear faded, but just an unexpected color, my best guess is that the orange color is the result of a chemical treatment of some sort.

That's just my opinion, and of course, others are welcome!

Well, Greg (tanker ), my only further comment about chemically affected stamps is that it is not at all necessarily true that any chemical alteration would affect both the cancel and the printing on the stamp.

In the first place, the inks used for cancels and for printing the stamps are completely different types.  In the second place, the original idea behind most chemical treatments of stamps was to remove the cancels to enable the fraudulent re-use of the stamps.  To this latter point, ideally, the chemical used needed to remove the ink of the cancel without affecting the design of the stamp.  There is a thread on the subject of postmark ink here:

thestampforum.boards.net/thread/9578/cancellation-postmark-ink

Bottom line, I don't think that you can reliably assume that both postmark and stamp design have to be affected to conclude that a stamp has been chemically altered.  It can easily be that the chemical treatment affects one type of ink but not the other.  That's the nature of chemistry.

Good luck with whatever you choose to do.

Yes you are correct on that I just did an hours research,the chemicals will not affect the cancel to much my mistake,this is great though I am learning and that's the main thing

I can hear Alex's wicked laugh coming from the depths of his laboratory, "Mwa-haa-ha-ha!"

tanker ,

Per your request, I won't venture a guess as to whether this is a true color print error or a color changeling.

My understanding is that the Prexie sheet stamps were printed from plates of 400 subjects, in panes of 100, on a Stickney press in which paper was fed in a continuous roll.

One of the United States Stamp Society's committees focuses on stamps and postal history of the Prexie era. I recommend you contact the Chair of that committee (Jeffrey Shapiro, dirtyoldcovers AT aol DOT com) to see if the Prexie Era Committee is able to provide an answer to your question.