Nova Scotia: Stamps

It was a labour of love and sacrifice to create this collection. Perhaps one day I'll come across the Scott #7 shilling. I'll start saving my nickels (we don't have pennies in Canada anymore) and one day I might actually find one. The hardest two to find were the 6 pence yellow green and the shilling. I've never seen the other shilling ever come up - I did however have the opportunity to see one in the postal museum in 2015. I waited for years to finally see the #6 shilling come up and the 6 pence yellow green is really hard to find. Likewise with #13 colour varieties. I recently saw a listing for them from my dealer but all tapped out so I'll have to wait and save some dough for the next time varieties of #13 become available. Finding colour varieties of that one are very difficult or they are in really bad shape.

It's normal to find the cent issues off centre but I don't want ones that are missing perfs, tears or too dirty to know if it's a colour variety or just needs a nice bath.

Well despite the odds I intend to be around for a long time so there's plenty of time to find them.

Poodle Mum I have a couple more pence issues on the way I'll need your opinion on them.

As I promised on the "Watcha Been Stamping?" thread, now that I am back home, here is a scan of my only NS pence issue.  As I mentioned before, this stamp is in very poor condition, having been torn into two pieces at some point, and then crudely put back together using an old stamp hinge.

Kelly (Poodle_Mum ), I am interested to know your opinion if you can tell from this scan if the stamp appears genuine to you.  Thanks!

Thanks for the quick response, Kelly.  Here is a scan of the back of the stamp, such as it is.  I did not make any adjustments to either scan to enhance or brighten the colour.  I would call the paper colour bluish or grey-blue.  This scan makes it look a bit more grey, I think.  When I look at it in person, it seems more blue.  It is definitely not white, in any case.

As for the thickness, I don't really know how to judge such things very well, but I did note that firstfrog2013 commented that one of his NS pence issues was limp.  This stamp is not limp.  If I hold it near an edge in my tongs, it does not hang down very much at all, so I would qualitatively say that it is relatively stiff.  That said, it does not seem particularly thick overall, as when I hold it up to a light source, I can easily and clearly see the design in reverse.  So, contradictory as it may sound, the paper seems a bit on the thin side to me, but still shows some stiffness (definitely not limp).

I hope that this description helps with, rather than detracts from, coming up with an opinion about this stamp.  Thanks!

I agree - the thins and damage would be from the final removal from the envelope. The straight line is intriguing - it would match with a permanent crease in the cover and then when removed, it simply separated. I've had that happen myself (not on a pence issue - if I get those on a corner or a cover, those suckers are there for life!).

Looks like you've got a very well used genuine.

I've noticed within the genuine copies that I own of all 3 recognised colour varieties as well as a few others that used to be listed but are now lumped into the one colour - thickness varies depending on which print it is from.

When I'm on my computer later, I'll add more about the different prints.

Mr. Frog (I think I'll always end up calling you that! 😁) -

You mentioned having greens - pence or cents? The pence green issues are easy to identify - there is quite a difference between the yellow green and dark green. The cents issues are gorgeous with their colour varieties. The yellow green cent issue is beautiful. I noticed you have a nice colour variety on #10. I'm partial to the dark blue.

#12 comes in a gorgeous scarlet vermilion as well.

Of course there are the colour varieties of #9 - the grey purple is nice but the bold purple really pops. Your used bold purple is very nice. If you find an unused copy, it's absolutely breathtaking.

I know, I have a weird obsession with NS issues. I'm the same way with my German states - but more so with the cancellations.

My unusual fascination with Belgian Railways (Parcel Post) unused is based on colour varieties and the used by cancellations to track their destination via private and/or public transit.

Lol

You got it Frog 👍😀

Yes the reprints are on white paper and they are thicker than genuine. Indeed the blue is genuine. Holding up to a light will give you a fast method to identify awesome forgeries from genuine. You should be able to see a fair amount of the design from the back and the blue paper on margins and back are giveaways.

I have one beautiful forgery that has a blue tint in the margins, flip it over and it's white.

When I get a chance to magnify your shilling forgery, I might be able to identify the forger. I do have 3 that I haven't identified yet of my own. I have an interesting one that was listed as a Sanderson when I bought it and then when I got it, it was a mix. One forger for the stamp and another for the cancellation. Rather interesting and unusual.

Finally have had the time to figure out how to add images to a post.  Below is my newest acquisition that arrived this week. Now that I have this figured out I will post a few images to share with you. 
David

I am glad I can trust my instincts on this. From the beginning, I thought it was a trimmed stamp made to look imperf. I can accept that colour has changed over the years and that it may be a natural occurrence. No way of hiding the trimmed perfs though.

thanks for your help.
david

I hadn't thought of a fake. I don't have any fake copies in my collection that I know of. Except for the one that in stumped over - all are obvious forgeries due to various albeit sometimes subtle errors in the design.

The one question that came to mind, as I've said, I don't have any proofs is that I've only heard of them being on harder paper, something similar to cardstock. I've never heard of a proof with perfs.

Never crossed my mind to consider a fake. Learn something new everyday.

I do have a couple without gum, but I knew this when I bought as they were identified as such. I did acquire a few forgeries thinking they were the real thing. I should have looked more closely at images.  Luckily I did not pay very much for them . I took it to be a cheap educational experience.

david

Fake overprint on a genuine? That's just wrong!