US Scott #9 Ending July 23 - US Scott #293 Ending July 30

Hello community,

Two auctions to pass along. Let me know what questions you have...

https://ebay.com/usr/dissectingphilately

1. US Scott #9, One Cent Franklin, 1851, Blue, Imperforate, Type IV, Soaked Clean

2. US Scott #293, 1898, $2 Trans Mississippi, No Gum, Used, No Hinge, CV $1,000

Not really a question, but comments about the description of the Scott #9.

Your description here and in the eBay title don't mention whether it is used or unused. In the eBay listing, the more detailed information does mention used.

The mention in the title and description of "soaked clean" is not clear to me (I haven't seen this phrase used before!). Once it is understood from the eBay description that it is used, and that it has been "hand-stamp cancelled", I suppose the "soaked clean" refers to the attempt to remove the cancel, so the cancel is much lighter?

For me, it takes a little more time to understand the condition from the nuanced wording.

I had the same question about what was meant by the "soaked clean" terminology on the #9.

And on the 293, if it is used, is there any relevance in mentioning No Gum, No Hinge? It is typical and expected for a used stamp to have No Gum, and hinges can be soaked off the stamp to create a Never Hinged example. I guess for an expensive stamp, it is nice to have a clean back, with no gum and no hinge remnant that could possibly be covering a fault. Is that what was implied? If so, normally the title would be more straightforward to say Sound or No Faults, with the description going into more detail why you believe it has no faults, and mentioning the clean back with no gum or hinge residue can be helpful there to aid the investigation, along with describing no thins, tears, or creases observed when the stamp is dipped (if indeed this were the case). Just my two cents.

While we are "piling on" .... depending on what year you use, the #299 has a Scott catalog value of about $1000 in VF-80 condition, which your stamp clearly is not. The "values by grade" section puts a stamp at VG-50 in the $250 range without taking into account the chunk out of the top. The digital read-out stating "faultless" is also clearly wrong. Overall, the description would not give confidence to a potential bidder.

One of my pet peeves has always been that SMQ values are always used when a stamp grades 80 or better and never used when it falls below 80.

Thanks for all the constructive feedback. Will incorporate into future listings. Thanks!!

I would add overall, that your listings just don't "read" like listings written by a stamp collector. As noted by others, it is very odd to say "soaked clean" on the #9 and "no gum ... no hinge" on the #293 when they are both used.