The Philatelic Foundation is the only expertizing organization in the United States to own a reference collection of world-wide stamps and covers. The Philatelic Foundation’s staff of full-time experts uses the reference collection on a daily basis, comparing submissions of “patients” submitted by our clients with examples in the collection that are known to be genuine.

The United States material is contained in the reference collection that was formerly owned by John N. Luff, a prominent New York dealer, philatelic author, a President of The Collectors Club, and an honorary Governor of that Club at the time of his death in 1938.

A recent submission of several high value unused 1869 Issue stamps, resulted in comparing them with three high value stamps, the 24 cent, 30 cent and the 90 cent, all in blocks of four from the Luff Reference Collection. At first blush, the blocks from the reference collection, as shown, are remarkable looking. However, they are nothing more than deceptive fakes made from thinned down card proofs, which were then perforated, gummed, and grilled by the faker. The give away is the grill which if genuine, measures 12 X 11 or 11 ½ grill points. The faked grills on the blocks however, measure at 10 X 10 grill points.

When purchasing a stamp or a cover with significant value, always request a PF Certificate and give yourself the confidence and security in knowing that your purchase is g enuine in all respects. The PF has been the “gold standard” in philately for almost 70 years.

Written by Robert G. Rose who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

The Philatelic Foundation is the only expertizing service in the United States to own and operate the VSC6000 in examining stamps and covers that have been submitted for Certificates of Authenticity. This remarkable piece of high technology equipment makes a wealth of programs and processes available to the Philatelic Foundation’s staff of experts. A recent submission to the PF highlights this equipment’s remarkable capabilities.

The 90c 1869 Issue (Scott 122) stamp shown in Figure 1 appears to be a wonderful example of this difficult issue—well centered with wide margins and lightly cancelled. But put to the test with the VSC6000’s high magnification capability, it became apparent that the stamp’s upper left corner had been repaired and that the triangular design in that corner had been skillfully painted in as seen in Figure 2. When compared with a genuine example of this intaglio printed stamp under high magnification as seen in Figure 3, the faked “art work” on the patient is obvious.

Based on its “high-tech” examination, the stamp was issued a Certificate, as seen in Figure 4, stating the PF’s opinion that the stamp’s upper left corner had been repaired and a portion of the design painted-in.

Written by Robert G. Rose who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees

This cover was sent from Cumberland, ME to Locust Dale, Virginia and forwarded back with “Due 3” in manuscript. The submitter was asking if the cover is genuine and is this precancel in manuscript on the stamp.

Writing the name of the town and state in ink and trying to keep it all on the stamp was a pastime of a number of postmasters in the 1850s and 1860s. There aren’t that many around, but when they do show up they catch the eye and collectors and dealers can be forgiven for sometimes thinking they might be precancels, especially when the Cumberland, Maine post office shown here is well known for its printed straightline postmark found on the one cent 1857 stamp. Cumberland, Maine also has circle datestamps applied to envelopes in the 1860s with a date in manuscript added when mailed. The three cent 1857 stamp on this submitted cover shows a very carefully applied “Cumberland Me Feby 18” written in ink.

Reviewing the cover, it was determined that there was no evidence that the town and date were written at separate times or in different inks. It would have been an incredible waste of time to laboriously write out the name of the post officer one hundred times on a sheet of three cent stamps. The date would have to be entered separately on the day of use. It was determined that the cover is a genuine usage of the three cent 1857 stamp but the manuscript postmark is not a precancel.

Written by David Petruzelli who is one of the Experts at the Philatelic Foundation

Scott Catalogue number R15e is a rare and elusive US First Issue Revenue stamp.

Both the two cent bank check orange stamp and the two cent USIR stamp are known in an experimental printing on greenish paper. This stamp was never intended for use but a very small supply was released in New York sometime in the summer of 1866.

The key to expertising this stamp is the paper which is very thin and hard and is almost thin enough to read through. An 1866 cancellation is also an indication it was used in the proper time period. This example matched our reference example and received certificate 521143 which states it is genuine.

Written by Brian Bleckwenn who is one of the Senior Experts at the Philatelic Foundation

The cover above was purchased at least 10 years ago as a very nice example of a 9X1, on bluish-white paper and had sat unexamined in that collection ever since.

The collector was re-examining this cover, along with several others, and with the Certificate Search function available on the Philatelic Foundation website, noted that it was part of a correspondence – all sent to Miss Maria L. Holley in Connecticut. This particular cover was postmarked March 23, 1847. In the PF database, there are 4 additional covers from this correspondence, dated December 15, February 9, March 10 and March 30, all in 1847. The two covers postmarked in March were certified as the very scarce gray paper variety, of which an estimated 12 were known to exist on cover.

What is the likelihood that a cover, postmarked on March 23, right in the middle of the March 10 and March 30 covers, and part of the same correspondence, was a bluish white paper, and not the gray paper? The March 23 cover was sent to the PF, along with the information about the other two covers.

Based on the expertise of the PF staff and their extensive research library, it was certified as the 13th known on-cover gray paper variety of the NY postmaster provisional.

Written by Mark S. Schwartz who is a Trustee on the Board of the Philatelic Foundation.

One of the most iconic rarities of United States philately and recognized around the world is the “Inverted Jenny” stamp. This item often transcends the boundary of philately into every day life being written about in books and magazines as well as being featured in television shows and movies.

The error came about during the printing process. Since the printing required two different colors, red for the frame and blue for the vignette, the sheet of stamps had to be entered into the printing press twice. Interestingly, errors do occur during printing of stamps with most of them being destroyed immediately. This is one of the rare occurrences were it went unnoticed and eventually was sold to the public.

The discovery was made by William T. Robey who purchased the entire sheet of 100 at the New York Avenue Post Office in Washington, D.C. on May 14, 1918. He quickly sold it within one week to well-known Philadelphia stamp dealer Eugene Klein for $15,000.00. The sheet eventually ended up being sold to one of the largest collectors of the time, Col. Edward H.R. Green for $20,000.00. Col. Green had instructed Klein to break up the sheet for him into singles and key position blocks with the intent of selling all but a few. On the reverse, in light pencil, Klein marked the position number of each example.

Inverted Jenny stamps come in a variety of conditions due to mistreatment among collectors during the years since it’s discovery – despite it’s rarity and value. Some examples have had moisture damage, thins caused by hinge removal, toning due to improper storage – including some of which has been been mistakenly “lost” and haven’t been seen in decades. Mentioned in Jenny by George Amick, one example was even vacuumed and eventually recovered though damaged.

This particular example is believed to be one of only five never hinged examples and is the highest graded example to date having received a grade of “VF-XF 85”. This example came from position 77 in the sheet. Previous owners include “Westport” and J.E. Safra. It was submitted by Spink and was subsequently sold in May 2014 for $500,000.00 plus the buyer’s premium.