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Month: November 2013

A “Condition Rarity”

A “Condition Rarity”

The term “condition rarity” is a numismatic term that refers to a coin that, while is not in and of itself rare (which would be an “absolute rarity”), is in a grade or state of preservation that makes it rare. In other words, a condition rarity is an item that is rare in high grades, whereas an absolute rarity is rare in ANY grade. Philatelically speaking, a U.S. C3a, 1869 invert, or Pan Am invert would be an absolute rarity,…

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A Different Kind of Illegal Revenue Usage…

A Different Kind of Illegal Revenue Usage…

The vast majority of illegal usages I have encountered are either postage stamps used as revenues on a document, or revenue stamps used as postage on postcards or covers. Here’s one that’s a bit different, acquired laste weekend at CHICAGOPEX. Illegal use of a revenue, not as postage, but rather as a postage due stamp. The 1-cent Franklin was cancelled on September 8, 1927. You can see the penciled ‘Due’ notation peeking out from underneath the revenue stamp. Then the…

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A Jumbo… and an Almost

A Jumbo… and an Almost

Just imaged these tonight. The R45a has ginormous boardwalk margins, almost as if it was cut down from a multiple at the height of the grading craze (which never really took hold in the revenue-collecting community outside of Momen Stamps and Jay Parrino’s The Mint). The R112 is ohhhhhh so close to being a once-in-a-lifetime specimen… just 1 margin away.