U.S. #491 Used SFE Railroad Perfin w/ PSE XF-90 Cert

Item Specifics

Country

United States

Catalog Number

491

Stamp Type

General Issue

Condition

Used

Centering

XF

Stamp Format

Single

Year of Issue

1916

Item Description

Condition: Used, certified, XF-90

Grade: XF (Extremely Fine)
You may be looking at one of the rarest U.S. stamps in existence. Sure, there are plenty of #491 stamps graded XF90 and higher. But, as far as I have been able to determine, this is the only one with a perfin. I have scoured the online archives of the Philatelic Foundation, The American Philatelic Expertizing Service, PSAG and Professional Stamp Experts and this is the only certified example I have found. As a perfin, this particular SFE design (pattern S123) was used by the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. between 1914 and 1917 and is considered a D+ perfin. But on a #491 graded XF90, it appears to be one of a kind. Perfins on coil issues are a rare lot to begin with.

There are a lot of U.S. stamps that should never be purchased without a certificate of authenticity and high on that list is #491. First, there are fakes out there (see photo 4 from the PF archives for one documented example). Second, #491 is a very scarce stamp. Over the last 13 years, PSE has only certified 113 #491's as genuine (72 used and 41 mint). By contrast, they have certified 294 #454's and 189 #453 as genuine, many of which were submitted as #491 (see images 5 - 8 for a sampling of PF certs for stamps that were submitted as #491 but turned out to be various other catalog numbers). The watermarks on these old coils can be terribly elusive and require the trained eye of a true expert to certify. Many sellers also get tripped up on the design type (see photo 8). #491 is type II which means there is only one shading line in the fold at far left and in the next-to-last fold at the far right of the ribbon (see photo 9 for detailed image). Experienced sellers even have trouble with this; listing 126256707340 (photo 10) is one such example as you can clearly see two shading lines in the ribbon making it type III, not type II. (To the seller's credit, they removed the listing when I pointed out the error.) Always do your own due diligence and check to make sure the stamp you are bidding on has the correct design type. For example, listing 266348595246 appears to be type III (two shading lines instead of one). If the listing photos aren't clear enough to tell, just ask the seller to post a better image. If they refuse, then move on. You also have to contend with sellers who probably shouldn't be selling stamps in the first place. One obvious example is item 265845519897 (photo 18), which is clearly a pair of #599. Uncertified #491's are simply space-fillers. This one has been examined by PSE and declared genuine (see photo 3).

Seller Information

Seller

stephenwgill (235)

Registered Since

03/06/2005

Feedback

100%

Store

Ye Olde Post Office

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Item Location

California, United States

Ships To

United States

Returns Accepted

Yes

Returns Policy

Returns accepted within 14 days on items not as described. Buyer to pay return shipping.