Grills of three different types appear on regular issue stamps of peru produced between 1874 and 1884.
Types of grills on stamps.
And they are identified by letters.
The other two grills measure respectively 11 x 15 mm.
One main area of consternation is that of identifying many of the look alike types of early u s.
Getting to know them.
But what made this one worth a million dollars is a distinct waffle like grill pressed into the back of the stamp as part of a short lived government experiment to prevent fraudulent re use.
Stevenson severn wylie jewett introductory overview to u s.
The rest of the grill types d z e f g h i are points down i e.
Two types of grill h and i.
Getting to know them by peter mosiondz jr.
From what i can gather it is the use of the b grill which makes that particular issue of the stamp so desirable.
There are ten different grill patterns.
The first three grill types a b c are known as points upbecause the pyramid shaped embossments created by the grilling process point up from the surface of the stamp.
Wagshal opinions 4 pp.
It has often been told to yours truly that many collectors of united states stamps throw their hands up in despair once they get to the classic era.
The pyramids point downward into the surface of the stamp.
Looks a lot nicer than a cork cancel.
For example if a stamp has a full grill on it covering the whole stamp it is a grill pattern a.
This short period of use combined with 11 different types of grilling resulted in making certain grilled stamps extremely rare and valuable.
Grilled stamps by rolin lewis 2007 the 1 cent z grill mystery by ken lawrence 1995 american philatelic congress book pp.
1 25 the recognition of two major types of the z grill jerome s.
The 1 cent z grill stamp was thought to be one of the rarest usps stamp with only two such stamps in existence until a 15 cent z grill stamp was discovered also with only two known stamps.
Looking for an image of a town cancel handstamp.
One of these peru grills displays the horizontal ridges that characterize the american z grill but the peruvian version is smaller in size measuring 9 x 14 mm.
Or to dust the back of the stamp with powdered graghite.
And 10 x 12 mm.
Easist way to see grills is to look at the back of the stamp sideways with strong light shining across the back of the stamp.
Stamps of this design are common and usually worth only a few dollars.
A little bit more about grills on stamps.
Although the 1 cent z grill is generally cited as the rarest and most valuable of all us postage stamps the 15 cent lincoln z grill is just as rare and the 10 cent washington z grill scarcely less so.
This is an early type of datestamp cancel found mostly on 19th century stamps and covers.
