Follow these steps in the
identification of your two cent Bank Note:
Determine the color of the
stamp. If it is reddish brown it is most likely a National Bank Note
printing, but you
must still check for the "secret"
mark. Note that the secret mark is often hard to distinguish
on the two cent Jackson. These stamps are usually sorted by color
unless the presence or absence of the secret mark is obvious. If it
is fairly certain that the stamp is a National printing you will
need to check for the presence of a grill. If the stamp has a grill,
it may be Scott 135. If it does not have a grill it is Scott
146. Care must be taken when authenticating the grill. Many fake
grills have been added over the years in an attempt to increase the
value of the stamp. Scott 135 is common enough that it may not be
necessary to certify all
copies, but nicely centered, fault-free, and particularly unused
stamps should be certified.
If the two cent stamp is brown or
dark brown it is most likely a Continental Bank Note printing, but you must still check
for the "secret" mark. If it
clearly has the "secret" mark it is a Continental, Scott
157.
If the stamp is vermilion, i.e. orange, it
must have the secret mark and may be either Continental or
American. Study the vermilion two cent Jackson's to get a feel for
the difficult secret mark on this stamp. Check the
type of paper
it was printed on, if it was printed on the "hard white"
paper it is the Continental Bank Note printing, Scott 178. If it was
printed on the "soft porous" paper, it is the American
Bank Note printing, Scott 183. Remember: all orange two cent Bank Notes provide an
excellent chance to look for the "secret" mark, since they
must have one.
If you are unsure of the type of paper used or the secret mark, you
MUST assume that the stamp is the more common variety. If the stamp
is unused and has at least partial gum, it should be
certified to ascertain the type, since the value of the stamp will
in most cases far out weigh the cost of certification.
Watch for addition of the
secret mark by drawing it in (since the Continental printing, Scott
157, brings a slight
premium), for re-perforation (to fake a more well-centered stamp), for re-gumming (a major problem with the Bank Notes), and even
for bleaching the cancellation (to remove the cancel). The National
stamp is sometimes embossed with a grilling
device to fake the scarcer "grilled" stamp, Scott 135. This should
not present too much of a problem on the used stamp, but great care
must be taken when purchasing the unused stamp.
We include the "Special" printings in this identification
guide merely for completeness. Only 416 copies total of Scott
168
and 193 and only 917 copies total of Scott 180 and 203 were
sold, and they were never issued for postal use. All were issued
without gum. We occasionally see uncertified copies of
these stamps offered for sale at ridiculously low prices. You can
rest assured that the stamp being offered is not genuine. These
stamps are so rare, only about 173 copies are known, they rarely come up for sale, except in the
sale of a major U.S. Collection.
