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Posted By: barrysloate

Scott- that's exactly it. All of the minute variations appear at the margins and if they are cut too close (these are imperforate stamps that had to be cut with a scissor) you could have a #5 and it would look like a common #7 or #9. And even if the margins are big it is still so tough. Then there are the color shades, and you have to see if the grill points are 13 x 15 or 12 x 16- and the grills are so tiny they are nearly impossible to count (grills are embossed onto the stamp to help soak up the ink from the cancellation. People tried to erase the ink to reuse the stamps and the grills would make that virtually impossible). In the end I couldn't tell one from the other and that took a great deal of the fun out of it.