re: What causes donuts of color on stamps?

Could you show a scan of an example?

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cdj1122

re: What causes donuts of color on stamps?

' ... I know it gives the stamps no extra value
even though they are interesting. ..."

To someone who is interested in small minor
variations of their favorite stamps there is a
value, especially if the "Fly Speck" is more or
less constant. If caused by a speck of dirt
the mark is not likely to be constant.


Fly Specking In The World Of Philately
By Stan Cronwall

*You have probably heard or seen the term “fly specking” as it may apply to literature or other disciplines where
people squabble over nit-picking subjects such as punctuation or arguing about such trivial matters as how many
fairies can dance on the head of a pin.
Maybe we stamp collectors should do a bit of fly specking with our own collections.
Warning: In all likelihood it is not going to suddenly make your collection worth a king’s ransom.
But a careful examination of what you have set aside as “dups” or material that is going to Eugene Smoots for the
penny-boxes may turn up something special that only your collection will include.
You have probably already checked to make sure those potential discards are not true color changelings, or have
plate flaws, or other issues well publicized in the usual catalogs.
If not, better start with those.
Then, strike off on your own to find something else that so far has not been reported.
You are a treasure hunter looking for a previously unrecognized variation.
There are two reasons to invest some time in the hunt. First, if you make the discovery yourself, you won’t have to uy it. Second, some other fly specker may want to buy it from you. Happy hunting!*

Source

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Harvey

re: What causes donuts of color on stamps?

As I mentioned earlier these are mostly stamps from the 1970's when Lithography would be the main printing process. I'm not an expert on this process but I would assume a small piece of dirt on the rollers would cause the problem. I'm not sure if this makes sense or not! Please don't make fun of my guess, just say whether or not I'm even close, I am a stamp collector not a scientist! So please give an explanation that a layman can understand, don't be obtuse!!

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Harvey

re: What causes donuts of color on stamps?

Very sorry, but not setup to do a scan at this time, I know that sucks, but it is what it is! Just picture a small little white donut on the stamp, that's really all it is. And if the donut is on a blue background you can see the blue at the center of the donut - a very small, but noticeable donut, white with the center the same colour as what's behind it. Something has interfered with the printing process and has projected a small white donut.

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Harvey

re: What causes donuts of color on stamps?

For the sake of a stupid little white donut of colour on the front of a few Canada stamps it really isn't worth the hassle. I'm just going to assume a small piece of dirt got between the printing process and the image on the stamp. It doesn't matter if it is mint or used and it certainly isn't important whether it has a watermark. It's only a very minor printing flaw that I detected several times back when my wife and I used to practice over investigating stamps, no biggie!
It would have no positive effect on the value and just adds a small amount of interest on my part.

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re: What causes donuts of color on stamps?

Oh Candian stamps, all this time I was thinking you were talking about one of the countries in Europe!

 
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