Caution
The 10¢ Washington coil stamp, Scott 356, can be easily faked by trimming the top
and bottom margins from the 10¢ sheet stamps, or simply the
top or bottom margin if the sheet stamp has an existing
straight-edge. The altered straight-edge stamps are particularly
dangerous since they can approach the proper size for this coil
stamp, that is 25.0mm or larger, measured top edge to bottom edge.
This stamp is known as short as 24.2mm, but these shorter examples
are rare. Any 10¢ Washington head coil stamp under 25mm tall should
be examined carefully. The coil can also be manufactured by trimming
the single-line watermarked stamp, but the lack of a double-line
watermark would be a dead give-away to anyone willing to
check.
The 10¢ coil is usually found with yellow or light yellow color. Dark
yellow or orange yellow copies are unusual and therefore suspect.
Interestingly, guide-line pairs are a different matter. If the stamp
has a genuine guideline it must be a genuine 356, since there is no
imperforate stock from which this coil can be manufactured. A piece
of thin foil pressed gently over the guideline will reveal if the
guideline is genuine (see: printing
methods).
We would highly recommend purchasing the 10¢ coil only with
certification or from a reputable seller.
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