Please Help To Identify Scott #26A On Covers.

Thanks for your looking.

I am not sure whether the stamps are Scott #26a, please help to identify them. Thanks in advance for your help.

Cover 1.








Cover 2.






And if it is Scott #26a, Scott 2008 C/V is $85.00 for the stamp, how about the CV or market price for the stamp on cover?

Thanks again.

ZhangCheng

They both appear to be #26A. Both the 2008 US Specialized (update values for 2008) and 2009 Scott catalog value for the used stamp is $100. However, you will need to adjust significantly for condition and centering.

The 2008 US Specialized has the on-cover price as $140. Again, adjust significantly for condition of cover.

The PAID cancel adds $2.50.

I cannot read the year on the other cancel. Some years will also add a premium. That cover is addressed to Gettysburg, which might be of some interest to Civil War specialists. See if there is any notation/mark outside/inside the cover that might give a clue to the year.

k

Hello ZhengCheng.......


Giving less than good news is always difficult.


Stamp #1 appears to be a top margin #26......without another stamp showing at the top, the wide margin indicates that it's a margin copy.......SCV on cover is $10.50........but with a straight edge on the right and perfs that cut in on the bottom it is a poor copy.


Stamp #2 is a #26a....notice how the outside frameline ends slightly past the top & bottom letter blocks at both the top & bottom.....(on stamp #1 the left frameline ends even with the top letter block) 2010 SCV on cover is $170.00 but this is a very poor stamp......badly stained, perfing severly cuts in on the left, creased at the top & bottom left corner, looks like has a scrape on the neck line (?) some short and missing perfs.......Sorry to say it's only worth a very small percent of SCV, maybe 2-3%.

Tom is correct, the first stamp is from the top margin.

I debated on whether it was #26 or #26A, and finally concluded it was probably #26A. All the frame side frame lines for 26A were individually cut for each stamp position. Therefore, there will be some variation regarding how far the frame line extends past the stamp design.

I leaned toward 26A because of the left frame line. At the bottom left, if you follow the frame line down, it enters into postmark, but does not appear to come out into the tooth. You would have to examine under a magnifier, but it appears that bottom left tooth provides some additional stamp real estate (margin) below the postmark, in which I don't see the frame line. I've circle the spot below. But again, you will have to physically examine with a magnifier. If the examination is inconclusive, then default to the less expensive #26.



You could also ID the plate, instead. But I don't have that information.

I would note that I am not very good with US classics. When it comes to choice, I would definitely defer to Tom's (and others) ID.

k

Many thanks Kim and Tom for your time and convincing identification help, you are all eagle eye!



Tom, the "speak your mind" is just what help I need.



Kim, thanks for your expert information and methods that can raise the value and find out the year, I will commit to memory it.



I agree with Tom too, the first stamp is from the top margin, and the frame lines are not extend, so now it is very important point to easily misdeem #26 for #26a. And many thanks Tom for your expert value analysis about them, that is very wonderful reference to me.

Kim, for the close-up picture below is my best one by my scaner(I do not have a magnifier for me as I prefer to use a scaner, I am myopic eye, use magnifier no matter with or without my myopic glass often make me giddy.):


Follow your suggestion, now it is the key for the result. The left frame line looks (just looks) by me not continue to extend, but my picture is still not very clear to see, and I have not the magnifier, I feels shy....

Below is a link of "the 3c Washington Stamp 1851-1861" I found on line this morning(China time), I will do more search on this charming USA classical stamp.:
http://www.uspcs.org/uspcs1851-61_03c.html

Thanks again for Tom and Kim for your pure-hearted help, I appreciate that.

Best regards,
ZhangCheng

I'm not a cover collector, so take all of this with a grain of salt.

I think the first cover is an interesting piece of history. Attorney E. McPherson of Gettysburg is almost certainly Edward McPherson, who not only was an attorney in Gettysburg, but also:

-a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, and clerk of the House, twice;

-Deputy commissioner of Internal Revenue during the Civil War;

-Editor of a couple newspapers and publications from time to time;

-Director of the U.S. Bureau of Engraving and Printing.


Now, again, I'm not a cover expert. Perhaps that background doesn't help make this a valuable cover. But it sure as heck is interesting to me.

Nice bit of history.

Collin

What a great information! Many thanks Collin, very appreciated your time and contribution, I trust that must add more value to the cover. Thanks again.

About the stamp I copied 2 pictures from:
http://www.uspcs.org/uspcs1851-61_03c.html

#26


#26a


Please forgive my fantasies, I think the stamp on first cover looks like a left part of the horizontal pair(strip)of vertical imperforations, because on first cover, the stamp show a little left part of its right adjacent stamp, the distance with the adjacent stamps is nearer than above the #26 and #26a I quoted at same place. (Click the web link you will see the bigger picture of them.)

For my own fantasy above, through I learned(not in depth) the details of "the 3c Washington Stamp 1851-1861"'s plates from http://www.uspcs.org/uspcs1851-61_03c.html , now it can be disillusioned solemnly:There are various kinds distance between adjacent stamps.

This is precisely why cover-nuts like me get excited. Forget centreing, staining, etc. There is real social history here, the value of which transcends the CV of the stamp on cover and makes it enormously collectable.

To illustrate my point, here's a favourite cover of mine. Southern Rhodesia to GB, SG20, £3 or £6 on cover, cheap and cheerful.




Except of course, that the addressee is Airey Neave, the first man to escape from Colditz and later a Member of Parliament who was killed by the IRA. The devil is in the detail

Hello ZhangCheng.....

If I were you I would examine the bottom left corner with a 10x magnifying glass to make sure the paper is not scraped.......from what I can see from your enlargement you might have a #26a on cover.......which would be a nice item in any collection......with a SCV of $170.00 even though you would need to discount for flaws......with the added history involved.....this is a decent little cover.

Wow, If I'm not mistaken, this would could indicate that he approved of and oversaw the printing of the stamp on the cover.

If so, that is great postal history. Fascinating!

marty

Hello Tom,

Many thanks for reminding me, I overlooked this important aspect to prevent counterfeiting, I will borrow the magnifying glass from my father to check it carefully.

And thanks again Tom for your evaluation, you and Kim both gave me a big confident about identifying, and your train of thought of identifying make me benefited a lot from it.

Will check and report again.

Thanks again,
ZhangCheng

Thanks Jubilee and Marty, I had not any knowledge about the background of addressee before Collin's point out, thanks for your participation and bring more knowledge to me.

The Bureau wasn't printing stamps at that point, so he wouldn't have been part of the development of that stamp, sorry to say.

Collin

Many thanks Collin for the supplementary information, this helped me to know more exact backgroud about this cover, thanks again.

Best regards,
ZhangCheng