US Revenues Help

Hey everyone, just recently came across an Imperial Stamp Album that was my Great Grandfathers, that was given to my Grandfather. This album has tons of stamps in it. Unfortuneltly, I or no one else knows anything about stamps. I am looking for some help identifying and would like to know the value of what I have. I have attached the images of the US stamps only. Thanks for any help you can give!

Hello rdr910, welcome!

I do not know much about US stamps, just general stamp knowledge, and what I have learned on Stamp Community.

Stamp condition affects price. You could have a $1000 stamp and it might only be worth $50 because of the condition.

A lot of the value of stamps is in the enjoyment and sharing and collecting.

With that said, some of your stamps seem to me to be toned which means have brownish orange spots on their edges and possibly interiors. This is the death of a stamp usually. There are some dangerous chemicals that may restore them but it is not a for sure thing. Best to separate them from the others as quick as you can so the mold or 'rust' does not spread farther.

centering is important, colour, perforations (perfs) around the edges, light or heavy cancels, cancels made by hand (pen cancels) mostly devalue a stamp, not so much on the revenues though (the longish stamps).

There are some nice looking ones in the group that deserve more detailed examination I would think.

The condition of the backs is important also, whether any stains or thinnings of the paper.

Enough detail for you? I haven't even started.

How are the stamps held in the albim or pages? What kind of glue or attaching system was used? Don't peel them off!! Damage could occur if you are not careful. Having stamp tongs (rounded tweezers) is important to avoid contaminating the stamps with finger oils and other stuff.

Do not soak these in water (the usual way to remove stamps from hinges or pages) before asking on here because some older stamps may have water based ink that could run. Not all, just some expensive ones.

There, scared you enough I think. Others can tell you about the catalog value and market value of stamps.

Hi Rdr, and welcome!

I will only speak to the values of the standard postage stamps. There are a number of Revenue stamps of which I am sure some of our revenue specialists will be happy to address in time.

A couple of things before I continue.

1) The catalogue numbers and values I use are from the 2010 Scott specialized catalogue for US stamps. It is almost certainly available to you at your local public library if you're curious enough to look into it further.

2) Puzzler already addressed condition of the stamps. As a rule, catalogue values given are for items that are undamaged, and well centered. Stamps with tears, stains (not cancellations), missing pieces, poorly centered, etc are almost always relegated to the status of "Filler", meaning they fill a spot in your album, but have little value (typically, fillers command 5%-10% of cat value)

3) During the 19th century, letter writing was basically the only form of communication. Postage stamps were issued by the billions upon billions, and therefore, a lot of them remain today. I will only list cat values if the stamp is over $1.00. Don't be disappointed about what you have in your possession :)

Image 1: Scott catalogue #65, 3c Rose. Issued 1861. Value $3.00

Image 2: Scott catalogue #307, 10c Pale Red Brown. Issued 1903. Value $3.25. All other items in image #2 are under $1.00

Image 3: Scott catalogue #303, 4c Brown. Issued 1903. Value $2.50; Scott catalogue # 304, 5c Blue. Issued 1903. Value $2.25; Scott catalogue #223, 5c Chocolate. Issued 1890. Value $4.50.

The 4c and 6c items on image 3 are from the 1894 "Bureau of Engraving" issue and need to have the paper checked for watermarks before determining the exact value. Values range from $3.50 to $30.

Image 4: Scott catalogue #306, 8c Violet Black. Issued 1902. Value $3.50

Image 5: The 1c Ultramarine, and 3c green both need a closer look in order to determine the exact catalogue number. Values range from <$1.00 to $175 depending on type. If you're so motivated, a high resolution scan of both the front and back of each stamp would be nice. The other 3 stamps are less than $1.00

Image 6: Scott catalogue # 235, 6c Purple. Issued 1893. Value $25.00; Scott catalogue #236, 8c Magenta. Issued 1893. Value $12.00. The other 5 stamps are less than $1.00

Image 7: Scott catalogue # 232, 3c Green. Issued 1893. Value $17.50; Scott catalogue # 233, 4c Ultramarine. Issued 1893. Value $7.50; Scott catalogue # 237, 10c Black Brown. Issued 1893. Value $9.00. The botton 2 stamps are less than $1.00. I do not know anything about the "Army Frank" stamps.

Image 8: Scott catalogue # 234, 5c Chocolate. Issued 1893. Value $9.50.

I'll stop there. I'm sure someone will come along and address the others for you.

Cheers!

Brian

These "Army Frank" stamps were interesting to me as I do not recall having seen them before, so I looked up the issue and found that they were considered "bogus" stamps, purported to be local issues that were not condoned by either the US Post Office or the US Army. They were, however, "issued" in 1898 during the Spanish American War by a Brewster C. Kenyon, who apparently had a long history with philatelic forgeries of many kinds.

This link on a previous post on this site may give you more information on those stamps in particular:

https://goscf.com/t/11019

I'll bump this thread for Rdr as I'm interested in learning more about the revenues he posted here.

Maybe edit your first post to change the title to include something like 'US Revenues Help' or some such to target the correct audience. Not everyone knows about those beauties.

I can identify some of the revenue stamps, however, I have a 2002 Scott Specialized Catalog, so the values may be a bit out of date.

Revenue stamps with the "Battleship" design as shown on the bottom row of scans 6-8 and the next to the last row of scans 9-10 are Revenue Stamps R163-R169 that have a used value of catalog minimum $0.20. The fractional denomination "Battleship" stamps are Proprietary Stamps with denominations shown from 1/2 to 2-1/2 cents. They are Scott RB20-RB28 and again have a used value of catalog minimum. They are all quite common, however, regardless of value, they are a pretty set.

Stamps in the bottom row of scan 9 (gray Documentary Stamps with an outline numerical overprint are R184-R187 ($1, $2, $3 and $5 denominations). Used examples of the $1 and $2 variety are at catalog minimum $0.20. The $3 and $5 varieties are a bit more valuable at $3 and $1 respectively, assuming they both have cut cancels (if no cut cancel the value is $11 and $6.50 respectively.)

The others can be a bit more tricky to identify as it relates to variations in paper types, perforations, watermarks, etc., so I'll leave it to some others to help identify for you.

I took a quick look at the Revenues. Most are in the .25 - 1.00 range. Their are a few that might be more valuable depending on paper type. I would need to see the backs. 2 or 3 might hit the $4-$5 range. The standard postage stamps you have are more desireable and valuable.