New And Need Indentification Help

Hi everyone,

I ran across some old stamps recently and am completely new to the art of stamp collecting. After spending a lot of time researching online I have found that there is no way for a novice to identify possible valuable stamps so I am asking for your assistance.

The first stamp I am curious about is a Franklin 1 Cent. I am hoping that somehow it is one of the valuable ones like the #594. The dimensions seem to match but I can't tell for sure. I have attached some photos(not great ones) for reference.






I also have 5 Washington 1 cent stamps that I was wondering if any might have some value. Please see attached picture.


Finally I have some Washington 2 cent stamps. Please let me know if there is anything special regarding these. Please see the attached pictures.


I have a few hundred more to sort thru, but these were the ones that jumped out at me after a little research.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Kelley

Kelley - thanks for sharing. The top stamp is SC634. The 5 green stamps are SC498's or maybe SC405, all common. Of the 2c reds, the right stamp second row looks interesting. If the design is exactly the same width as the right stamp bottom row, it could be the rare SC595. Overlay the two and compare. Using the millemeter gauge is less helpful. The other 8 two center's are common varieties for sure.

First stamp in your fourth scan (with the holes in it) is what is referred to as "perforated initials" or "perfin" for short. The initials were punched into stamps as a security measure against theft. The stamp shown with "PRR Co." on two lines was used by the old Pennsylvania Railroad. Unfortunately, it's not worth much of anything in terms of value, but is a nice start to a collection, as there are both stamp and railroad enthusiasts who collect these examples.

Kelley, AKA newbie3,

Glad to have you on board & to SCF. You're getting into a great hobby that can last a lifetime.

As you get deeper into collecting you will want to get a Scott's Specialized Catalog to help identify the older material. If I may suggest, a catalog 10 years old has pretty much the same material as the new catalog, except for the last 10 years, and are a LOT less expensive. You can find them on ebay for around $10.00 or so.

Art

You can pick them up (catalogs) used on Amazon as well. They are sometimes cheaper than ebay.

Thank you for all your responses and advice.

Chasa, if I am reading it correctly you said that the top stamp (Franklin 1 cent) was a SC634. Since I do not have a catalog I looked that number up on the internet and the 634 was identified as a 2 cent Washington. I am having a hard time trying to figure what stamp this is since it's dimensions appear to be 19 3/4 by 22.5 The stamp also appears to be more of a lime green in color. Let me know if I am doing something wrong.

Regarding the 2 cent Washington stamp you referenced as a possible SC595, I checked the overlay and it looks like the design width is slightly smaller than the stamp just below it. Since that appears to be the case do you know what it's identification would be?

Thanks again for the responses. This is a very interesting and exciting new hobby.

Hi Newbie and welcome to the forum. For the Washington / Franklin heads, you might want to go to the following website

http://1847usa.com/washfrankmain.htm

There is a wealth of information there on all types of US stamps.

Chimo

Bujutsu

Hi there is another web site I used when I started which has pictures and a pic menu system which made it easyer for me to Id the harder stamps. 1847usa is the better website but as a noob I found this one easyer to use and it explains things that helps any way here is the link
http://www.theswedishtiger.com/ID.html