Getting Washington Figured Out

The problem with getting so many stamps is sticking with one subject. I have done a very good job of rough sorting of all my recent classics. No is the hard part of actually identifying the correct Scott number. I have hundreds of the red Washington stamps. The first thing that I did was to separate by the style of stamp.

That was easy because there are four basic styles. The first has no Triangle in the upper corners. Since I'm only looking for two different colors and both look the same and no watermarks to look for. I found had over one hundred #220's and only one #219D. The #219D was easy to find since it is a darker red color called LAKE.

See attached PHOTO.

Next I went through the #220's looking for the Caps over the number 2. The #220a has a Cap over the left 2 and the #220c has Caps over both two's. While I didn't find any in the soaked stamps I did find two of each on others I saved on paper because of the interesting postmarks.

So after going through the first style I found I have the #219D, #220, #220a & #220c. The Caps were a great find because they are far more valuable than the plain #220. The Lake # 219D is three times more valuable than the plain #220.

The next style is the Washington with the triangles. This is a little more complex because you're working with several factors. The first thing I did was to separate by watermark. Finding watermarks on these stamps is easy because the double watermark is easy to find.

Next you have to separate by the TYPE. There are three Types, Type 1 have horizontal lines the same thickness running across the triangle. Type II have horizontal lines thinner in side the triangle while Type III the lines do not cross the double frame of the triangle.

This will give you 8 different Scott numbers for this style of Washington stamp. Mine have been sorted by watermark and for now I have only sorted Type III into Scott # 252 & Scott # 267. Type I and Type II take a good magnifying glass and I have asked my daughters to check my first look.

There are two more Washington's to sort if the above wasn't enough. These stamps are totally different in design with the following text on top of the stamp; "U.S. POSTAGE" The first and easy difference is on the bottom. So I sorted the stamps into two groups the first has the following on the bottom, "2 CENTS 2" and the second "TWO CENTS".

There are 12 different Scott numbers for the "TWO CENTS" and 31 for the "2 CENTS 2"


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I know exactly where your coming from MK

I've left some of the older ones that had multiple printing.

I'll tackle them when I have lots of time and a little more patience.

Dianne

Wow I definitely need a better magnifying glass for the 40 year old eyes. I have the early Washington's 99% done. Looking for those lines in the triangles can be a pain with a cheap glass.

I now have found the 219D, 220, 248, 249, 250, 251, 252, 265, 266 & 267. Now I have to go through the 267 once more to separate the Type IV from the Type III.

I'm not going to go through these until I get a better magnifying glass. There are six key things to check to make the identification. Thank goodness the Type III - 279B are all water marked so that cuts down on the work a little.

I will be looking at hair lines, toga buttons, dots in the ear, portrait oval, the T in the Two and the line in the Acanthus. This is far more than enough work for my older eyes.