Need Help Identifying Washington 1 Cent

Hello everyone,

I am very new to stamp collecting at an expert level (i.e. looking at details of perforations, watermarks, etc...) so I need some help identifying these stamps which I pulled out of some kiloware.

I do not own a scott catalogue but I am using the online US catalogue from Mystic Stamp Company (at least it gives me the year of issue which for a novice for me is a start).

I do not own a perforation gauge (yet) but I have seen people here identify it just by looking at the image hence I thought about posting.

Without know the perforations and watermarks you make it pretty hard. The stamp on the left looks like a perf 10 and the one on the right looks perf 11. The right one probably is a Scott 498. That is a perf 11 without a watermark. Very common stamp. The perf 10 could be one of several. All of them are common as well. Try reading up on US stamps at www.1847usa.com. You should also find a perf gauge as soon as possible. I've seen some online that can be printed out. Try a google search and see what pops up.
Good luck!

Thanks for the reply Bill.

Will definitely look up the perf gauge, in fact I already found one.

Definitely arm yourself with all the basic stamp accessories since they don't cost much.

Good powerful magnifying glass, where it takes a few seconds to go over the whole stamp. Especially for verifying validity of purchased stamps. You'd be surprised at how hard it can be to spot a cancellation sometimes. This will be your worst expense at first. Try an art store for this.--

Perforation Guage (Have a look at the aluminum one from Uni-Safe).
Stamp Tongs with the rounded tip.
Watermark Fluid (Super Safe Brand) and the little dish.
Eye Dropper.

Buy mounts in different height strips rather than the individual size packs. You will need a Scott specialized catalog with the identifier section just to start. Later there are books on the tricks of things like the Washington / Franklin issues, etc.--

The booklet "A Guide to Grading and Expertizing United States Stamps" is awfully important. Study this before trying to really get serious about buying. The majority of sellers are honest, but just one can screw you bad. I could tell you sellers to avoid, but I don't know if I can do that here.--

Some online stamp supply place may have much basic stuff in one box to help folks get started. You will need something to detect tagging on stamps. They are expensive, but try to get one with both the high and low frequencies. Look around on these web sites and discern whether you need something I might not have noted. Don't buy cheap stuff like I sometimes did. Spend the bucks, you only have to do it once. Take your time. There's no rush. There is oh so much to learn. I was lucky when I started, and had someone tell me the list of things to get. I want to pass it off to you from what's off the top of my head.

I really hope you enjoy this hobby. I read that the engraving work done for stamps was one of the finest art forms there was. I agree. I hope all this helps.


Go for it.
-IBFS

Thanks IBFS.

I will acquire these items but I had a question about the eye dropper? I have never heard of this, what is it?

OH... I use the eye dropper to drop the watermark fluid onto the stamp. I might apologize for this one. I'm sure everyone does it different. I use an eye dropper because the stuff evaporates so fast that I can keep a certain area of the stamp wet longer if the watermark is difficult to see. I have found it a particularly helpful technique where the watermark and a cancellation are confused together.

That is my only reason for an eye dropper. Sorry for the confusion.


-IBFS