US Envelopes 1853-1926

Hi , can anybody tell me about this catagory of stamp , its embossed on to the envelope I guess.Ive found a page of them in my book and wondered if they are collectable/rare etc

I'm just a beginner, but the market for them seems
to function just like the market for any classic
stamp... Value depends on exactly which one you
have, what condition it is in, and if it is new,
used, or a rare variant.

Make sense?

There are far more experienced than me though, that
will surely chime in.

Pics (scans) would definitely help when the pros
get here.

Good luck

Cool... I wondered as there is a place for them in this stamp album , I vaguely remember something similar but these seem to be older than anything id remember.

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Yeah, those are cut squares.
Seems like it was a popular thing to do back when.
Today they are more desireable as a complete envelope.

Edit: Not that they can't be valuable!
Someone might pick out one there that is rare...
Never know.

Kind of ironic , its obvious the album publishers intended the collector to cut the squares to fit , must have created a scarcity of complete envelopes.Thanks for your help , trying to sort out the weird items before starting research on the stamps.

Who collected those?

Looks like my Dad's old books. He collected since
he was very young. I never did until he passed
this spring and now I am trying to carry on his
collection. He has lots of the cut squares and he
hinged his old stamps too, which is a big no-no
by today's standards.

Its not clear exactly who the collector was , an elderly neighbor passed away in spring and I was given the stamp album as id been a friend of his.
Most of the stamps seem to pre date him though so im guessing it was his fathers.
Most of the stamps are 19th century and from all over the world , quite staggering really.


And yup..they are all hinged , quite a few appear to have fallen out over the years as I can see where a hinge has been in a couple places.
I doubt if the book had seen daylight in 50-60 years ,thats about when the last stamps went in going by date.

Cool!
Well I hope you get into the hobby. It sounds like
a good strong foundation for a collection. It gets
pretty addictive.
Dave

To be honest I didnt think id get hooked , but the history and art I've learned just from a few has been fascinating.
Theres stamps from countries I've never heard of and some that no longer exist , stamps from the most unlikliest places considering how old they are.
Its a long cold winter in Pa , not unusual to get snowed in , its ideal for days like that.I havnt found the one area I want to collect as yet ,the pictorial history ones are front runners : )

I have a nice collection of cut squares and I still cut them today. However I make sure to keep at least one complete. The value really drops when they are cut.

Way back when I collected envelopes, I collected entires. One of the many fascinations for me was the many die varieties of some issues. The entires also exhibit the watermarks nicely.

Ive only now realised there is a whole section given over to these here , sorry about that ,i didnt know what they were exactly.
Thanks everybody , I do now : )