Help With A 1c Franklin (Scott A115 Variety) & A Postage Due

Hello there ... first post/thread :)

Okay, I am still a noob with stamps, but I'm getting to the point where I know just enough ... and I need some help with a 1c Franklin.

I picked up this telegram (canceled in 1907) at an estate sale because of the stamps:







The Franklin has got me puzzled ... at first I want to say it's just a Scott 300. But is it one of the more desired 316's or 318's ? It's perfed on 3 sides ... so what gives ? Is my noobness showing ?

I think I've nailed down the Postage Due stamp to a J31, deep claret, no watermark, perf 12. The colors are confusing to me, but I think that's accurate.

Any insight or help ? Am I on the right track, missing something obvious ? The 1c Franklin ... it has me puzzled and I want to get it right b/c the value is linked to nailing it down lol :)

Thanks to any help :)

Hello and welcome to the Family.

You are correct on Scott #300. One side without perfs is a straight-edge variety, which is less desirable (for some reason) than perforated on all four sides. The 316 and 318 are coil stamps, which is the simplest terms, means that they are perforated on two opposite sides only -- the other two sides are straight edges.

Very hard to tell color from your scan. The US Postage dues are made with and without watermark. It is very hard to look for a watermark when the stamp is on a piece. Looking at the cancellation date, you can have only J29, J31 or the more likely J38.

Hey thank you so much for your help :)

The thing that was throwing me off was the straight edge ... because the Scott book said that the 316 and 318's were privately perf-ed in all manner of varieties, so I wasn't sure if the "3 sides" was something special, or merely the edge of the sheet for the #300. I got that it needed to be two sides only for the coil stamps, but I just wanted to be sure :) Thank you !

Concerning the J29, 31, or 38 ... I can't see a watermark, but I pretty much figured I would need to remove it from the telegram to find out definitively. So I was mostly going by the perf count and color (as well as the dating). The color in the pic (on my screen at least) is very close to the color I would see in person. It is a deep, almost tinted purple, color. That's why I was going with deep claret.

Thanks again for your help !!

And I almost forgot ... thank you for the welcome :)

Unfortunately, the Scott's Specialized says that J38 is available in Deep Claret, Claret, Carmine and Lake. Too many choices. Sometimes you are able to carefully soak the top of the stamp to look for the watermark, but I wouldn't recommend it. Better to just leave it on piece and go on to the next problem. Please keep posting, and we love pictures ...

Yeah I didn't want to remove it, soak it, etc ... I really like the telegram it's attached to and I wanted to leave it all as-is :)

I was somewhat using this site here as a guide to the colors (along with simply googling the colors):

http://www.theswedishtiger.com/xdues5.htm

Straight googling the colors shows claret to be the most agreeable as opposed to the other options, at least to my eyes, so that's yet another reason I was settling for deep claret. I think I'm in the ball park at least.

I don't understand why stamp guides don't use a pantone type of system ? ;-) In graphic design pantone is invaluable. Why not in stamp collecting lol ?

And yes ... as I keep finding stamps, there will be more pictures :) Currently this is the only one I had questions on, but I'm sure there will be more in the not too distant future :)