Value Of Old Stamps?

My mother passed away last year. While going through her things I found a couple of dozen old US postage stamps that look as though they were clipped off old-style pre stamped envelopes. I have a dozen or so 22 cent stamps, brown with a buffalo on them; a few 15 cent stamps, red with stripes and stars looking something like Uncle Sam's hat; and some green 10 cent ones with a white Liberty Bell.

Can anybody tell me if any of these stamps has any value? Evidently the Post Office doesn't think so as I tried to glue a couple of the 22 cent ones plus some 1 cent stamps to make 49 cents postage on a letter......And the post office bounced back my letter.

If these never-used-for-postage stamps would have any value to a collector or otherwise, how should I best proceed?

Stamp imprints cut off of stamped envelopes have never been accepted for payment of postage in the USA. The stamp impressions you describe all have minimal catalog value.

Here's an excerpt from right out of the US Postal Service Manual that confirms that such items are invalid for postage:

That's neat! I knew the "rules" but never seen it officially like that. Thanks.

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing that information. With regard to duck stamps, does anyone know why so many people reference "face value" in item descriptions and so on, when "face value" in the context of postage value does not apply to duck stamps?

Face value not only applies to postage stamps and money but a variety of items. On a duck s is just referring to the amount printed on the stamp. I think it goes back to Greek or Roman times. The rulers wanted to establish "fiat" currency rather than currency based on the commodity value of gold or silver. The ruler, whose face, a symbol of his authority, was on the coin, simply declared the value of the currency and expected merchants and consumers to trade with it at that value. In this way, debased currency could enable the ruler to increase the money supply without being tied to the intrinsic value of metals. Most of the face value of Federal Duck stamps goes back to supporting wildlife in America.