A Question And A Dilemma

First I must say that the 150 or so postcards that I am currently trying to work with are not mine. They belong to someone that I sell for on eBay - we have a multi-year arrangement, and until now it has worked well for me. Now I have this great postcard collection and a stamp book with British stamps in it that I must sell. I don't think I could afford to buy all the postcards from him, but I will attempt to buy the stamp collection. Therefore, all the postcards that I post are technically for sale. I came to see if I could find a good home for these postcards as I hate to see this collection broken up, but I must break it up to sell. This is my dilemma.

My question has to do with the stamps on most of the US postcards. There is a large number of postcards that were mailed about Northern California which required a 1 cent stamp at the time. So, there are a lot of Washinton's, but mostly Ben Franklin's on the postcards. I went to Don's StampSmarter site and used the tool there for determining which of those stamps you have and got stuck on the watermarks. In order to tell if a stamp has a watermark must one soak it off of the cover? If that is the case then I will not be doing that and won't be looking for any value in those stamps, since there were so many used back then, and the probability that I will score some huge stamp value is extremely low. So I suppose I have answered my own question, I think. Any input on this problem would also be appreciated.

I was going to post in another section, then thought this might be a more appropriate place. I had some postcards that I scanned in just to convey a small bit of the flavor of this collection. I only put 2 US postcards in here, but there are a ton more where these came from.
So, there are a couple from travels in the world also. Two of the cards keep showing up sideways, my apologies, I have tried to work with these to straighten them out but think I am getting too tired.
Thank you, Julie

Hello. Pretty postcards! Let me say first that I don't really collect US stamps, although I have a few. But my feeling - which you've also arrived at - is that the likelihood of your finding one of the scarcer Washington-Franklins is very low. Removing them from cards would probably leave you with some worthless cardboard and a penny stamp. There was a device - Instatector, I think - that was supposedly designed to find watermarks on stamps on covers, but I never got anywhere with it.

I had that device as well Geoff and ending up driving over it with my vehicle before chucking it in the bin.

Taking the example of the two 1 cent Franklin stamps you show, they were the workhorse stamp of that era. They were made in HUGE quantities. There are two types which are (by far) the most common:
Scott 331 with a double-line watermark, (Catalog 40 cents used, and 55 cents on cover), and
Scott 374 with a single-line watermark. (Catalog 25 cents used, and 30 cents on cover).
There is no reason to try to differentiate cards with these two stamps on them.
Removing stamps from cards just for the sake to IDing a few cents difference decreases the value of the stamp and the card and it destroys postal history.
The other major variety is Scott 357 on blue paper, which you are unlikely to have.
Bottom line, ignore the stamps, sell the items for the card values, which will exceed the stamp value, move on and don't lose any sleep.

GeoffHa, rogdcam, and John Becker,

Thank you all so very much for your sense of humor and for your straight shooting logic. When I read your replies I felt the weight lift from my shoulders, I was so worried about how to handle the situation. Of course everything you said made perfect sense, especially about the fact that they made a HUGE number of the Ben Franklins, that pretty much clenched it. So thank you again, I will sell the post cards with a lighter conscience than I would have otherwise.

I have some other paper I have to sell also. As I recall there is a place here for me to put my link to what I am selling on eBay - if my recollection is correct and I can do that I will, I would like to give the great people in these forums first shot at the material. Some of it is very nice I believe.

I got a chuckle out of rogdcam's remark about the machine that GeoffHa mentioned to find watermarks on covers. Too funny And I liked GeoffHa's remark that the cards I had put up were Pretty - thank you. And most of all, I thank John Becker for telling me not to loose any sleep over selling the cards, thanks so much, and I won't be doing that now either.

My most sincere thanks for your replies, Julie