Washington-Franklin - Where To Start?

I have collected U. S. Stamps for many decades, but was always confused by the Washington-Franklins so they ended up stashed in a box. I now want to start tackling them. I know that I will need to do some reading and studying, but where should I begin?
What resources have you other collectors found to be most helpful?

Wendy, a very much helpful website would be www.stampsmarter.org. It is a great p;ace to start,


Peter

There's a wealth of info at Stamp Smarter, such as https://stampsmarter.org/1847usa/19...ntifier.html and https://stampsmarter.org/1847usa/19...ntifier.html And Siegel always has great write-ups: https://siegelauctions.com/enc/pdf/1908-15WF.pdf

Siegel also has the Johl books available to download; they are full of info. I have founds it best to separate them by perfs first, then watermark what needs it, then worry about the types on the 2 and 3 cent values.

revcollector has given you pretty good advice on the "order of attack". I always found watermarks to be the hardest part. Double-line watermarks are usually easy to see and hence not much trouble. But trying to figure out whether a stamp is unwatermarked or has a single-line watermark can at times be very frustrating. Good luck!

Fortunately the watermark problems are mostly limited to the perf 10 stamps. The perf 12's have to be watermarked, so if it is really difficult to find it is invariably an SL. And only the 2 cent perf 11's have to be watermark checked.

Good luck! I gave up on them. Too many altered stamps, too expensive. certification needed, specialized knowledge, too expensive.

Two books I can recommend are (for those who prefer print to digital):

Micarelli Identification Guide to U S Stamps: Regular Issues, 1847-1934

The Expert's Book a Practical Guide to the Authentication of United States Stamps Washington/Franklin Issues 1908-1923 by Paul W. Schmid

The Schmid book seems to be selling for crazy prices so I would start with the Micarelli.

My tried and true method is simple. Buy a cheap stock book. Separate into denominations. Place in stock book. Place stock book on shelf. Leave there until I get the desire to become frustrated.

I'm with Wendy and Angore - I have a huge hoard of these but just don't have the interest to dive in and figure out where they go in the album (scott #). The type and variations just don't have any wow factor for me, so still they sit. Maybe when I'm older :-)

Greetings Wendy
The WF series is challenging and thus rewarding. You will need a Scott Specialized, a good mag glass, a great light( I have one like Don pictured in another thread that clamps to the edge and has a built in mag/light which I use with and w/o the mag) and a good perf/ stamp ider. I use the Sonic labs Precision US Specialty Multi gauge. It not only has an accurate perf gauge but also the mm line measure for measuring parallel edges and perfs. Mike Girard had a good column in the March APS Magazine and has a nice website "Riverside Stamps" where he discusses his passion, the WFs. Stamp smarter has a nice section on coils, which are commonly faked, which are not. I also like Martin Armstrongs small book on these. Watermarks are the biggest issue for me, challenging. I hope you undertake this study. Hard subjects make for interesting learning.
Cheers, mark

In my opinion, the best way to learn W/F stamps is this tool
https://stampsmarter.org/features/S...rank_ID.html

This interactive tool literally teaches you the correct steps and walks you through the correct identification process while at the same time providing you with the ID for a stamp in hand.

There is a link to a video on how to use the tool if needed, but it is pretty simple and self explanatory.
Don

I use the Micarelli Identification Guide to U S Stamps: Regular Issues, 1847-1934

Wendy,
One speed trick for Bulk lots, I use below and have saved 100+++ hours:
It is not 100% but it has helped me find valuable coils very fast even from a bad picture on eBay.

The collector can distinguish rotary press printings from flat plate and offset printings by several principal criteria and one confirmation check.

No setoff. Stamps printed by the "flat plate" process, whether mint or used, will exhibit spots of ink on the back of the stamp,[/b] [/b]caused by ink transfer when sheets of freshly printed stamps were stacked for drying. Philatelists term this phenomenon "offset" or, more recently, "setoff." Rotary press output was not stacked in this manner. The presence of setoff on the back of a stamp eliminates it as a rotary press printing and is the first check that collectors should make.


https://stampsmarter.org/learning/I...arities.html

After a while, the larger width of the rotary coils becomes more readily apparent when just looking at a group of stamps, too.

Ain't that the truth! I have a couple of W/Fs that I haven't mounted for that very reason. My inclination would be to assume that what I have is the least valuable option, but in both of these cases there is no significant difference in catalog value between the watermarked and unwatermarked versions. I could just assume that they're whichever Scott numbers the dealers said they were, but I've had enough experience with dealers selling me (or trying to sell me) misidentified stamps that I'm reluctant to accept a dealer's identification at face value. This is why I've generally avoided W/Fs and have only bought a few inexpensive ones.