Early French Stamps ID

Looking to confirm correct ID for the following three (3) stamps from France that appear to be early issues:



I've been looking in my Scott catalog but there appear to be a number of varieties for each stamp.

My best guess is:

Stamp 1 = Scott #26; Stamp 2 = Scott #32; Stamp 3 = Scott #58

Not sure if I'm right, though. Any help on this will be appreciated.

Thanks.

Your IDs appear to be correct. I am ignoring minor color varieties.

For the pre-1876 France, I suggest looking at the following to whittle down the Scott design number possibilities:

Ceres (A1,A7-A11,A13-14) or Napoleon III (A2-A6,A12)

REPUB FRANC (A1-A2,A7-A11,A13-A14) OR EMPIRE FRANC (A3) or EMPIRE FRANCAIS (A4-A6,A13)

artwork at left/right is like left/right "hair-pin" path (A1-A3,A6,A8-A11) or "maze-like" path (A5,A12) or none (A4,A7).

Compare your 10c and 20c Napoleonheads to understand what I mean by hairpin/mazelike.

That may or may not help. On a couple stamps (such as the large size 5fr Napoleaon III and a couple of stamps that only exist in a certain denomination/color) the above steps are not needed. But those 3 features are the simplest and quickest to get you into at least the right section of Scott.

As you get practiced, you will figure out some shortcuts, such as the Ceres stamps do not come with the maze-like artwork.

Thanks for the information. I know there are a number of stamps to each of these series, but I only have the above pictured few, so I have nothing to compare it to (other than a catalog). Glad to know that my initial research appears to be correct.

Well-done, wt1!

I know the first foray I made into early France, I was so flustered that I put it away for a good while. Then a few years ago, I acquired an unexpectedly nice France collection and forced myself to go through the mechanics. Ended up enjoying it far more than I had expected.