1 Cent1 And One Cent Benjamin Franklin Stamps On Post Cards

I've spent the last three days trying to figure these stamps out. I've done perforation counts to measuring the design on the stamps
over and over. Any info. would be greatly appreciated.

top SC632 bottom SC331

Hello Tin1Gin2,
Counting perforations can be tricky to do. One of the members here (51studebaker) created a perf gauge that you can print. It's not as easy to use as a manufactured gauge, but it is free:

http://www.stampsmarter.com/learnin...rfGauge.html

Save that file to your computer, then open it to print it. Since your stamps are on cover, you can fold the paper at the tips of one of the sets of teeth and then hold it up next to the stamp.

The #331 will have perf 12 on all sides. The #632 will have close to perf 11 on the top and bottom and perf 10.5 on the left and right sides.

The #331 is a flat plate printed stamp. The #632 is rotary printed and is taller than flat plate stamps.

Having dated postmarks provides great clues. The top postcard is postmarked as 1933 which is well into the date range that the #632 was produced. The bottom postcard is postmarked as 1909. The next stamp after #331 is the #374 which was first used in November, 1910. Normally you would need to check which watermark it has, but you don't need to do so because that is the "only" stamp with that design produced at that time.

However, the #357 was first used in 1909 but the chances of your stamp being one is very low. That is one of the bluish paper stamps and is difficult to identify over the Internet and especially difficult when it is on cover and stained. It's pretty safe to assume that your stamp is not a #357.

Knowing typical stamp colors for a particular Scott # is also very useful, but takes seeing a lot of each type to become familiar with.

Thank you so much for being so helpful. I just printed off the gauge and will begin to use it. It really can be confusing if you don't know what you're doing. It's also very hard when the stamps are on cards. Thanks again for all the info.

You're welcome. I was in the same spot as you not that long ago.

I read your introductory post and it seems that most if not all of your stamps are on postcards. That will make it difficult when watermarks are what differentiate two stamps from each other. Using dates you can identify some of them. The rest you'll have to settle for an incomplete identification. Removing the stamps to check for a watermark is an option if it's valuable enough. I'd ask for opinions here about each one before doing that.

Next your going to need to learn how to identify offset and rotary printings. This link will take you to a post on a thread that starts off a discussion that you should read: https://goscf.com/t/40718#348957

For more information on identifying offset printings, go here: https://goscf.com/t/40951#348932

Almost all blue paper postcards are found with Washington DC postmarks, in the first half of 1909. If you see Wash DC from feb-may 1909 it pays to take a closer look.

Great point chasa, thanks!

The top one, postmarked 1933 is most likely Scott No. 632.

The bottom one looks to me to be postmarked Dec. 1909. If that's correct it's probably Scott No. #331 or if you are very lucky, #357.

If you can print out that perf gauge onto tracing paper, that would be a handy way of checking the perfs on cover. Good luck with that!


-IBFS

Does anyone notice anything rare of these stamps? And what there worth? I would greatly appreciate any and all information and help. Thank you