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What you are looking for when evaluating a stamp is first to identify which stamp it is. These are Scott 319. Once that is known, then you look at the condition.
The stamp on the right is badly damaged, having been trimmed at top and right with scissors, then it has a piece missing at bottom left. Unless the stamp is extremely rare, it is not worth keeping.
The centering stamp appears to be sound physically from the image you provided. The design is poorly centered with the edge of the design having been cut into by the perforations at top and right. As partime has pointed out, the cancellation is so heavy it makes seeing the underlying design hard.
The stamp on the left is reasonably well centered, with a light cancellation. The only visible problem is with the perforation teeth on the left side. There appear to be several which are nibbed, meaning they are not as long as the others on the top and bottom. Still, this is a collectible stamp, but with minimum value.
The standard catalog most collectors use is the Scott catalogs, and for U.S., that would be the Scott U.S. Specialized catalog. Another great resource is the website stampsmarter, which will help you both identify stamps and provides a lot of great information.
Check out
http://www.stampsmarter.com/1847usa...ntifier.html
Posted 12/21/2017 12:05 am
