The More I Learn The Confuseder I Get...

I had stamp collections when I was a kid (foreign and US) and sold them after I got married. Collections were gone but stamps still were tucked away in cigar boxes and envelopes. Years back I spent a few weeks sorting them but they went back to the closet once I was done. A few weeks ago I ran across some and though...why not? So have albums now and am in the process of putting them together. Mind you....I'm not a serious collector so much as a hobby collector but do have a perf gauge and will check for watermarks when need be.

The other day I was sorting through some washington 2 cent stamps and ran into two imperforates with what turns out to be Schermack coil stamps. So go looking on the web and soon realized the two stamps have opened a can of worms for me. I've checked and checked, compared and recompared and have come to these conclusions: stamp001.jpg is a type 1A and stamp002.jpg is a type 1 but I don't trust my rookie judgement so...I'm open for opinions here...

You are on the right track to ID these as Schermack coils. Hint: The first stamp is offset printing, thus types IV, V, VA, VI, or VII.

The first is an offset, looks like type V. The second is a type I; this one has to be watermarked to know which it is

The first stamp is a type VII 534B Schermack coil. The upper lip has three vertical rows of dots, and the line of color in the left "2" is continuous. Scott US Specialized 2019 catalog value used with Schermack perforations in very fine condition is $200, and possibly undervalued. This example is worth somewhat less because the Schermack perforations cut into the left side of the design, but the stamp, if sound, could sell in the $50 to $100 range to an informed buyer.

The line does not appear thick enough to me to be a type VII, although there are some dots on the forehead.

Neither stamp is watermarked so that makes stamp002 a Scott 482? I should have caught the offset printing of stamp001 just by touch but hadn't considered that at the time(s). Though the scans don't show it both stamps are fairly evenly centered vertically and stamp002 appears considerably darker in color than the other. Here's a pic in hopes it shows the color difference.




BTW...your knowledge and assistance is greatly appreciated.