Hello From Cleveland

Hello all. Am doing things I've never had time to do before, with the onset of social distancing. I have dozens of letters (with envelopes and stamps attached) I know to be authentic, from late 1800's to early 1900's. I could determine the majority of stamps I have to be pretty much worthless, but I have a few I need help with, in determining value
1.Forward facing George W, two cents, red, sent 1904
2. left side face of George W, one cent, green, sent 1913
3.left side face of George W, two cents, red, sent 1913
4. left side face of George W , 2 cents, pink, sent 1898
5.left side face of George W, 2 cents, brown , sent 1886

I know I should upload a photo to be more helpful. I am frustrated as I find such a huge disparity for what seems to be the same item online. For the first stamp I find thousands of dollars in difference, and both stamps were postmarked, and to my eye seemed to be exactly the same. I so appreciate any advice, Thanks all, and stay well!

Welcome to the forum.

Welcome and you might go to stampsmarter.com for more information. It sounds as if you have "normal" mail which is likely to be very common.
It can be interesting to some but not likely to command any significant interest based on what you have described with your post. Good luck!

thanks for the welcome and suggestions. I was able to get pictures uploaded, but they show in my profile and for some reason I can't get them to show up on this message board. I made sure I wasn't using the "edit post". At any rate, thanks so much, I will check the stampsmarter website!! I liked the point you make about "normal" mail. That makes sense. One of the letters came from Wash. DC, but I would guess still these are all of very low value. Thanks, and I'll keep my search going a bit.

Welcome Bert841,

Keep your stamps on the envelopes and post scans on this site. To post a scan you have to click on "Switch to Full Reply" at the bottom of the screen you've been using to post messages. If you get a message that the scan is too large, click on the "Image Optimizer" to adjust its size. If you still have problems, keep asking. People on this site are the most helpful you'll ever find.

Eric (also from Cleveland)

Welcome!!

The old adage that they use in the medical profession "when you hear hoofbeats, think horses, not zebras" applies to stamp collecting as well. The low denomination definitives of the late 19th century, early 20th century were printed in the hundreds of millions because in those days everyone mailed a lot of letters, and a good many of them survived. The rare ones that you see selling for huge prices were printed in vastly smaller numbers, a few hundred at most, so you're looking at a ratio of a million to one between the common and the rare, so you can see the unlikelihood of a casual find being one of the rare ones. It's always worth looking, though! And welcome to the forum, Bert, you'll find us a friendly and knowledgeable group.