Do You Have Scott #1 And/Or Scott #2? Tell US How Did You Get/Buy It And If Possible Post A Picture

Nio - They are auction houses. The easiest way to participate is through the bidding platform Stamp Auction Network (SAN) which is what I advised you back in the beginning of your posts. You preferred ebay because SAN was "difficult".

#1's are not scarce, they only are worth as much as they are because there is higher demand for a #1 (both US #1 and GB #1) than most other stamps.

While it is great to see someone with your enthusiasm, as someone else said, you are not ready to be buying a #1 and less so a #2. You proved that with your question about the blue 5c and orange 10c. You are going to get burned if you don't slow down and learn more before buying this kind if stamp (you got lucky on the collection with the Ducks, but your luck won;t last). You can learn a lot by buying (or window shopping) cheaper stamps (even by buying multiple copies of some of the same cheap stamps) - it will start to give you an idea of what is typical for the time period.

It is soooo user-unfriently. Plus you have to be authorized for each and every auction, which can take days. Anyways... I did try.




I've already agreed with that. I'm a newbie for US stamps. Not buying them for now. But I can start learning now

What do you find hard about SAN?

Steps

1) Register with SAN as you do with ebay and log-in.
2) If you see a lot at an auction house you are interested in and you have not dealt with them before hit the "Request Approval to Bid" button at the top of the page
3) Once approved by the auction house in a day or two bid on the lots that interest you

That is it.

If the house has live bidding on SAN you may do that as well without extra steps. Once approved you do not have to get approved again by the house.

Payment is between yourself and the house. SAN is not involved and you pay no fee.

Yes, both are auction firms. You'd need to register first in order to bid.

But buying a U.S. #1 and #2 is as easy, though, as going on ebay where a lot of perfectly good copies of these stamps are available. Most will be listed as "buy it now" which are fixed sales prices, but sometimes you get an actual auction where you might get a bargain (since it's an auction website, supposedly!). Look for stamps not too heavily canceled with three to four margins and without damage like thins, etc.

They aren't cheap stamps, but if you don't spend on other things for awhile you might be able to afford them. When I was younger, I treated myself to one a year.

Niosurfer,

Once before you had mentioned finding one or another of the auction interfaces awkward or less helpful than you hoped.

You might want to look at hipstamp.com and use it to learn more about some particular issues. The interface might help you sort through material more easily according to criteria you find useful: used vs unused vs MNH, with certificate as just mentioned in this thread or without, and order the merchandise by price, etc.

Some dealers on this platform hold auctions, but there are also many fixed price sales as well. Some of the vendors using this platform simultaneously list material on ebay, but you might find this interface better for learning.

My suggestion would be to pick an issue of interest to you (did you mention the Pan American series once?) and explore it in various ways on Hipstamp. You can get a sense of what the marketplace is, how important condition and centering can be to valuation of US issues. How much material is out there, etc. And you do not have to bid or buy.... If you do eventually, the signup is a trivial procedure if I remember correctly.

I have no interest in Hip, and as with any marketplace, you need to approach it carefully with knowledge. But it may be a helpful vehicle for your learning journey.

- Jonathan

Since you are so patient with me, would you mind if I ask you one more question? If you don't want to help me I'll understand.

1) I went to SAN and logged in. Great!
2) Now I have to search to find some nice US Collections. More interested in buying US collections and/or accumulations of stamps before 1925. It does not need to be a lot ($$$) of stamps.
3) So I type United States in the search box.

I land here:



Then I click in United States Collections and Accumulations and I land here:



Then I land on this page, without any pictures.



I remember you showed some nice collections with pictures on SAN. I'm probably doing the search incorrectly.

How do I find what I'm looking for with SAN? Do most of the auctions do not have pictures?

Nio - Think of SAN as a library of auction catalogs just like you might receieve in the mail. Browse through various upcoming auctions and get a feel for how each house presents their material and what type they may specialize in more than others. Remember that you can develop a relationship with each house and will find your favorites and not so favorites. You can ask for more photos of a large lot and you may or may not get them. A lot of the larger houses provide live viewing in the traditional way and that is difficult given current circumstances. I love the process. You may not. Just remember that an awful lot of the material that is sold at auctions which utilize the SAN platform ends up on ebay where you likely pay a healthy markup if you purchase it there. I look at it as cutting out a middleman. You can also build a more personal relationship with a real brick and mortar establishment instead of a mostly anonymous entity on ebay.

Worth a shot my friend.

Thanks for the tip, Jonathan. I'll check that out!

"I remember you showed some nice collections with pictures on SAN. I'm probably doing the search incorrectly.
How do I find what I'm looking for with SAN? Do most of the auctions do not have pictures?"

Some auction houses provide more images than others. Also, due to the inability to have live viewing, most houses are now in the process of trying to add more images or videos than they used to and some will make this change better than others. Like Rog suggested, try looking at the offerings of a bunch of different houses and you will start to get a feel for which ones give you a better presentation (but that still doesn't mean their descriptions and estimates are accuarte)

Long but fun story of my acquisition of my #1, I'm a vintage clothing dealer. I went to a house call on the Mainline in Phila in the early 90s. A descendant of 4 iconic Philadelphia families, The Cadwaladers, The Bradfords, The Rushes and the Biddles. I got a full sheet of uncut dollars from 1776, a 1782 "Way to Wealth" broadside(interestingly, Franklin's broadside was printed by his competitor Bradford), A smaller earlier pamphlet of the same. An early 1700s account by an unknown author of his journey up the Hudson river into Canada including his account of interacting with Native Americans along the way, Numerous 18thc textiles and garments including an embroidered waistcoat worn by William Plumstead and a sampler now in the Winterthur Museum made by Elizabeth Lloyd. AND lots of letters and a small box of approval books and stockbooks of a collection from about 1900. Among those stamps were many little gems. Among them a pleasant number 1 with a blue cancel. The stamps I think were from a Biddle as there were several revenues with their company's cancel on them in the mix.

Phillystamper: very interesting story. Very familiar with the names and the places as I hail from the Main Line myself. It always pays to know what you are looking at, particularly when you deal with old paper. In colonial times it seems everyone knew everyone else and there was strong intermarriage among prominent families.

About 10 years ago on ebay someone was selling a financial document related to a loan signed twice by Thomas Nelson Jr, signer of the DOI from Virginia. The story told to me by the seller was that he dealt with renovations of old houses and outside this old house that was undergoing renovation was a trash can filled with junk but on the top was a box filled with old paper that was going to be consigned to the dumpster. He asked about it and was given it for free, the renovators and owners of the contents just considering it "old worthless paper." In the box was this document.

After I bought it and examined it in greater detail it was determined that this was a bond for a loan by Nelson from fellow Signer Carter Braxton, also from Va and that there were actually 4 signatures of Nelson, including 2 full signatures in the accomplishment which was completely in his hand. As a bonus on the back was an ADS endorsement by Braxton himself—a double signer piece that was consigned to destruction until an astute and knowledgeable person fetchEd it from oblivion.

The stories behind the article enhance the collecting experience.

As to using SAN, I might search by year 1847 to find 1,2 because the default search isn't catalog number specific.
1847, and then going into the results for United States or similar findings will help determine which houses are selling what you are looking for.

Then you can register and proceed forward with caution and I'd recommend observing and watching some auctions before pulling the trigger.