Asking For Help With These Early US Stamps Please. #1

Hello everybody,

Unfortunately I know next to nothing about stamps (even though I collected them as a youth) and my 75 year-old Brother-in-law sent me his Father's old stamp collection to take a look at. There are about a dozen that are 1867 and earlier and I was wondering if I could post them (one at a time, of course) and get any information from you that I should know (e.g. Scott #, type, condition, authentic/counterfeit, do they have any value, etc.).

Thank you for your time and trouble, here is the first stamp:

sudzy welcome to the forum. I suggest you look at stampsmarter.com for a start. from what I saw of the scans the condition is a little rough on all of them. I will leave the Scott cat. id's for others to do, as I am primarily a revenue guy. I can say I think that you won't get rich or retire from those you posted.

As a big hint, note the curved portion of the frame at top, clearly heavier than the rest. This you may or may not know already is a recut. It's pretty obvious here but not always so clear. I believe a recut was also done at the bottom part of the frame, again distinct from the rest of the lines of the design at the bottom.

This should give you the type and Scott#.

Nice margins but unfortunately torn at right so not worth much (few dollars). Have you managed to identify the type and Scott #, Sudzy?

After using stampsmarter.com, I am going to try to identitfy the stamps I posted. Please let me know how I did, thank you.

I think this is a Scott #5 Type I

These are admittedly difficult (and I'm never even certain having read lots about them), but no, unfortunately for you it is not a #5 (which are VERY rare). I'll give you a clue though. Until you're an expert, assume what you have is the least rare (least expensive) of the possible varieties, then look more closely to prove to yourself why it isn't (based on the descriptions/pictures shown in the stampstarter or swedish tiger site's documentation).

https://stampsmarter.org/features/S...Plating.html then click on the 'step-by-step tool (tab); this will walk you through what to look for...
Don

Thanks for the help. So I am guessing #24, but I will try and use the tool mentioned.

Clue to steer you in the right direction: 18-24 have perforations, 5-9 do NOT have perforations.

Using the very cool stampsmarter tool, it seems I have a #9 Type IV. Is that right?

Not expert at these, but yes, that would be my guess.

Definitely a #9. Well done!

Yep, #9 Type IV. The darker portions of the top and bottom frame lines are the recuts (strengthening of the image on the printing plate using a hand tool) that identify #9. You are doing very well, Sudzy!