New Here Have Washington Stamps And Bunch Of Others Inherited

Hi,

I inherited a stamp collection book. And a bunch of loose stamps that have not been put in the book.

I have been looking into these Washington stamps that are in the photo to determine their time period and value and I cannot determine which one these are they are each a little different some say Washington on them and some don't.
One group I have are in a little book.

Any help would be appreciated.

I will post the pages of stamps I have by country as well.

Welcome.
The stamps you show above were the workhorses of the era with literally hundreds of millions produced over many years. Due to the long production run, there were a number of running changes made to the stamp perforations over time and these are now assigned different catalog numbers. The overwhelming majority of stamp with this design are worth only pennies; but collectors sometimes enjoy hunting for the less common varieties.

To ID US stamps of this era, follow these steps.
1. Determine the design
2. Determine the perforation gauge
3. Determine any watermarks (if watermarked)
4. Determine print type (flat plate, rotary, offset)

Note: Some of these stamp are quite challenging to ID. You can start by learning a lot about US stamps here https://stampsmarter.org/1847usa/1847Home.html
Don

thanks Don. I took a look at the tool you sent me and I figured out that these stamps are either a 549 or 550. What do I do next to authenticate my guess?

Umm, U.S. #549 and 550 are commemorative stamps for the Pilgrims. Completely different design. Try again?

ha your right just as you sent this my son just corrected me. It is 539 540. Sorry about that.

Welcome!

Dale

Jig,

The real value in these somewhat common stamps is the fact that you inherrited them from a family member or friend. Hopefuly, this will start you on your own collecting journey developing something you cam pass down in your family to future collectors.

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences. Russ

Welcome aboard.

Washington's (and Franklin's) are notoriously difficult even for experienced collectors to ID. I'd suggest you double check your identification. 540 is common but 539 not. Also, colors can be particularly difficult to accurately ID. Don't trust screen colors as monitor colors vary a bit.

you are right my son and I are having a lot of fun looking up all of the stamps we have in this collection. It is really interesting.

I think it's fabulous that you've already determined this is a hobby you can share with your son. So many collectors lament that their children have no interest in stamps.

I'd walk that trail as far as it takes me.

although part of the fun is determining what you have. Which is precisely what I am trying to figure out when it comes to these Washington stamps. Any advice on how to determine if we are correct in our assessment? Should we pay someone to assess our stamps and if so is there a recommendation on who to engage?

You might be able to get some more comments here by imaging some of the older album pages. It's a good way to determine if the original collector was trying to build a cohesive collection or just accumulating. For example, find the U.S. pages with the following sets and image the whole page. Even just 2-3 examples will offer clues.

Columbian Exposition of 1893

Trans-Mississippi of 1898

Pan-American Exposition of 1901

Jamestown Exposition of 1907

Pan-Pacific Exposition (stamps issued 1913-1915)

Regular issues (presidents, etc.) of 1922-25

Huguenot-Walloons of 1924.