Washington 5 Cents (1908?)

Revisiting my stamp collection after an approximately 35 year hiatus, and I would like to add some more detail.

Forgive me if I post up a few for ID over the next few days/weeks/years? I'm starting with the U.S.

I understand this one has a few varieties whether coil stamped horizontal or vertical. As you can see, there are perforations missing to the left AND to the top, which is confusing me.

Can anyone add some insight?

Many thanks.

It is a sheet stamp with 'straight edge' (edge of pane). More info can be found here https://stampsmarter.org/learning/I...reLines.html

Many collectors avoid 'straight edge' stamp so they tend to sell for less than fully perforated stamps.
Don

Thank you for that.

It did occur to me that was the case, taken from the edge of a sheet, but my knowledge is pretty lacking.

I need to order a few reference books.

It is 1908/09, is it?

When trying to reference on Google, the top resuts always show ebay listing for ££thousands for various stamps worth, I guess a couple of pounds at best. I'm not sure why they're allowed to get away with that, it's borderline fraud!

Yes, some websites and 'sorting by highest first' ebay sold listings propagate the misconception that folks have rare stamps. Stamps are actually as common as rocks and finding one of the rare stamps is as likely as finding a diamond among all the rocks in your backyard.

Of course, the 'hunt' is something that adds a bit if juice to the hobby but in my opinion the real value in the hobby is more intrinsic (i.e. history, learning about other parts of the world, friendships, etc.)

I think that you can learn a lot more on the Stamp Smarter site (it is totally free, no one is showing you ads, harvesting your info, etc.). For US stamp start here https://stampsmarter.org/1847usa/1847Home.html

The Illustrated Glossary is also good for learning the terminology https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/G...aryHome.html

There is enough as much content on Stamp Smarter as you would find in dozens of philatelic books and catalogs.
Don

The perforations mark this as probably 1914 or 1916 rather than 1908.
To identify this stamp, you'll probably need to check for a watermark. There should be two varieties, one without a watermark and one with.

That's the hard part, JJLebbert.

Thanks all for the input.

And thank you Don for pointing me to that Stamp Smarter site, it's a big help, clearly laid out. Will keep me busy for a wee while.