Hi, We Have Mnh Scott #554-D 1922-1926 2 Cent Washington Red/Dark Red Stamp

Hey all,

New to stamp collecting, and my boyfriends great grandparents left him 4 binders of stamps and mail and memorabilia from the early 1800's to the 1970's. We have a scott #554d 10 perf top and bottom. 11 on side. Mint not hinged. We were hoping to get an idea of value? We have a lot of stuff, and wanted to speak with an appraiser. We have not had any luck with anyone who thinks we have something of value.

Hi, welcome to the forum. If you can share scans or high res photos of the earliest stamps, I'm sure the experts here can provide some advice.

Milkdud,

Scott #554d has gauge 10 perforations at either top or bottom. If your stamp has matching perforations top and bottom it can't be a #554d.

May I ask how you are measuring the perforations?

Welcome to the forum.

There is something amiss in your ID. 554d will be perf 10 at either top or bottom, but not BOTH (and 11 on the other 3 sides).

It would be helpful for us to help you to see a hi-res scan against a contrasting background so the perforations are fully visible, front and back sides. So the correct ID comes first, then figuring a value. As a caution, there are a LOT of inexpensive look-alikes to this stamp since it was the workhorse stamp for about 15 years with literally billions printed.

Hi all,

thanks for the quick replies. We tried to post a picture, but just couldn't figure it out.......lol. we shall try again!

We are counting the perfs by hand, but not the corners.

We will try again.

Counting the perforation holes will get you nowhere. The perforation rate is the number of perforations in a distance of 2 centimeters.

Start here:

https://stampsmarter.org/learning/F...rfGauge.html

Scott 583

I fell into the same trap with my inherited collection. My grandfather labeled a mint block of 1 cent Washington's as 544. Thought I struct gold until I researched. Were our grandfathers using old outdated Scott books back then?

JLLebbert suggests 583, which is incorrect as the stamp is not perf 10.
This shows the importance of using a perforation gauge, AND posting scans rather than photographs, if possible.

You will be well-served by finding a Scott U.S. Specialized stamp catalog. Your local library likely has one - even if a few years old. The U.S. being a large and literate country, you will find that most U.S. stamps were made in huge quantities (especially since 1900) and that only a very few are scarce or rare. There are often look-a-likes between the common and rare stamps. The example here is one of them. It is best to start with the idea that you have one of the common types and work from there with the identification.

You mention appraisals in another thread. It is unclear whether you want to keep the entire collection, keep select portions of the collection, or sell it. Each path will have a different approach in your investment of time and expectations.

John Becker is absolutely correct. The perf gauge is 11, not 10. While I would like to blame my insomnia for the mistake, I think it was simple carelessness on my part. Knowing that these stamps are almost 2 cm wide, I simply counted the perforations but then neglected to add 1 because 10 perfs fall within less than the width of the design ... which is slightly less than 2cm.
Added: To be more precise, the perf gauge is 11 horizontally. Trying to determine the vertical perf gauge from an on-line image is beyond my skill set.

Wow ..ok, thanks everyone. Such good advice. He said he would sell all, part, some, any. We would like to meet with an appraiser. We contacted 2 in our state. 1 said he didn't think we had anything of value, after we explained about the types of things we had and sent about 10 pictures. The other one never got back to us. How would we go about scanning them? And we will look into the link you sent too. We are going to go to the library and get thr Scott books and do more research.. Thanks all so much!

Just a warning on the Scott catalogs. Many newcomers or people that inherited collections usually only see the dollar signs when researching their material. When you get to a stamp that has multiple types and listings assume yours is the lowest value of the bunch because 99.8% of the time it will be. In stamps condition is everything and Scott values items that are very fine and most people miss that blurb. You can purchase a good scanner although scanner prices have gone through the roof.

I bought this one in 2017 for $80 and it does an amazing job

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-CanoSc...p/B00LN0NUGC

Ok thanks stallzer. Good info.

If this hasn't been mentioned, you should also get familiar will all terminology. You say that the stamp is 'mint not hinged'. What is holding it in place? Possibly a little hinge? The back of a stamp can be very important too.

Rather than trying to do this yourself, why not contact a local stampclub. They know people that can help appraise your collection. Look for a local club here: www.stamps.org .


Peter

Thanks everyone! All very helpful! We continue to research and use all your links.