1 Cent Thomas Jefferson - Which Variety Is Desirable

I recently acquired a few 1 cent Thomas Jefferson stamps and was checking out the prices that they sold for on eBay. Such a vast difference in prices and similar looking items that I am wondering if there is a specific Thomas Jefferson stamp variety that collectors are seeking. I can't seem to find a list of varieties and correlating values.

What you show are valued as postage stamps of 1 cent each if unused or if used less than one cent.

This book is expensive, but free at library:

Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps, any issued from 2016 onward would be fine.

Edit:
The pair is a line pair but due to condition, it is worthless except if unused, it can be used as 2 cents postage. This is Scott #1229.

1299a are precanceled by the BEP and yours are not.

1299b are for pairs or strips that have no perforation between.Yours have perforations.

1299c Tagging omitted (not BEP precanceled) requires the use of a UV light to see if the tagging is missing. It is not worth the price of the lamp to check yours due to their condition. Even if untagged, that would be like hitting a lottery ticket chance, due to the condition of your stamps, they would be worth maybe 2 cents each.

Lick 'em and stick 'em with 55 cents more you can mail a letter. Less for a postcard.

You see crazy prices people are ASKING on eBay, not prices they are selling for. 99% of the time it's someone who found them, knows zero about US stamps, looks on eBay and sees the same prices you saw being ASKED for these and they just repeat the process by listing them for stupid $$$s. One reason they never go away on eBay and one always sees em for sale like that.

Hope that helps :)

What you're showing looks like Scott #1299, a coil issue from 1968. Not really worth anything, though the variants (check a Scott catalog from the library for descriptions) might have some value.

A few things to consider:
1) make sure you're looking at "sold" listings, not active ones. You're as likely to find a seller who knows what they have (selling this stamp for $1 for example, as you are naïve sellers or swindlers who lists it as "rare! yours for only $25!"
2) there are shenanigans to be found on eBay, but I'll let others go down that rabbit hole.
3) sometimes, sellers honestly (or not) misidentify a variety, causing vast swings in price.
4) like most hobbies, the devil (and value) is in the details. Just as some pennies are worth tens of thousands because of a missing mint mark, stamp value is in no small part based on things like condition, perforation, grill type, ink color, paper type, etc.

If you can post 2-3 screenshots, I'm sure the community could dissect for you why the prices are all so different from each other.

Thanks all for the good info. I guess my stamps are worth a penny each. So a 5 cent return on a 0 cent investment... not too bad. :-) But a good gain of knowledge, even better. I did not even know about Scott's Catalogue, so thank you.

I've learned a while back to only search "sold" items on eBay when searching market prices. Definitely a big difference from "selling" prices. I'm including a screen shot of what I was viewing (hoping it is large enough to view easily).

Any seller, anywhere, that describes any stamp as "antique" or "vintage" is either a criminal preying on the unwary, or a moron, or both. Stay away from any listing that uses those words.

There are a number of catalogs published around the world, from Scott and Stanley Gibbons to Sakura to Michel and POFIS, Yvette to ANK and more. All depends on the countries and eras you choose to collect.

I find it difficult to fathom why anybody would pay more than a few cents for this particular stamp. Possible exceptions among those you show would be the two precancels. Precancels represent a specialized area of collecting. Precanceled stamps are considered used whether they have been used or not ... they may not be used for postage unless one has a special permit to do so. There are separate catalogues for these, although I am not familiar with them. Some precancels are undoubtedly scarce, perhaps even infrequently rare. My mother's uncle was a precancel collector, primarily of stamps from the 1920-1940 era. As I recall, he sold his collection around 60 years ago.

100% agree. Sometimes I contact the seller and ask why they think it is antique or vintage. The 5% that reply tend to state that it is "X years old, so it is antique." I quickly put them on my ignore list.

I disagree on one small point - a seller calling the stamps being sold vintage is not automatically categorized as a scammer. However here are red flags:

a) The seller states they are scarce or rare without any substantiation.
b) As has been posted, one should check the prices at which the stamp has been sold. Check the Sold box to the far left and scroll down a bit to find it. You will get a very good idea of a realistic price range.
c) Check reputable sellers sites - Mystic (despite being somewhat overpriced) still gives you and idea of whether the stamps are common or not; there are other sellers out there and the National Postal Museum has a history online of US stamps issued.
d) Any reputable eBay seller SHOULD display BOTH sides of the stamp and use or at least strive to employ correct terminology.

Going back to the OP. I don't think any collector is 'seeking' this stamp. It would be among the very first ones they get when they start out. There are common stamps and then there are interesting ones.

Whether or not a stamp classifies as an antique may be relevant to whether or not VAT is due in the UK. At least, it was at some point.
In the present context, I would agree with your claim, but there is too much 'any' for a general claim.

Blissfully unaware
You need to add the expense of the envelope, packaging, time spent in mailing,
eBay fees.

I'd suggest a debit on 0 cent investment.
The value of any stamp, (return) for you, is only realised at point of sale.

Note: chris s bumped this thread; the original poster (philmow) has not logged back in since 9/5/2022.
Don