Stamp Value, #182 With Fancy Cancel

Thank you Richard.
Do you think that the canceller was metal or wood?
And do you think that the loose stamp canceller was the same canceller as the one on the cover you handled?
Don

Don - Rubber device and near identical copies distributed to many post offices.

I do not own any copies of this cancel, but to illustrated Richard's reply, here are two ads from the January 1887 Official Postal Guide. These handstamps came with many different killers like the Maltese cross, wheel of fortune, etc., used in many towns; or killers like the kicking mule or this skull, used in only a handful of towns.



A quick survey of the Philatelic Foundation's main database (without being very rigorous to eliminate duplicate submissions):
33 singles with genuine cancels
13 singles with counterfeit cancels

And just over a dozen genuine covers from:
Ochoaville, AZ Terr
West Gardner, MA (shield town mark)
Columbus, NJ
Greigsville, NY
Coleville, PA
Southard, PA
Oneida, TN (oval town mark)
No doubt a few other towns exist also as one of the soaked singles appears to have an octagonal town mark duplexed with it.

Just a note to Zebra man's question. My Wife's stepfather was an avid stamp collector. He passed in 2005 at age 93, and his collection was split between 4 siblings. She has just started to go through her part, and this one stamp (In its own little protective cover) fell out of a stack of sealed cards. My thought was that he would have had an experienced eye. He went to stamp shows throughout the area at least monthly, buying and selling.
As for the scan....I used my home computer scanner. It came out as a png, but to post it I changed it to jpeg. I am 79, not too tech literate, and do not have a cell phone, so I have no other way to get a photo.
If anyone knows how I may get an appraisal , please email me. Thank you all again.

While by no means is it an official appraisal, I agree with orstampman who said earlier the stamp could fetch $50-$75 as-is. If it had a certificate of authenticity, based on other sales and listings, I wouldn't be surprised if it reached $200-$300 being such a clear crisp example of the cancellation (and assuming the stamp does not have any faults). If it turns out to be fake, it would still be worth $20 to someone as a reference copy.

The two best sources for a certificate are the Philatelic Foundation,
https://www.philatelicfoundation.org
or the PSE (Professional Stamp Experts) at
http://psestamp.com

The certificate will likely cost between $27 - $50, plus shipping both ways. I give a range of prices because I don't remember how the organizations price certification of cancellations, if they consider that a "specialized" service above and beyond the certification of the stamp. The PF has a footnote that $50 is the certification fee if the cancellation is the key to the value, but I think that only applies to foreign stamps not US.

You mentioned that there is more to the collection than this one stamp. If you live near a big city, you should look for a local stamp dealer or stamp club to get a more detailed evaluation of what you have. Most stamp auction houses require a minimum of like $1000-2000 of total proceeds to accept items on consignment, so it would be hard to sell just one stamp that way.

Feel free to post photos or scans of what else you have and the members here would be more than happy to give you additional advice. It sounds like there may be more than enough in the collection to meet the threshold of an auction, especially if the other siblings want to pool together their portions and sell them all at the same time and split the proceeds. We can help guide you to which auction house best fits the items that you have.

If instead you are just looking for an appraisal and not a sale, the various opinions on this board can also help ballpark it, but it would need in-person viewing for the best results. A written appraisal may be costly, $100 and up, per hour, and every stamp needs to be looked at in detail. Most stamp dealers should be able to give you (for free) a rough estimate just by a quick glance.

A stamp show is the best way to find a variety of dealers under one roof. Your profile says you are from New Hampshire. There appears to be a monthly coin and stamp show in Nashua,
https://ebwpromotions.com/nashua-nh...y-coin-show/
Perhaps some members of this forum have been to that show and can recommend some specific local dealers that specialize in classic US.

Her collection has about 4 large tupperware storage containers full of everything. Definitely looking to sell the works, as we know nothing about stamps. Nashua is only about a half hour away, so we may take them there. There would be thousands to post here
Thank you for all your help