What's The Value Of These Envelopes?

Maybe they are more appropriately called wrappers?

Found these in a tube today, a couple are creased and the 2C have some cracks/ edge damage in the paper. There are 2 of the 1C; 4 of the 1 1/2C; 3 of the 2C. The flaps are gummed, but there are no ends to tuck in.

I've put them into separate acid free sleeves and am weighting them down to unbend them.

Well don't know US stuff but in Canada we had (newspaper) wrappers like that. They are classified as "postal stationery." They are of interest almost exclusively to stationery collectors and are usually of low value (hard to store and display is one factor).

You may unbend them, and force them flat,
but you are unable to change the differential
expansion between paper and gum.
They eventually will succumb to pressure, crack and fall to pieces
(but probably not in our lifetime, but it will happen :)

First one looks like W425 and I am pretty confident it is a Die 3, though a closer view of the embossing would clinch it. Trends $1 or, if Die 3 then $250. I would not even dare to hazard a guess at the other two. I cannot find an entry in the specialized catalog for a 1.5 cent embossed stamp of that design. U92 is 1 cent and U93 is 2 cent.

As far as storage, this may be a situation where tubes might be best to allow for
as Rod says.

Forcing them flat will place a mechanical stress on the paper which will result in the eventual fracture of the paper along hundreds of stress lines criss-crossing the wrapper (the term smithereens comes to mind). It would be a shame given the rarities that they are or may be.

I'm not good at dies yet... I'll hope this will help you tell me :)



Ok, and you guys talked me out of flattening them... back inside the tube they go.

Yes, Die 3. It has the knob of hair at the back of the neck. $250 catalog.

Yea! I'm excited.

I believe the 1-1/2 cent is W485 (U93 1-1/2c brown, manila).

The 2 cent is most likely W433 (U93 2 cent carmine, manila -- assuming the wrapper is considered manila rather than glazed (W434) or unglazed (W435) brown).

Bravo! Barb, I'm excited too

I'd be taking the tube along to my next bourse and asking
a good dealer's advice / comments.
How to store etc.

I have also come across some embossed/stamped letter paper with a gummed edge similar to those shown in the post from 2010.
Have been unable to find any information regarding them. (Only an image of the "stamp" cut out from the paper.)
Can anyone tell me the possible year of issuance? Do they have any value?

The year of issue is 1903, and it is listed in the Scott catalog as U385. It won't make you rich - if you like to know more you might find a Scott catalog at your local library

Peter

I believe this is a W399, as the indicium is clearly one of the recut dies.

Scott W389 would be the cat # for the original die for the 1903 Hartford issue wrapper.

If it were an envelope, the Scott # would be U385 (original) or U395 (recut).

Thank you for the information, Petert4522 & ThomasGalloway.
(Wasn't expecting to get rich but) Am happy to know that they may have some value to someone, it seemed a shame to throw them away.
Thank you again, at least I now know their age and correct designation.

Condition is of very high importance in coming up with commercial value not only of stamps and covers, but also postal stationery. While the die 3 green 1 cent Franklin has a high catalog value, from the image I am seeing it also appears to have some significant damage.

The 1c green is Die 1, UNITED closer to the inner circle. Die 3 has a prominent hair knob and has UNITED centered between the circles. Die identification for all stamped envelopes is much better with the UPSS catalogs.