Hard to tell on the third, but 1, 2 and 4 all have the secret mark, and I don't see the re-engraving so I would say they are 158 or 184 depending on the paper type.
Seanpashby thank you
I figured they were probably mainly 184 with the dark shading under the scroll tip
I don't have much experience in US so it is difficult for me to tell if it is wove or porous by feel.
3 of them have a tint one is very white(158?).
Any visual way of determining paper.
They are not worth much but if I sell these it would be nice to be accurate.
I wish I could help you more than to post these two websites. I do more "guessing" as to paper type than I actually have experience. It states the easiest way to do it is to get a known stamp of a paper type and compare them. My problem is that even with a known copy of both types, I still can't tell the difference.
Would you mind sharing that tip from Bill Weiss? I would find it extremely useful as I collect US,
but moreover I think a few others on here would find it very helpful too.
"HARD PAPER – Stiff. Whiter than soft paper. Not translucent when held to light (the paper
weave appears to be “solid†versus soft paper, which has a distinct porous mesh
appearance. It also appears whiter under longwave UV light (because it is less dense than
softer paper. Perf tips appear more solid when viewed with magnification (recommend
10X-15X) than soft paper (which will display more paper fibers on the tips. You can detect
hard paper by observing these traits. Some people can also ID hard paper be “flicking†the
edges and thereby “feeling†the stiffness of the paper versus the feel of soft paper if flicked
in the same way.
SOFT PAPER – A looser weave more porous paper than hard, so it feels softer, displays a
mesh or weave when viewed by holding the stamp between your eyes and light so that you
are looking “through†the stamp. It appears to be grayer or darker when viewed under UV
light and will show lots of paper fibers on the perf tips when viewed with 10c-15x
magnification.
Tip – Learn to identify the differences between hard and soft paper by studying them
both using reference copies of stamps that MUST be on one of the papers. For hard,
any stamp of the 1861-67 series is good (a 3c 1861 used cost is under $2.00) and for
soft use any 1883-1889 Issue stamp or even an 1893 Columbian stamp."
