I have been a collector on and off 30+ years but have not delve into pre 1930's stamps until now. Wanting to learn more about the earlier stamps and appropiate identification. I recently purchased the Scott identification guide to US stamps, while this has helped some, seems still bit lacking. I have not looked at or seen a general Scott catalog since the early 80's, should I invest in new US Specialized stamp catalog? Currently $95, is there much help in this arena? Maybe an older catalog? Suggestions would be appreciated. I use the Ezstamp program to inventory and track my collection, so I'm not really needing a price guide per se. Just didn't want to spend $95 bucks on something thats not going to help. Many thanks
I agree with musicman. An older Scotts Specialized will do just fine. However, I also recommend The Micarelli Identification Guide to U.S. Stamps Regular Issues 1847-1934 by Charles N. Micarelli. It is also a Scott publication and gives a lot more detail than the Scotts Specialized.
"I also recommend The Micarelli Identification Guide to U.S. Stamps Regular Issues 1847-1934 by Charles N. Micarelli."
Just FYI, the most recent printing of this book is the 6th edition. Since Mr. Micarelli passed away last year (I believe), there may not be another edition.
Thanks to all that responded, I do have the book Identification Guide To U.S. Stamps by Charles Micarelli, good info, consise, but heres my catch...I have a 1 cent Benjamin Franklin that was given to me, pretty much trashed as they had used tape on it and bled thru, narrowed to either a #156 or #182. I purchased a set of stamps that where in a dealer approval card so I have one that was listed as #156 and three with #182, thought I was going to be able to tell the difference in sound because the #182 is soft paper and #156 hard, not much luck there, I flicked it like the book suggested, they all sounded bout the same...uggg. This harder than I thought it was going to be. I realize that the #156 stamp card may be misnumbered and is complicating things, but is there not any thing else to distinguish these two types than a paper flick test? Should I find a book on stamp paper types? I do happen to have a disecting microscope (homeschool days) and could study the back of the stamp to see which paper types match. Any thoughts and or suggestions, thanks
Since I have the book Identification Guide To U.S. Stamps Regular Issues 1847-1934 by Charles Micarelli is the Scott book U.S. Specialized Catalog going to help me much or do I just need to patient with the book I have? His book did help on 3 or 4 other stamps with needing identification. Thanks
The joy of old stamps is there were great ID sources years ago. I use a circa 1955 hard cover US specialized catalog for early US issues. It gives me oversized examples for typing early US issues.
Lester Brookman's 3 volume reference for 19th Century
and
Max Johl's 2 volume reference for early 20th Century - but I only have the first volume (thru 3rd Bureau) because things get a LOT easier after that.
The only thing you need a modern Scott Specialized for is current catalog numbers, and a 3 or 4 year old copy will be 99.9% accurate.
I will add that a Durland plate number catalog has come in handy many times. I will often use plate numbers as impromptu certificates of authenticity after consulting with the Durland Catalog.
Lars
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"Expanding your knowledge faster than your collection can save you a few bucks."
You need to learn to distinguish hard paper from soft porous paper by sight using back lighting. There are plenty of online sources for this information so I won't repeat.
From Google I searched on "stamps hard vs soft porous paper" and the first hit was Kenmore site, admittedly not the best, but a start.
There have been plenty of discussions on the stamp community family forum (SCF) on this topic with illustrations. In fact, the second search hit takes me to an SCF thread which redirects to the 1847usa site, now hosted on stampsmarter. So go to the new 1847usa home page:
and then, noticing there are two "columns" of links on the home page, go to the second column, third row and click the link titled "PAPER TYPES of the 19TH Century U.S. Stamps".
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