Inherited 3 Identical 1 Cent Franklin, Blue, Right Facing, Perforated, Un-Used: Help Identify?

Hello all. After my father passed, I found some yearly diaries dated 1861 and 1880. These were very interesting and I decided to disassemble them and scan each page to preserve the details.

In the process, I found these three stamps in the pages of one of these two diaries.

They appear to be new, un-used, and forgotten to time. 2 of them are still connected... one is by itself.

Can anyone assist me in identifying them? I am so confused by all of the terminology.

I can provide more or better photos if I knew what details were important.

They are Ty V Scott # 24

Nice color, but off-center which impacts value.

I'll let others comment on value; but nice find !

Thank you for identifying these as Ty V Scott # 24. Does that mean they were printed in 1857?

Is there any need for pictures of the back? Something about gum? Not sure of these terms.

Between 1857 and 1861

Yes show the reverse.

I am a novice on this topic, but just want to say that I appreciate reading the story of how these fun stamps were found, particularly that two of them are still attached (a pair).

I will leave valuation commentary to persons with knowledge on that topic. For comparison, I searched eBay for sold items listed as Scott #24.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/355831864820
https://www.ebay.com/itm/165965025000
https://www.ebay.com/itm/235633702173
https://www.ebay.com/itm/166584081907

As was requested, I am attaching the pictures of the back of the stamps... and some better pictures of the front.

Very, very nice. Handle those carefully. I'm looking forward to comments from our experts in this area.

I also wanted to share, for those wish to see what a daily diary looks like from 1861, I am attaching 4 pages of this pocket diary. One of which includes the common rates for postage!

This is the book whose pages the stamps were found nestled within.

Wow, I have never seen such beautiful shiny original gum from the 1860s. That is amazing. Presumably never hinged as well. Those stamps have been hiding in much better storage conditions than most from that era.

The eBay links posted earlier are somewhat irrelevant then, since they were all hinged or NG. These that are NH should sell for at least double that. Unfortunately the centering again is not great, and it looks like the right edge of the pair is torn off.

The two undamaged stamps are probably worth on the order of $100 each, and the torn one maybe $25. If the stamp's printing was better centered within the margins, they could be worth $300-$500 each, but because they are off-center with the perforations cutting into the design at the bottom, they are worth a lot less. Still that original gum is amazing, and even the torn one is worth something as a reference copy.

That 1861 California diary could also have some value, depending on the content. Good plan to scan the contents. That should make for some interesting reading.

Very neat, thanks for sharing.

ZebraMan.....you need to look closely....the PAIR - right stamp SEVERELY DAMAGED - left stamp missing plenty perfs @ bottom? NH??? who cares in this situation? Would you want to pay a premium for NH gum and faulty stamps??

sheetguy2,
Yes, I did see the damage on the right stamp of the pair, but no I did not see the nibbled perfs at the bottom of the left stamp. Thanks. I thought that the perfs cutting into the design was just bad centering, I did not notice that the perfs were also short/nibbled. And the single stamp could have a diagonal crease which would also affect its value.

Never Hinged on these super early stamps commands a big premium. I agree that in most cases the same collector that demands NH would never touch a stamp with faults, but I have seen many dog-ugly dollar-value Columbians that are NH and selling for huge prices. Makes no sense to me, I prefer a VF LH rather than an average NH, any day of the week.

The other thing though, these specimens aren't just NH, the gum (assuming from the provenance they are genuine OG), the gum is spotless post-office fresh. If you look at all the other "NH" 24's listed on eBay, the gum is brown, spotty, mottled, just not pretty. From the photos, the gum on these 3 specimens appears to be a condition rarity. I said earlier that I would not pay a NH premium for a lousy-looking stamp, but in this instance I would, just to have a reference copy of what 1860 gum could/did look like.

Maybe I am wrong to be so enamored with the shiny gum on that first photograph, but really, if it were mine, I might just mount it face down so that I could look at the pretty gum all the time instead of the ordinary frontside. :-)

Shouldn't use the term 'uncirculated' for unused. Uncirculated means that it was 'printed but never issued' to most of us.

Thank you for clarifying the terminology txstamp.

As these are the only stamps I have, I am unfamiliar with the vernacular of the collecting world.

I also appreciate all the comments and insights into what is and is not appreciated in older stamps. Most fascinating.