1938 Presidential series stamps value: check the full set

Define the set before using a price

The 1938 Presidential series has a basic sheet-stamp set of 32 different designs, Scott 803 through 834. It includes twenty-nine presidents, Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington and the White House. A group of thirty-two pieces is not necessarily that set: duplicates do not replace missing subjects, and a coil does not become a sheet stamp because its portrait matches.[1][2]

Begin by deciding what you want to identify. For an album page, the useful question is whether all thirty-two basic positions are present in the intended format and condition. For a bag of loose stamps, first separate the sheet designs from coils, booklet material and unrelated presidential portraits. Do not start by adding the highest price found for each familiar face.

The dated offers below compare whole basic sets and condition-specific examples of the final $5 stamp. They do not establish one universal value for every Prexie. A mint set and a used set answer different buying questions, and neither asks what a dealer would pay to purchase an inherited collection. Retail selection, guarantees and handling are not the seller's net proceeds.

Read the portrait and denomination together

Read the name under the profile, the denomination and the surrounding inscriptions. The historical dates beside a president describe his terms in office, not necessarily the issue year or the date the particular stamp was printed. Mystic records the first sheet issue, the 1¢ Washington, on April 25, 1938, with coil and booklet formats following in January 1939.[1]

The denomination prevents several common wrong turns. Within this family Washington is on 1¢, John Adams on 2¢ and Franklin on ½¢. A two-cent Washington or one-cent Franklin belongs to another issue search. Use the separate Washington two-cent identification guide or Franklin one-cent guide for those stamps instead of forcing them into empty Prexie spaces.[1][2]

The actual Coolidge scan below shows the $5 design and its two-color arrangement. It is not the specimen behind any dealer price in this guide. Its 511 × 580 source image can support design recognition, but it cannot prove original gum, a numerical grade or an expensive printing variety. The other pictures are generated collecting illustrations, not historical specimens.[5]

Check all 32 sheet-stamp positions

Use the checklist to identify missing designs before describing a collection as complete. The basic cent-value run includes three fractional denominations, ½¢, 1½¢ and 4½¢. Above 22¢ it jumps to 24¢, then 25¢, 30¢ and 50¢ before the three dollar values. There is no 23¢ space to fill in this basic set.[1][2]

The presidential order explains much of the sequence, but it is not a rule you can extend mechanically. Cleveland appears at 22¢ despite his two nonconsecutive terms. Benjamin Harrison is at 24¢, McKinley at 25¢, and later presidents occupy higher denominations rather than consecutive cents. Read the printed name when arranging those final positions.[1]

Tick each entry once and put duplicates in another column. Record whether each is a sheet stamp, used or unused, and whether faults are visible. A mixed-condition page can be complete by design without matching either a uniformly mint set or a uniformly used set offered by a dealer. If you substitute a coil temporarily, mark the substitution instead of quietly changing the collecting rule.

Separate sheets, coils and booklet panes

A full design set and a full format collection are different projects. Stamp Smarter lists nine horizontal coils, Scott 839 through 847, and four vertical coils, 848 through 851. Their denominations repeat only part of the sheet set. Buying all thirty-two sheet designs does not supply these thirteen additional coil entries.[2]

Horizontal describes the direction of the connected coil strip. Such stamps have gauge-10 perforations at left and right and straight top and bottom edges. Vertical coils have gauge-10 perforations at top and bottom and straight sides. Measure intact edges with a gauge; do not infer a coil from two edges that someone may have cut. Preserve an attached pair rather than separating it for a photograph.[2]

The booklet-pane entries are 804b, 806b and 807a, respectively 1¢, 2¢ and 3¢, in panes of six. A pane retains arrangement and tab information that a detached single has lost. A complete booklet also has covers and may contain more than one pane. For the Jefferson-specific issue dates, line pairs and counterfeit warning, use the separate three-cent Jefferson guide; this checklist does not replace that investigation.[2]

Check a photo after completing the first sort

Photograph the full album page or connected item before taking close-ups. Then photograph one candidate at a time, square to the camera, with all edges visible. Record a back view only when it can be obtained without detaching or damaging a mounted stamp. A front photograph and a written description of unknown gum are better than a guessed never-hinged label.

Use the checker after recording the name, denomination and format. For a likely Prexie, compare its result with the checklist rather than saving every presidential portrait under this series. If the image says 2¢ and the name is Washington, the family match has failed. If the portrait fits but the edges suggest a coil, leave the format unresolved until measured.

Stamp Value Identifier & Scan provides assistive identification and estimated collector context. It is not authentication, certification, grading or a formal appraisal. A phone photograph cannot establish a hidden watermark or untouched gum. Save the photographs and the physical observations together so a later comparison can resolve the remaining question rather than inherit an unsupported claim.

Compare exact retail asks observed on October 19, 2026

Mystic's product data explicitly identifies the currency as USD. The set options and Coolidge condition options below were read from the live product pages on October 19, 2026. These are advertised retail asking prices for the stated entire unit, not completed transactions. Delivery and any applicable tax are separate from the figures in this comparison.[1][3]

The numeric stock identifiers select dealer options, not independently certified individual specimens. The basic mint labels do not specify a hinge history or a grade. Only the rows that explicitly say never hinged support that description. Likewise, the unused small-flaws option does not establish original gum. Preserve the exact words when asking whether an offer matches your own stamp.[1][3]

Each single-price row concerns Scott 834, the $5 Coolidge. The two set rows concern one each of the thirty-two sheet designs, not thirty-two Coolidges. The option labels showed shipping in one to three business days when observed; that is not an independent inventory count. Recheck the selected option before buying because price and availability can change.[1][3]

Match gum and faults before comparing the dollar values

The $5 single makes the condition problem visible. Mystic's ordinary used option was USD 4.50, while its used small-flaws option was USD 3.25. The broad mint option was USD 125.00, but the explicitly Fine never-hinged option was USD 180.00 and Very Fine never-hinged was USD 215.00. Those separate offers do not create a universal range for an unidentified album copy.[3]

Inspect the reverse and every edge. Record a hinge remnant, disturbed gum, thin spot, crease, stain or missing tooth as an observation, not as a percentage deduction invented from the table. If an old mount hides the back, gum status remains unknown. A lightly cancelled attractive front does not settle the condition of the paper behind it.

For a whole set, describe the high values separately rather than applying the best gum description to every position. A set with a faulty dollar stamp is not equivalent to a sound set simply because both have thirty-two designs. Our condition description guide explains how to keep centering, gum and physical faults in distinct fields. No numerical grade or authentication is assigned here.

Do not mix basic sets with specialist material

Keep plate-number margins, arrows and connected multiples intact. Stamp Smarter treats plate and margin material as specialist collecting categories. A set of plate blocks requires a different inventory from thirty-two loose singles. Count the actual stamps and retain the margin markings instead of cutting a block to fit the space intended for one single.[2]

The family also includes paper and printing varieties that a basic design checklist cannot authenticate. Mystic discusses the $1 Wilson printed on USIR watermarked paper. That does not make every $1 stamp a watermarked error. A claim needs the physical watermark and a matching specialist attribution, not a faint mark guessed from a front image. No current certified-error price was verified for this guide.[1]

Hobbizine provides a compact mint-and-used list, but explains that its indicative figures combine dealer lists, advertisements and auction results. Those undated mixed-source figures are not fresh stock-qualified offers. Use that page to orient an identification, not to replace the observation date and exact condition of a current comparable or to average unrelated categories.[4]

Keep postal history out of a loose-set total

Do not remove a Prexie from a complete cover or parcel tag during the checklist exercise. Photograph the entire object, including the reverse, destination, date, other stamps and service markings. A dollar stamp on a registered postal object is not the same sale unit as the loose used single in the table, even when the catalog identity matches.

Stamp Smarter specifically discusses solo usages and combinations paying postal rates. A single stamp on cover may need a rate, date and service explanation before a specialist can compare it. A high denomination alone does not prove an extraordinary use, and a readable old date does not turn a later use into a first-day cover.[2]

Keep cover records in a separate worksheet from the basic loose set. State whether a price observation concerns the whole envelope or just a detached stamp. We verified no current realized cover sale for this article, so there is no postal-history price column. That omission prevents the loose-set asking price from being mistaken for a valuation of an intact correspondence.

Build a set inventory someone else can check

Use one row per basic checklist position, with separate fields for the printed subject, denomination, tentative catalog number, format and used or unused status. Add actual condition observations and a link to the whole-page photograph. Use an extra sheet for coils, booklet panes, plate blocks and covers so the definition of complete does not change halfway through the inventory.

Record missing positions explicitly. A page lacking $2 Harding or $5 Coolidge is a partial set even if duplicate low values occupy those spaces. Conversely, having all thirty-two subjects does not prove that every format or shade exists in the collection. Label the project basic sheet designs, then expand it deliberately if you want the additional coils and booklet panes.[1][2]

When seeking a buying offer, send the checklist, high-value front-and-back images and the unresolved condition notes. Keep the current retail comparison separate from the price offered to you and from selling expenses. The useful next step is a matched set description or a specialist answer to a specific doubt, not multiplying a whole-set ask by the number of loose stamps in a box.

Frequently asked questions