Famous Americans stamps value: identify the 1940 set

Quick identification before any price comparison

This guide covers the 1940 United States Famous Americans commemoratives, Scott 859 through 893. There are 35 different stamps arranged in seven subject groups. Each group repeats 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 cents. A page containing thirty-five portraits is not necessarily complete if some names repeat and other positions are missing. Count different designs, not simply the number of stamps.[1][2]

Start with the name printed beside the portrait. Then read the denomination and compare the small emblem associated with the subject. Authors, poets, educators, scientists, composers, artists and inventors make separate groups. Green one-cent portraits belong to several groups, so color alone cannot identify a particular stamp.[1][2]

For each item, record the name, face value and provisional Scott number before searching for a price. Use the catalog-number method if your album uses a different catalog. A number without the publisher's name can send you to the wrong issue. Keep any existing album label as a research clue, not as proof of the identification.

The seven groups and all 35 positions

The following checklist places each subject in denomination order, left to right. Each row is a five-stamp group, not five varieties of one portrait. The complete series runs from the authors at Scott 859 to 863 through the inventors at Scott 889 to 893. All five denominations recur within every group.[1][2]

The standard colors follow the face values: green for 1 cent, red for 2 cents, violet for 3 cents, blue for 5 cents and brown for 10 cents. Shade descriptions vary in detail among references. Treat the actual name and denomination as stronger identification evidence than the color in a phone photograph.[2]

Samuel L. Clemens is Mark Twain. An album slot using the pen name and a stamp using the personal name do not represent two different subjects. Likewise, do not replace an unfamiliar name with a more famous American from another series just to fill an empty space.[1]

Why the brown 10-cent Bell needs its own comparison

The last stamp in this series is the brown 10-cent Alexander Graham Bell, Scott 893, issued October 28, 1940. The visible name, value and inventor emblem identify its place in the set. The genuine scan below shows those details. It does not provide evidence about the back of your stamp or establish a grade for your copy.[1][2][7]

The checked offers show why one blanket value for this series is misleading. Eagle asks USD 11.00 for its XF never-hinged Bell, while its VF never-hinged Emerson is USD 0.15. Those are different named stamps as well as different grades. The comparison documents these offers, not a universal ratio between all ten-cent and three-cent stamps.[3]

Mystic's selected mint Bell option is USD 22.50. Its general mint label does not specify never-hinged condition. Do not call the difference between that price and Eagle's price an error, a guaranteed bargain or evidence of a scarce variety. The sellers have not described equivalent individually graded specimens.[2][3]

A set, a group and a single are different sale units

Mystic's selected USD 59.95 offer is for the complete mint set of 35 stamps, Scott 859 to 893. It is not the price of one Bell and it is not a quote for a full pane of each design. The product has other condition and format options, which must not be mixed with the selected price.[5]

For your own album, use the checklist to find missing names before calling it complete. An attractive page with seven copies of a single three-cent stamp has duplicates, not seven different subject groups. A five-stamp author group is also only one part of the full series. Write the quantity and composition beside every price comparison.

Keep plate-number margins, connected blocks and full envelopes intact. A numbered block has identifying material outside the individual stamp, and a cover has postal evidence that a loose stamp lacks. This article has no verified offer for either format. Dividing a set price by the number of stamps would produce an average, not an observed selling price for each subject.

Check a photo after identifying the portrait

Take a square-on photograph of the whole front with all perforations visible. Photograph the back separately without touching unused gum. For a group, add a photograph of the whole page so missing positions and duplicates remain visible. A close crop that hides the name is not enough for a useful comparison.

After matching the name and value, a photo check can suggest the issue and help organize reference notes. It cannot certify original gum, authenticate a claimed error or assign a market grade. Save uncertain identifications as provisional and retain the source used to confirm the Scott number. A generated editorial scene is never a specimen reference.

When comparing two photographs, separate a changed exposure from a changed stamp. Brown Bell images can look warmer or darker under different lighting. Ask for a neutral-light front and back before interpreting the shade as something special. Do not clean, erase or improve the stamp to make the image resemble a dealer picture.

Exact retail asks observed on October 18, 2026

All amounts below remain in their original USD currency. Mystic's selected radio option, product stock code and USD product data were checked together. Its three selected offers showed in-stock and purchasable metadata when retrieved. These are product options, not certification numbers for uniquely pictured specimens.[2][5][6]

Eagle's list defaults to mint, never hinged, F+ to XF unless a row says otherwise. Emerson has an explicit VF description, Eliot VF+, and Bell XF. The Nevin row expressly reports short perforations on one side. Eagle's list says September 26, 2026 was its last update; October 18 is our retrieval date, not a claim that its prices changed today.[3]

Eagle's ordering terms require US funds and confirm availability and the total by email. No seller contact, purchase or completed transaction was verified. Shipping and other order charges are outside these stamp asks. A row remaining on the list is not a reservation of that material.[4]

Condition explains why a tempting comparison can fail

The USD 0.75 Nevin is a ten-cent stamp with a stated perforation fault. It is not an undamaged Bell and it is not evidence that all brown ten-cent members should cost less than one dollar. Its name and fault both matter. Keep the dealer's qualification beside the amount rather than removing it from your notes.[3]

For an unused stamp, distinguish no visible cancellation from confirmed original gum and confirmed never-hinged gum. A front-only image cannot settle those questions. Look for hinge traces, disturbance, staining, thinning and creases on the back. The condition guide explains why centering and damage need separate entries.

Eagle's XF Bell and Mystic's unspecified mint Bell do not isolate the effect of gum or centering. Several variables differ at once. You cannot use those two prices to calculate a reliable condition premium. Request comparable descriptions if the difference would affect a purchase, and keep the original wording when asking another collector for help.

Do not confuse these with Presidential or later portrait issues

The 1938 Presidential series is not the 1940 Famous Americans series. A three-cent Jefferson from the Presidential issue belongs in the separate Jefferson design and format guide. A familiar American face, a violet color and a three-cent amount do not establish membership in this set.

The later Prominent Americans and Great Americans names also describe other series, not alternative titles for Scott 859 to 893. Start with a named reference match rather than accepting a marketplace heading that loosely calls any portrait a famous American. Our checklist supplies a fixed boundary for this article.[1]

A stamp may depict somebody associated with another design without being the same issue. In particular, keep the portrait's printed name distinct from the person represented by a sculpture or a painting. If a purported set contains names outside the checklist, research those stamps separately before transferring this table's prices to them.

If the page also contains a four-cent Lincoln or a five-cent Franklin Roosevelt, use the Lincoln portrait comparison or the Roosevelt memorial guide. Neither name fills a position in the 1940 checklist.

Perforations and envelopes are checks, not automatic premiums

The ordinary Famous Americans stamps have gauge 10½ by 11 perforations, as the specialist issue list and Mystic's Bell and Emerson descriptions record. Measure the horizontal and vertical directions separately if the edges appear inconsistent. Do not count teeth by eye and call a difference an error.[1][2][6]

A clipped tooth, a trimmed side or missing paper does not become a valuable imperforate merely because the edge looks smooth in a small photograph. Preserve the item as found. A claim that could materially change its value needs physical examination and specialist evidence beyond the ordinary offers in this guide.

If a stamp is on an envelope, record the date, city and other markings before doing anything else. Issue dates differ among these 35 stamps, so there is no single first-day date for every subject.[1] Use the first-day-cover guide to distinguish the complete object from a loose used stamp. No cover valuation is established by this table.

Prepare an honest Famous Americans inventory

Create one row per distinct subject, with separate fields for duplicates and connected pieces. Note the denomination, provisional Scott reference, used or unused status, visible faults and whether you have checked the back. For a supposed complete set, keep a photograph showing all positions and a list of missing names. Do not detach stamps merely to make the inventory easier.

Attach the nearest relevant offer with its seller, currency, quantity and observation date. State mismatches explicitly: a used single is not a mint set, and an unspecified mint stamp is not automatically never hinged. If you want to sell, request an actual offer for your material rather than treating these retail asks as a dealer buying commitment.

The useful result is a verified list of what you own. Bell may deserve a closer comparison than the lower-denomination duplicates, but the published prices do not establish a guaranteed return or a rare variety in your album. Keep unresolved questions open until the physical evidence supports an answer.

Frequently asked questions