Franklin Roosevelt 5-cent stamp value: identify the blue memorial

Find the Four Freedoms design before comparing prices

The stamp covered here is the United States horizontal bright-blue memorial with Franklin D. Roosevelt's portrait and Four Freedoms wording. It carries a printed 5-cent denomination and the Scott reference 933. Read the value and design together. A listing headed only Roosevelt, or an album space labeled 1945, is not enough to identify it. Bardo independently lists the same denomination, memorial subject, color and catalog number.[1][6]

A practical first check is to place the stamp beside a reference image, keeping its entire frame in view. Look for the horizontal layout and the wording about the Four Freedoms rather than relying on the portrait alone. If a cancellation hides the value, photograph the whole design under diffuse light and transcribe what remains legible. Do not erase the cancellation to recover the numeral.

This page separates ordinary single-stamp offers from other formats. It also corrects two date and denomination traps that can send collectors to the wrong price. The 5-cent member of the memorial group appeared in 1946, while the 1966 Prominent Americans Roosevelt portrait is a 6-cent definitive. Neither an old album heading nor a seller's search keywords override the face value printed on the stamp.[1][2][6]

Why a 1945 memorial group contains a 1946 stamp

Collectors often encounter this stamp among Roosevelt memorials dated 1945. That association describes the group, not the release date of every member. Mystic identifies the 1-cent Roosevelt and Hyde Park memorial as a 1945 issue, but dates the 5-cent Four Freedoms stamp January 30, 1946. Bardo gives the same precise date for Scott 933, even though its URL places the record within a 1945 catalog directory.[1][3][6]

Write the issue date in your collection record separately from the album heading and any cancellation date. A stamp issued in January can appear on mail months or years later. A postmark provides evidence about that particular use, not a new release date. This distinction becomes especially important when an envelope is advertised as a first day cover.

The Four Freedoms subject connects the design to Roosevelt's January 6, 1941 speech. That is another historical date, not the issue date. Keep all three kinds of dates separate when checking an inherited note. The memorial group's year, the stamp's actual release, and the speech commemorated by its design answer different questions.[1][6]

A compact identification record for Scott 933

The matching dealer references describe rotary-press production and compound perforation 11 by 10½. Measure both directions if you need to confirm those details. A visual count of teeth across a photograph is not a perforation gauge, and a cropped image cannot establish whether a straight edge was original or cut later.[1][6]

Bardo describes the issued format as a pane of 50, with a larger printing plate containing four such panes. That distinction matters when someone calls an item a complete sheet. Ask how many stamps the offer actually contains and whether its margins survive. Do not turn the printing plate's total into the quantity in a collector's sale offer.[6]

The sources disagree on the quantity issued, so this article does not use a production total to estimate rarity. The identification details that agree are enough to find an ordinary Scott 933 candidate. Gum condition, centering and soundness still require examination of the actual item. Use the catalog-number workflow if an album annotation gives a different reference.

Dealer asking prices checked October 6, 2026

The table records Mystic's own offers for Scott 933, checked on October 6, 2026. Its product metadata explicitly identifies USD as the currency. The stock codes distinguish the ordinary mint option, used single, plate block and classic first day cover. These are dealer asking prices, not completed sales, auction results or amounts a dealer has offered to pay you.[1]

Keep the condition label as narrow as the listing supports. Mystic's ordinary option says Mint Stamp(s), without a specific never-hinged claim in that option label. Its separate graded offers have different stock codes and explicit condition wording. Do not transfer a premium specimen's grade to an ordinary mint option or to an unidentified stamp in your album.

Likewise, the plate-block offer buys a connected item with margin information, while the cover offer buys an envelope product. Neither is the price of a loose used single. The classic-cover option says the supplied cover can vary from the illustration, so the observation does not establish a price for a specific cachet maker, address or illustrated envelope.[1]

Keep the 6-cent and 20-cent Roosevelt issues out of this comparison

The 1966 Roosevelt definitive in the Prominent Americans series is Scott 1284 and has a 6-cent denomination. It is not a later 5-cent version of Scott 933. Mystic's record identifies both its series and value. A close portrait match can still be the wrong issue, particularly when an online listing groups several presidential stamps under one title.[2]

The 1982 Roosevelt centenary stamp is Scott 1950 and has a 20-cent denomination. It commemorates Roosevelt's birth centenary and belongs to a different issue and price comparison. Its age, color or portrait cannot justify applying the 1946 memorial's quoted asks to it. Read the printed numeral before collecting more sales evidence.[5]

Roosevelt also means more than one person in United States stamp searches. Check that a reference names Franklin D. Roosevelt rather than Theodore Roosevelt or Eleanor Roosevelt. A 5-cent portrait with different wording should remain an unresolved identification until its own reference matches. Do not choose the featured family's price simply because the surname and denomination appear in a search result.

What the back and margins change

Once the design matches, inspect the back before comparing a mint offer. Look for hinge remnants, disturbed gum, thin spots and stains. If a stamp is fixed to an album page, do not pull it off to check. A clear photo of its placement and a note that the reverse remains unseen are more useful than damage caused by hurried removal.

Compare centering against all surviving edges. A close margin on one side and a broad margin on the other are different from an evenly balanced design, even if both stamps are blue Scott 933. Also distinguish short teeth from missing corners or tears. Record visible faults directly rather than replacing them with an unsupported grade number. The condition grading guide explains how to describe those observations.

For a plate block, photograph the complete margin and any plate number. Bardo records two plate numbers for this issue, 23381 and 23382. That identifies useful information to retain, but it does not establish that either number commands a premium. Do not cut the block into singles to fit an album space before deciding whether its connected format matters to a buyer.[6]

An envelope needs its own identification and price evidence

If your stamp is still attached to an envelope, leave it there. Scott 933 appears in dealer cover offers as well as single-stamp offers, and those formats are not interchangeable. Photograph the front, back, cancellation and cachet without removing the stamp. The envelope may provide enough information to distinguish an ordinary later use from a proposed first day item.

The corroborated issue date is January 30, 1946. Compare that date with the postmark rather than assuming a printed First Day of Issue caption proves the claim. The Swedish Tiger page gives the correct 1946 design description but captions a pictured first day cover June 30, 1946. That conflicts with the issue date established by Mystic and Bardo. This guide does not adopt that caption as first day evidence.[1][6][7]

Use the first day cover guide to separate stamp issue date, postmark date and cachet details. A cancellation can be faint or partly hidden, and an addressed cover differs from an unaddressed example. Ask a seller for the actual envelope's photographs rather than assuming the stock illustration describes the item you will receive.

Use the checker with the right Roosevelt evidence

Upload a straight-on front photo with every edge visible. In the notes, copy the printed denomination, say whether Four Freedoms wording is visible, and identify the format as single, connected block or envelope. If the stamp is blue but the numeral is hidden, say so. Do not insert a guessed 5-cent value merely to force a preferred identification.

The checker can suggest a design match and collector context from visible clues. A front photograph cannot establish original gum, a never-hinged grade, an unseen reverse fault or the authenticity of a disputed variety. Compare its proposed identification with the dated sources above. A match to Scott 1284 should send you back to the 6-cent numeral, not into the 5-cent price table.

Save the memorial and definitive as separate collection records

Keep the photograph, tentative catalog number, visible denomination and exact format together. A short note such as 933 candidate, used single, back inspected preserves more useful information than Roosevelt rare. If the reverse is inaccessible or a cancellation hides the value, mark that question as unresolved instead of filling it with a guess.

Stamp Value Identifier & Scan has a free tier on iPhone and Android and can save individual scans and help organize collection records. Keeping the 1946 memorial separate from the 1966 definitive makes it easier to return to uncertain identifications. Saving a scan is not official grading or authentication, and it does not turn a dealer asking price into a guaranteed sale amount.

Decide whether to keep it or seek a sale comparison

The ordinary used and mint offers in this packet are small retail amounts. Before paying for grading or selling a loose single, identify whether your item has a genuinely different feature, a better documented condition or meaningful postal context. The evidence here does not establish a sale premium for ordinary shade variation, a crooked cancellation or an unverified straight edge.

For a connected block or intact cover, seek offers for the same format and condition. Keep each observation's stock code, date and currency. A shop's service costs and shipping can matter more than the difference between two inexpensive single-stamp asks. The collection selling guide helps prepare an evidence packet without dismantling useful groups.

If you retain the stamp, preserve its margins and notes in a suitable mount or sleeve. Its value as a clearly identified part of a Roosevelt memorial group is different from an expectation of profit. The immediate task is to establish which issue you have, then compare like with like. No completed-sale amount was verified for this article, so no universal resale estimate is supplied.

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