A used example of the US 1847 5c red-brown Benjamin Franklin (Scott 1), four margins, with a red grid cancel - the same class of four-margin used example the Scott guide value prices.

US 1847 5c Franklin (First Issue)

Maker: United States (USPOD)
Year: 1847
Rank: 8 of 100
Identifier: Scott 1, 5c red-brown, Benjamin Franklin, imperforate; four-margin used example

US 1847 5c Franklin (First Issue)

Price-guide value, not a sale: $425, dated 2024-01-01. This is not a sale. It is what the market was asking, and no transaction is recorded behind it.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

One half of the United States' first general postage issue — the foundation stone of US philately.

Scott 1, 5c red-brown, Benjamin Franklin, imperforate; four-margin used example

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure: $425
Kind: Price-guide value, not a sale
Date: 2024-01-01

A price-guide value is an editorial estimate, not a transaction. Guides lag the market and smooth over grade and condition. It is useful as a floor for how the trade thought about the object, and it should be checked against a realized sale before anything rests on it.

By reference price, US 1847 5c Franklin (First Issue) is number 91 of 99 in the stamps entries of the FLOAT 100. 75 of those 99 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (8 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

How this is made

The figure: One reference price, shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not: A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder: Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
Archive: 2026-08-08

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