# What are These Stamp-Like Things? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 18, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-stamp-like-things/376982 "2006-10-18T18:53:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-stamp-like-things/376982/1 "2006-10-18T18:53:10Z")
When my grandfather died a few months ago a bunch of us were going through his personal effects, and I became the proud owner of two sets of stamp-like things. One is a perforated 8 X 5 array of stamps that are about an inch square. The other is a similar array, 5 wide, but is only 5 high - I’m going to assume that’s due to use of the stamps. The stamps are a kind-of orangish-brownish-yellowish color and have “C8” written on them in big black type. Above the “C8” is an 8-digit number in green. The upper-left stamp on each array is the highest, and the lower-right is the lowest. Below the “C8” is the world “MILEAGE” in smaller type, also in black. Below that is a blank line, and below that is this: “(License No.) (State)” I’m assuming that these are related to WWII gas rationing. Can anyone confirm or deny this? And do they have any collector’s value? EDIT TO ADD: A google image search confirms that they ARE gas ration stamps. What did the C8 designation mean? And do they have any collector’s value? ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-stamp-like-things/376982/2 "2006-10-18T21:06:33Z")
[The Master Speaks!](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_382b.html) ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-stamp-like-things/376982/3 "2006-10-18T21:16:39Z")
I have only a partial answer for you. Some stamp collectors, rather than saving a whole sheet, will buy the corner of the sheet. If I remember this right, it’s called a _plate block_, and it’s the upper left hand corner of the sheet. I don’t know the rest of the answers, and heck, I might be wrong about this fragment. My FIL worked at the post office, and he’d buy a plate block of each new stamp. I’m not a stamp guy, myself. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-stamp-like-things/376982/4 "2006-10-18T21:47:43Z")
I have a bunch of them, but I think they were in a box of stuff I took to my parent’s house a few years ago (they were my dad’s parent’s stuff). I have no idea as to value, I’d imagine there are a lot of them out there. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2006, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-stamp-like-things/376982/5 "2006-10-18T23:40:50Z")
They have little to no collector value. They exist in plentious quantities, and very few people collect ration stamps from WWII. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2006, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-stamp-like-things/376982/6 "2006-10-19T02:16:42Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott] I have only a partial answer for you. Some stamp collectors, rather than saving a whole sheet, will buy the corner of the sheet. If I remember this right, it’s called a _plate block_, and it’s the upper left hand corner of the sheet. I don’t know the rest of the answers, and heck, I might be wrong about this fragment. My FIL worked at the post office, and he’d buy a plate block of each new stamp. I’m not a stamp guy, myself. [/QUOTE] I’ve only heard of \*\*postal \*\*plate blocks, in fact I used to collect them myself. And they weren’t necessarily the upper left corner of the sheet; they were the corner that had the plate number printed in the margin. Actually the sheet of stamps would be cut from a larger sheet which had a plate number in each corner, and if you had a plate block from all four corners it was called a “round robin.” I don’t know how much of this is still applicable, with today’s printing technology. And I don’t know whether gas ration stamps had plate numbers.