Echo the interest in a couple of different ideas along these lines... I am thinking about some of my similar experiences and looking for test subjects. A lot of US varietal identification determinations come up once in a great while but a lot of those are somewhat easily resolved by semi-extensive researching on-line sources and sites already mentioned in numerous threads here. I have found numerous notes and books talking about the 2c and 3c Washingtons for example. On an interesting note, I have found that one source mentions '...secret marks and other identification aids...' and some others actually add to that list of identifying marks so it pays to look at multiple sources if you have them.