stamp collection questions

[Watered Garden]

In cleaning up the basement last week during break, I ran across a flat box that I thought contained old photographs. Instead, it was my mom's stamp collection. That evening, I sat down and went through the box. There was an old scrapbook, obviously started by a child, with page after page filled with cancelled stamps stuck to the page. But underneath the album were a whole lot of uncancelled stamps, in blocks of 4, 6 and 8, all with a serial number in a corner. Also there were several stamped envelopes from the USPS stamped "first day of issue" with a special stamp. Often there were blocks of these stamps as well as the envelope. The envelopes were mostly unopened, as if they had been sent in self-addressed for the specific purpose of being stamped and sent back. I kind of remember some of this. It apparently went on for years.

My question, and I see I've once again made a short story long, is this: Does anyone out there know anything about stamp collecting and even more importantly, how can I find out if any of these are worth anything. The blocks and first day of issue stamps seem to mostly date from about 1950 to 1971 or so. There are others that are cancelled that date from the 1930's, including some on envelopes from The War Department and some from correspondence from WW II, presumably from the fiance' she dumped to marry my dad.

It is all very interesting, but I'd rather have the money, not being big on collecting things myself.

Any suggestions? Any philatelists? (no that's not a nasty word, it's a stamp collector).

thanks,

WG

[coolchef1248 @adelphia.net]

hi wg

yes i am an out of the closet philatelist !

some of those plate blocks from those years may be worth 2 or 3 bucks but not much more

air mails are always worth more and there are some good one from those years

the used ones aren't worth much unless it is rare and there are not many from that era

go to the usps web site they have a catalogue some where hope this helped

oh and watch for a coin and stamp show in your area

the dealers are mostly honest

[rascal]

Cool Chef, can I pick your brain as well?

I have stamps from all over the world from late 1800 early 1900....many from countries no longer in existance.

It was my 85 yr olf friends fathers collection...he was a British diplom,at so has quite an extensive collection....

I have a letter rubber stamped from 1835 and one from 57 I think.

I too am at a loss as to how to value these or identify them for insurance purposes.....are post cards from 1911 from all over the world with their stamps worth anything?

I seem to have become the holders of these collections from all different branches of the family.....

[Watered Garden]

Thanks!

Some of the ones I remember were a block commemorating 1st man on the moon, the death of JFK, honoring Sir Winston Churchill. A bunch of dead presidents, flowers, this, that and the other thing.

WG

[Shellon]

:) This makes me smile. My mother has been collecting stamps since, I think, 1956. It started as a hobby after she had her first baby, my dad was stationed in Army away from his family and she needed something to do. Since then she's got so many stamp books and it's an ongoing project that she's now turned my youngest daughter onto.

Her home burned in l997 while she and my step dad were away and when my dad heard about the fire, he hauled butt over there to save my step dads guns and my moms stamp collection.

The man ran into a burning home and pulled out his ex-wife's stamp books. Hee hee hee that always tickles me.

That's just how special they are to her and he knew it.

Oh yeah and he got his ex-wife's husbands guns too. :P

I dunno if her stamp collection is worth anything monetarily but they sure give her alot of enjoyment and she's threatened her four children with strange things after she's gone if we don't take care of them, or get what they are worth "if you need food or shelter and then only if absolutely starving".

Years ago I found two full books at a yard sale and picked them up for her, very cheap. She squealed "do you have any IDEA what you have here?" hee hee

So, I don't know either, but I do know we get scolded if we toss out interesting stamps.

My 10 year old and she spend alot! of time 'doing stamps' which provides great conversation, lessons taught, stories shared and who knows what kinds of wonderful memories passed on.

[rascal]

Oh COOL Shell.... I am ashamed to say that I haven`t cracked the albums....I have NO idea where many of these places are....I know each stamp has a wealth of information....but no idea how to retreve the stories that they could tell....

Now fossels and arrow heads....THAT is my passion and forte` :)

[Belle]

How absolutely cool!

Please let us know what you find out! I don't have any stamps, but I think it's fascinating to learn about the different hobbies people have on here. My Paw Paw has collected coins since he was a boy, but I don't know much about it except that he does....that's always been a Paw Paw - Grandson quality time thing.

[shazdancer]

Hi, WG,

Coolchef got you started in the right direction. Yes, the 4-stamps-with a number are called plate blocks, and there is only one plate block on each sheet of stamps, so they are worth a little more. Airmail stamps are often worth a little more, as are the higher denominations in a series, as less of them were printed. Condition is also important -- unless it is very rare, you want a stamp that has the gum on the back, no rips, nicely centered, all its perforations, mint condition.

Another specialty is stamps that have major printing errors on them, like missing or misprinted colors, or no perforations where there should be. (Not to be confused with coil stamps, that came off of a roll, and were perforated on 2 sides only.)

The nearest large library in your area will probably have a current or near-current set of stamp catalogues. Figure a selling price would usually be about 1/2 the list price. You can also check out eBay and see what some stamps are actually selling for. You could have some fun looking up some of the collection. From 1950+, though, you are probably not looking at a lot of value. But you can learn a lot of history from the commemoratives.

Hey, rascal, you may have some value in that collection. Pre-WWII, and stamps that were the first for their countries, generally have value. So go look up some of the older ones in those international stamp catalogues. Have fun!

Regards,

Shaz

(Helped in a stamp business a loooong time ago....)

Edited December 30, 2005 by shazdancer

[Tom Strange]

your stories are neat... but I have a bunch of 37 cent stamps and now I've got to get a bunch of 2 cent stamps! :(

[Watered Garden]

Tom, I'd send you 39 one cent stamps, but they are all canceled already!

I think Monday when I'm off I will take an inventory and see what I can come up with. It doesn't sound like anything much in the way of money. The plate blocks are all in pristine condition, gum and all. Some are in little bitty glassine envelopes to protect them. My favorite, so far, is a block of four stamps that, when together, shows the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Of course these are pristine as well.

Thanks for the food for thought. Anyone else?

WG

[herbiejuan]

WG I remember peering into a hand held magnifying glass at those very stamps you are describing. We had stamps from the British Isles, South America, Russia and many other places

We used some weird kind of mucilage tape to connect the stamps to the pages and had them organized by country.

Gawd only knows what was on that mucilage

[HAPe4me]

WateredGarden- to answer your question, OF COURSE THEY ARE TREASURE. Your mom spent hours enjoying the hobby and that alone makes them so!

Scott's, Lynn's, and Harris are the three most highly thought of Stamp catalogues as I remember. My father and his father before him were very enthusiastic philatelists, spending hours each day on their hobby.

Unfortunately, the interest in stamp collecting, (and therefore their monetary value) has diminished in recent decades. What we once had insured for over 150K ended up with a market value of around 20K when my father passed away. Dad had left the name and phone number of one of Harris's primary appraisers, with whom he had traded stamps before, and trusted implicitly for us to contact upon his death.

He had a virtually complete prewar German collection, diligently collected for over 70 years. His other specialty areas were Canada, Japan and Papua New Guinea (because it was a fun name to say) There were others also, literally a floor to ceiling bookcase. all diligently mounted and labeled. We ended up keeping much of the collection because it had more sentimental value than monetary to us, although we did sell some of the more valuable ones, since they would mean more to a collector than they did to us.

It is certainly true that there are rare and highly collectible and valued stamps, often the print error ones as was mentioned. Some other variations are also of good to extreme value. There are many difficulties in determining whether a particular stamp is one of those exceptions or not. Some can only be determined under blacklight, some by other methods too numerous to mention. As with any collectibles, CONDITION is of prime importance.

I would suggest you find a reputable appraiser if you have reason to believe there may be some of major importance, and wish to sell them. Otherwise I would keep them as a remembrance of something your mother had great joy and comfort in collecting. The collection is an heirloom, even if it has no monetary value.

~HAP

Edited December 31, 2005 by HAPe4me

[coolchef1248 @adelphia.net]

wg i know nothing about stamps that are not usa but i have learned alot from stamps.

i see each one of them as a miniture work of art

again used stamps are usualy worth nil

unless it is rare

have fun with them!!