Other Uses For Collections?

I previously collected Disney stamps when I was younger and have since ceased collecting. Local stores have told me that Disney stamps are worthless and refuse to buy them - could I use them, at their face value, for postage for items?

I'm sure this is sacrilege for collectors but I'm at a loss of what to do with them!

Sure! Could be a good excuse to take a trip to the Turks & Caicos or Grenada.

Postage is one viable option. I don't follow results of this material on ebay, but maybe that's another option.

Finding a kid who will pick up the ball and run with it is yet another.

I can just imagine... "Honey, we must go on vacation because it is required that I use these stamps..." He'd love that.

I've looked at ebay, but they often aren't selling for much and once you factor in shipping and handling - it just sees like a moot point.

I am still keeping a hefty chunk of the collection (Aladdin, Lion King, Beauty and the Beast) but I have several duplicates as well and it just seems silly to do NOTHING with them... and with money tight and letters etc to ship... using the USD marked stamps seemed like a valid idea... I just wasn't sure if they were worth face value or if I'm going to have everything shipped back to me.

I assume the ones marked with dollar and cent signs would be valid for USD prices? Or no... I am so green at all this..

Welcome to Stamp Community Forum kittykisune!

Just to make sure we are all on the same page: only US postage stamps are valid for postage on items mailed in the US. You cannot use stamps from other countries (e.g., St. Vincent, Grenada...) as postage in the US. Even though they have denominations is cents and dollars, they are not US dollars nor US cents.

The Disney stamps are not worthless. Sometimes stamp stores are simply unwilling to make an offer because apparently they are not willing to pay you at least the wholesale price or are overstocked. The fact is, Disney stamps, like many topicals, tend to sell well on the internet. If you have complete mint never hinged sets along with the Souvenir Sheets (and not just partial sets of the low value stamps), you should be able to recover the original post office selling price. But you have to have enough to attract bidders. Selling a handful of Disney stamps will not attract a lot of bidders.

Post some pics, and we should be able to give you a better idea of whether they are truly worthless or not. Besides, we all love to look at stamps!

Kim

If it is a US stamp, it is still valid for postage. (Some of the Caribbean issues look like a dollars-and-cents system, but aren't denominated in US dollars.)

I couldn't get the uploader to work so I just posted it to my photobucket instead. This is a very small sampling of what I have...

Another reason I'm reluctant to sell online is I just have no idea how much these would even be worth and, like I said, stamp stores are not exactly forthcoming on the cost... "worthless" isn't exactly helpful (though, according to the rules, I cannot ask about selling until I have at least 50 posts.... )

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../disney4.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../disney3.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1.../disney2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y1...e/disney.jpg

I might be interested in them.
What do you have ??

Pics or a list would be good.

Londonbus1

I agree with Kim, Disney stamps are not worthless, particularly as complete sets with souvenir sheets.

Go to ebay and search for Disney in the stamps category to see what's going on with them at this time. I bought a collection of them on ebay a few years ago, in complete sets with souvenir sheets, and they weren't exactly cheap.

You are not allowed to sell until you reach the 50 quality posts AND 14 day Forum membership.

However, that does NOT mean you cannot ask for information regarding value, pricing, sales venues...

I took a quick look at your stamps. My first suggestion is to never go back to those stores again. For them to say those stamps are worthless tells me that they were trying to protect their interests by keeping you out of the market.

The first pic I looked at were the single stamps that you had stacked up. Since you had the low denomination stamp at top, it's hard to determine value, as the complete set value is heavily weighted toward the higher denominations. It is true that the low denomination stamps are minimum catalog value. But the higher denomination stamps can easily catalog several dollars EACH.

The Souvenir Sheets DEFINITELY will catalog several dollars each. Since you have the Souvenir Sheets, it is very likely that you have the complete sets. Complete sets (including Souvenir Sheets) will often catalog $5-$15 for the entire set in fault-free mint never hinged condition. Typical retail price is $2-$10, depending on the set.

I don't have time right now to quote you exact catalog prices. You should call your local library and ask if they have the Scott Stamp Catalogs. You can find the "catalog" value of the stamps in there. Disney stamps (complete sets) typically sell at 33%-100% of catalog value. Again, verifying that you have the COMPLETE set makes a difference (i.e., stacking those singles up may hide the true value; and also, it is not a wise storage technique).

Others may have a different take. Remember, this is only my opinion.

Thanks for posting the pics. Like I said, we love to look at stamps!

k

Pics are better than links !

They look great.

Londonbus1

Also nice!

Good job, LB1!!

k

I have a fairly extensive collection... those were just random choices/duplicates. I'm keeping most of the mainstream ones for myself... now I'm tempted to wait for 50 posts to talk selling!

As a side note, I've been burned too many times with ebay to trust selling there. I sold several items from another old hobby of mine (anime) and even though I got delivery confirmation, someone claimed they never got the items and ebay forced me to give a refund... not something I'm happy about.

The thing you have going for you with the Disney stamps is not only that they are stamps, but that they are Disney. So you have two distinct groups of collectors that might be interested in them. My daughter, as an example, never showed an interest in stamps but she was a big fan of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and the Disney animated features such as Snow White and Cinderella. So next thing you know, she was buying Disney stamps, not for the stamps but because they were Disney and brimming with Disney characters and Disney art.

That's why I got into Disney stamps (sort of). My grandpa was an avid stamp collector (orchids mainly) and since we were so close I'd go to conventions with him and Disney was the only thing I recognized so I went from there. There are still some I'd like to buy (if they even exist) like Little Mermaid or maybe some newer movies turned stamps.

The US issued one for the Little Mermaid in 2005. And I'm pretty sure I've seen it on a couple of Disney stamps issued by other countries.