Hi woodcutter! , welcome!
there are none, really, that I know of. That's because the Scott and/ or Stanley Gibbons catalogue are so proprietary (keep it to themselves) regarding their numbering system.
If you are new to stamp collecting them consider this. Just because a stamp is the same one illustrated in the catalogues and looks the same to you, doesn't mean it is worth what the catalogues say it is.
The catalogues assume the pricing is for a dealer selling the stamp and include a percentage to cover him making profit on the deal. Also the stamp has to be in Fine to Very Fine condition, depending on the year (older stamps are sometimes not printed with the standards of today's stamps).
Condition, condition, condition are the three words that usually determine a stamp's value.
If you are selling them prhaps then there are your skills at selling that make a difference. If you are just keeping them then the condition determines the value also.
Most stamps are worth nothing. Strange statement to make but since they print stamps in the millions and millions usually how could any single stamp be worth a lot? Only because of rarity, mostly being printed in lower quantities than most other stamps.
So, if you went to the library and looked at a Scott stamp catalogue of the world (6 volumes now I think), even if you just concentrated on the pre-1940 stamps (classic era) you would see a lot of the stamps valued at below a dollar each. And that's only what you will pay for them, not at all what you would sell them for.
Look on
www.bidstart.com or
www.ebay.com or
www.delcampe.net and see that some 'nice looking' stamps are priced there at $1 or more when the catalogue says they should be 25 cents. That's just because of collectors who collect topically or by theme and will pay the extra price to get a stamp they are missing. Also pays for the fees involved in selling online.
Delcampe seems more of a collectors website and auction site in that collectors sell stamps for 5c to 20c each and is they sell (there are so many) it is usually because the seller has advertised the stamp(s) with words that buyers search for, or the stamp is special in some way. Better looking than other similar stamps, a lighter cancellation (postmark) (cancel) or a special socked on the nose (well centered) cancel that is readable.
So, stamps can be worth as much as the catalogue says (we all use catalogues to determine stamps value), but only if their condition is really nice, it presents well (looks nice), has no faults, is well centered, no rips, tears, holes, thins or creases, has good colour (is not faded, is not toned or have rust or mold or stains, has all it's perfs (perforations, holes around the edge) (if it is supposed to), and is sold in the right way to the collector that wants it at the right time.
There are also errors and varieties of stamps that are worth more, sometimes a lot more, and it is confusing to beginners and even to a long time collector to determine which is which, as the differences are sometimes subtle or hard to tell. Not everyone wants the errors or oddities but most want what the catalogeus consider worth listing (they can't list every little variety) like a different perf (number of holes wothin 2 centimeters), or colour, or paper type.
I myself had, at one time, a collection of worldwide stamps that numbered probably around 8000 and all of them where stamps that I had bought for less than 25c a piece and sometimes for only 3c a piece, sent to me through the mail as on approval, the old way before
www.ebay.com/b/260/" rel="nofollow">ebay.
Of course, some of yours may be in a different price category than mine were.
If you can why not snap some photos of a page or two and post them here for us to see and let you know roughly what price range they are in, or might be depending on condition? If the file size is too bif then stick them on Photobucket or another photo hosting site and put a link to them here. Google's Picassa is nice also.
No need to be detailed unless you have an idea that certain stamps may be worth more and then you can scan (library maybe) or photo zoomed in and show us.
There are sites for each country, just google the name of the country and put the word stamps there also and see what comes up. Remember these are usually trusted sellers and they can charge more then a newcomer.
Posted 03/04/2012 9:41 pm
