Some Basic Questions

Hi all. I am in the process of looking over my late father's stamp collection and found a 12 sets of 4 stamps. I have attached a few examples. They are all similar. One set is Martin Van Buren, another Andrew Jackson, James Madison, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, etc. They are all in the same style and have never been used.

I am not a collector and am interested in selling these on ebay (or another site that people can recommend for stamp sales), so I would appreciate any information and advice on these.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Hi carleroo, welcome!

You have blocks of 4, as they are called, different types of them.

The 2c is a Plate block of 4, (assuming corner) with the plate number printed in the selvedge (or selvage as US people would say). This is damaged by having a crease across the corner but may still be of interest because of the plate number. Not sure.

Oh, these are all of the Presidental series.

Next, an upper right corner block of four 5c.

And then just a block of four 30c with some selvage on bottom. Nice strong color on that one, at least I like that color.

Nickname for this series is Prexie series. or Prexies. I would lok on ebay to see how people describe these, so then you would do the same so people searching would be more likely to find your stamps also when searching.

Do you have a Scott catalog or have access to a library that has them?

Sometimes people search for the catalogue number too.

This is harder for foreign stamps as, for example, people in Great Britain would most likely use Stanley Gibbons catalogue numbers when searching. So in this case, you would make sure to describe the stamps well, citing the series they are known as, the year of issue, the country and abbreviation of same (United States or USA or US). Don't use periods in your abbreviations as ebay search engine (program) ignores them. So U.S.A. while correct in English spelling, will be very hard to find when searching unless you surround the whole within quotes when searching and not many people do that.

I ramble on. Sorry.

Hello Carleroo,

Unfortunately these are not worth much to begin with and then some of these have issues as well which lowers the value to a collector.

Your first picture is Scott number 806 and is a plate block. The number on the margin makes this a plate block and tells us which plate was used in printing the stamp. In great condition you would have a catalogue value of 2.00 for the block, but we have creases and other issues with this one.

The next set is Scott number 810, but not a plate block as there is no number in the margins. Catalogue value in great condition may get to 3 or 4 dollars, but again the example shown has a few issues detracting from value.

The final one is Scott number 830 and the best looking out of the three. If it was a plate block, which it is not, it would catalogue around 15 to 20 dollars. So being a regular block it would have a catalogue value of half of that: maybe.

Condition is everything in stamps and without that one cannot get much for those stamps below Fine to Very Fine considering catalogue value. And even with those stamps reaching that condition bar one will still only realize 10 to 20 % of catalogue value when attempting to sell and many, if not all, the time get less than that unless we are dealing with a "rare", or specialty stamp of some sort.

Hope this helps.

I am no expert though and still learning.

Indeed, I agree with siruspoe on his evaluation of condition and chances of selling, mostly.

Selling is a chancy thing sometimes and other times is an easy thing. I think it depends a lot of how you sell and that includes your own selling skills and business skills and being friendly skills too at times.

I think that just because a catalogue says something will be generally worth xx $ that if presented well and with candor (not trying to hide faults) by a well meaning person, chances are it may sell just because people trust you. Not for great money but for a reasonable amount. I never like to say that something will not sell at all because there are always so many factors involved, whether you recognize them or no.

So don't be discouraged, give it a go and see what happens. Learn along the way and have fun and enjoy the experience. What's the worst that can happen? You learn something about stamps and you wish you hadn't sold that nice block of four but kept it because you want it now? lol

Thanks for coming back Puzzler. I agree with you as well. The fun is in the search, studying, and learning about your stamps. Hopefully you will get hooked and not want to sell. But if you do just be honest as Puzzler mentions and see what happens. I surely did not mean to come off as downgrading anything at all: if I did I apologize. I know I would take any and every US stamp at the right price, but of course I cannot afford all I see even when they are cheap: especially if the wife is around looking over my should, or asking why I put more money in the Paypal account.

Thanks everyone for your helpful opinions. I have quite a few stamps, but many if not all, I suspect are not all that valuable. However my children are not at all interested and unless I find good homes for these, I can visualize my kids tossing them in the garbage, once I've gone completely gaga. Nonetheless, I do find all this detective work extremely interesting and informative. It helps bring a bit of history alive. So, who knows...I may not get rid of all of them.

Glad you may be getting hooked. There is so much in history, art, geography, and other areas you can learn about through stamps. And if you end up changing your mind when You get fifty posts you can try auctions here, but hopefully you are gonna get where you cannot get enough. Welcome by the way.

Many thanks. I have been doing the same with my coin collection, and am learning so much. I am now wondering...how come the internet wan't around when I was collecting? I'm an oldie (64) and am enjoying the instant access with experienced collectors. As long as there are others who share some of the same stories and interests, I will be connected...

Well I can tell you that you will not find a more friendly, helpful and honest bunch than the great collector's here at SCF. I do not include myself in that area yet, but I'm working on it. I've only been collecting for a short time and have learned more here than I could have ever learned on my own in such a short time. Enjoy and if you have questions ask away and use the search button as many past discussions are readily available for your reading pleasure.