Worth The Effort To Check Each One?

I recently bought some Kiloware off ebay (around 500 + old used US stamps off paper for about $ 6)

I have a ton of 2 cent washington, 3 cent washington, 1 cent franklin and a few other different ones.

I have just recently started reading up on the different perf types, coil stamps etc..so I don't have much idea if it would be worth the effort to check each of these stamps for any thing unique?

There are a lot more than what you see in the pictures, which would take a lot of time I assume.

What do you folks think?

Check out these images:

I don't think there are any expensive/ special varieties of the 3¢ washingtons, so you could probably skip over those.

Phew....

Well what do you think about the 2 cent washingtons and the 1 cent franklins (not in picture).

Thanks

You are playing the odds. By definition the scarce/rare ones are not often found, plus it could be the person who sold them to you already checked them out before selling them.

Yeah I know and more importantly I don't have the expertise really (yet) to do it so ill just put them in the stock album and save it for a later date.

If it's not a stupid question, why would you buy them UNLESS you are intending to go through them with a fine tooth comb? That's the point of kiloware. The chance of finding something valuable is microscopic - as eyeonwall says: they've probably been checked anyway. The point is - can you find something interesting? Study the shades; study the postmarks; look for flyspecks; become the first person to distinguish issues by the smell of the paper. It doesn't matter what you do so long as you are learning something about the stamps. Write up whatever you do as a couple of pages in your album. If you acually find out an interesting fact, show it at your local society. If, as is far more likely, you don't, you'll still have had $6 of entertainment from it; if you just put them away in a stock book to wait for a future time (which somehow will never quite come round)you've wasted your money.

If your truly that frustrated then just send them to a charity (or to me j/k). Also, Don't let folks (I wont mention any names but...) get you down on yourself and sad and frustrated. I HAVE indeed found rarities simply because people have just had that same view as him/her and end up chucking them in a box until they end up on ebay as someone else's worry. What it boils down to is you need to know what your looking for and how to identify it or them as it were. I truly hope this helps.

Lets diagram this posts shall we? -

*
True but aren't we all?

*
Not often but they most certainly ARE!

*
-But he might not have been aware of, or looking for varieties. Maybe he just got them and wasn't a collector? Who knows really?

Looking closely at your stamps and understanding the differences is where expertise comes from. Look up information and ask questions about what you find. You may not find any valuable stamps but you will learn!

Karen

I think that first we need define the word "valuable". The word Valuable immediately conjures up such images of instant riches and perhaps gold and the like, but when it comes right down to a hobby (especially philately) it should mean understanding information and your new discovery! It's intrinsic value is pointless <-more(unless your Donald Sundman)<- more on that later. To put it another way, I have stamps that aren't worth a darn thing monetarily, but I wouldn't part with them for them world! It's the fascination and thrill of the hunt that drives me. Especially finishing a set that I been working on for months, years, decades for some of us..Stamp collecting is NOT a get rich quick game. It IS, however a very relaxing and VERY rewarding hobby. I'm relatively new to this hobby myself but I ended up with some medical problems and can no longer work...I literally thought that I would either die from both embarrassment and/or boredom but then I remembered about my Grandfather's Stamps and coin collection and I almost immediately came back around.
I always loved history and collecting runs in my family so it was just a matter of time... Sorry for rambling but I just want you to realize that collecting is what you make it. Don't be bashful and refrain from asking those "dumb" questions because chances are we have all been there and there may be someone else that needs the same answer but is afraid to ask. My point is collect what you want and how you want. Don't expect to get rich because it's doubtful you will but having said that there ARE still rarities out there that's been over looked or just parked in grandpas collection that has sat for 50-80 years that just was put up for sale. Sometimes, like the Washington/Franklin issues just scare people off and they'll just toss them in a pile....you get the idea... I must apologize for the lengthy response but the moral of the story is The more you know the more you'll discover. -Jeff

P.S.
Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have "dumb" or not! If I cant accurately answer it for you then I can most-likely point you to someone who can! WE ARE ALL HERE TO HELP! This truly is like a family. Welcome to it...again. Your friend~ Jeff

I had to edit this in-
You could always use your duplicates to trade for stuff you need.

From my own experience.
I'm a sucker for large quantities of common stamps, especially if they look like they were hoarded by someone, rather than "collected". I've bought a couple large lot's of those 2 cent red Washingtons (like the ones in the picture above). I wound up with about 5000 to sort through. After sorting the perf types and coils, I was eventually left with about half dozen of the 634a's and 4 599a's. Not really sure if it was worth the trouble, but it saved me from hours and hours of boredom. It does prove however that you CAN find better items if you are willing to put in the effort.

Both the 2 and 3 cent Washingtons have several varieties. Both are known with gripper cracks. There are numerous shifted and double transfers in both issue. Most of these are pretty minor. They are normally most common in the outer framelines or in the top or bottom labels.

You should look at the thread on the 1967 Canadian Centennial series. These stamps are as common as mud after a hurricane but there are dozens of varieties - major and minor. A couple of years ago, I started throwing some of them out but no longer do so. Have thousands of them and, without trying too hard, have found some really interesting varieties including a multiple of the two cent green containing a couple of distinct and more valuable varieties.

I love this thread! It gives me so much hope

You guys really are an amazing bunch!

(okay so I didnt have anything helpful to share, but this kind of positive thread should be bumped for all!)

I would say go through them. I have also found some better stamps buying on a hunch. I would think the lot has been gone through but you will gain valuable experience by going through the motions.

Hey Jeff nice write up, I have safely placed them all in my stock album and will go through each one when I have time :)

And like Karen said the best way to become an expert is to practice.

Hey Bamra, your absolutely right about the point of buying it but here is my side of the story.

Before I bought this Kiloware I was completely unaware that sooooo many variations of the same stamp exist!!

I thought that each stamp is printed once for a few years and thats it, I had no idea about the press types or the perf counts or watermarks.

And when I bought them, the seller advertised as "few" duplicates, having read up stuff on this forum I am hoping he was one of those who also just didn't have time / knowledge to go through these. So I will go through these now, thanks to the support of people here. And I will bombard you folks with questions in the process :)

I keep putting mine aside to one day get at and it will be a lot that at least this owner hasn't searched. As pointed out in another thread the research material decades ago was not even close to what it is today so many things may have been over looked. Definatly a thrill of the hunt but the knowledge you gain along the trip is better than the kill>