New Here

Hi. I'm looking to discover approximate values of French stamps dating from the late 1940s through the late 1970s. The majority are in new condition although many have been cancelled. They are neatly placed in collector's books, the way my grandmother left them. She worked at the post office in Chinon, France during that time period and she purchased the "like new" stamps as they were issued. She also had quite a few first day cover envelopes of stamps from that time. Unfortunately, the photo albums in which she placed those were not acid-free and all that great stuff that we know about now, and the pages yellowed, some of it spreading to the envelopes, but the stamps appear un-yellowed. When I inherited the collections in 1996, I left the stamps in her books the way she left them, as they have withstood time without any damage. I transferred the first day covers into two new, large photo albums made by Creative Memories (especially for preserving photos and papers supposedly forever, but how can we be sure of that?!). I never thought that I'd even consider selling any or all of these books of stamps because I love them and they were collected by my grandmother (deceased) and passed down to my mother (also deceased). I have owned them for 17 years and I have adored them, but try as I have, my children couldn't care less about them (although I made them well aware that they are valuable and they are NEVER to be sold as old junk at a garage sale or I would return from the dead to punish them!) "Yes Mother, we know, we know...." At very least, I would like to learn their values so that I may insure them. I was lucky enough to have avoided losing them to a house fire because they were still safely stored at my ex- husband's house. Thank you for reading my introduction, if you made it this far!

Welcome to the forum! I must ask that if your First Day Covers are in a photo album then the will get ruined. Photo albums are not designed to preserve anything (including pictures). I re-read your post and see that you took action on that. if damage is already done then any resale value will almost certainly take a hit. I'm glad to read that ou are taking an interest in stamps and stamp collecting. If you post some pictures (scans are better though) we could help you out better. Thanks and once again- Welcome aboard!

Welcome CathyQ. :)

CathyQ
Welcome and thanks for your post. Very interesting. If you have a free afternoon sometime, just go to your public library and ask for the newest Scott standard postage catalogue vol. 2. and look for the values of your stamps. Maybe also you can bring home a cat. from previous years. Keep in mind that these values are just an indication. When somebody sell a collection to a dealer he may have as little as 15% of cat. value and when you buy one on ebay for example you can pay 40% of cat. value. The full cat. value is more likely if you buy a single mint never hinge (new) very fine stamp at a dealer. Your collection may worth few hundreds of dollars. Hard to know with so little informations.
Keep in touch. Daniel

Hello CathyQ, welcome to Stamp Community!

It is wonderful to hear that you have taken so good care of your heritage and treasured it. Appreciating what you have when you have it is great.

Your stamps, as mentioned above, could be in danger, but only if they were stored in an album that uses some sort of all-page glue to stick the things into an order.

If they were instead in an album that used plastic sleeves or pages only, and no glue or adhesive, to hold them, then they will be OK hopefully, if not exposed to sunlight too much or dust and mold.


Some times the worth or monetary value of stamps is determined by how much someone wants them or is willing to pay for them.

To sell them indibidually or as sets or small groups on ebay or Delcampe yourself (with a PayPal account of course) (both indeed learning experiences), you would perhaps realise more money in return for your treasures.

Their value on the market would not reflect any you have additionally placed upon them by emotional closeness or family though. Sad as that may be.


The condition of the stamps and covers is usually taken into considertion when a buyer or reseller is looking at them to assess them. Centering, good color, gum on new mint stamps, good clear cancels or light cancels on used stamps, etc , etc.

No mars, nicks, tears, thins, etc should be on a good condition stamp. Then there is the grading which some collectors pay attention to.

I think your best bet is to sell them as topical or thematic collections or singles. They might not all sell at once though. Over time only.


To sell them all at once you will get less per stamp as people are usually buying for what they collect and not for the other stamps included within the group or lot.

Have a look around on ebay, paying attention to worldwide slaes if you wish to sell to other collectors, and to how the stamps are described and what categories they are in.


Otherwise a few good photos, generally speaking, with some later zoomed in close shots on any key values would be helpful for us to see them.


Please remember that posting them in a general Worldwide section of the general forum (SCF) will get you many more opinions than in the welcome thread here.

Best Regards,
Doug