Overwhelmed By Stamps...

Heya, nice to meet y'all :P

I'm in a bit of a quandary lately :) Let me explain my situation...

I'm a guy with a bad case of collector-itis. I love collecting things, especially individual items with "real" intrinsic value. Rare books. Coins. Video games. Gems. Each of these, I know pretty darned well. I know what to look for, what I want, what is valuable and what is simply dross. For coins and video games, in fact, I can tell you at a glance the ballpark value and rarity of most pieces :)

However, I've never gotten into stamps before. And now... well... :P

I work at a used book store. You would not BELIEVE how many antique books I go through on a daily basis... nor how many of those have stamps or old letters or envelopes either stashed in them or used as bookmarks. Or stamp albums stuck in a box of books. And the store owners simply toss all of that. A while back, I started rescuing these items, rather than have them thrown away.

Now, I have tons (well, in my estimation - probably small potatoes to most actual collectors :P ) of stamps - US, foreign, old, new. And any time I try to sort them, or do anything with them, I just get overwhelmed and give up :/

I wish I knew someone who knew as much about stamps as I know about coins... they could take a look at what I've got, and let me know of anything worth keeping, any individual pieces that are interesting or valuable.

One more note - I started putting the stamps in a photo album - you know, the kind where the plastic peels off the cardboard page, you place the pictures or whatever on it, then the plastic lays back over it and holds everything together? But then I thought, maybe that's bad for them or something... and I stopped and decided to ask here before I continued that effort.

How DO I sort, store, and display the stamps? I want to put them together in a manner that someone looking at them can flip through them conveniently. Many are still on envelopes or torn corners of envelopes, and most are just kinda shoved in other envelopes.

I dunno. I guess I just have a lot to learn... sigh :P

Where do I start?

This is a good start. Asking questions is always a wise move. Stamps are best stored in a stock book. Another place to begin would be the public libary, Check out the Scott Catalog covering the country that you are most interested in, read it carefully because although they appear basically the same, eash stamp is differnt, and as you will soon learn, the difference can be huge, monetarily. Also, pay attention to condition as that is very important. Just as it is in books.

When people say 'photo album,' I get all freaked out with scary images in my head. To wit ...


Stay away from photo albums until you do some more research.

Kirk

So take them out of the photo album I guess?

For me, what would be the most likely area of interest, of stamps to collect, are those with rarity and value - I dunno, that's just how I work. I collect items of various kinds, but in my collections, I never try to get "all" of any type or run of something... just the top rarities and values. I have collected the top 5 rarest games for a dozen different game systems. I have collected key and semi-key dates in several denominations of US coins. I have collected books with a high rarity index, including two with less than 20 copies left in existence. I have 2 different comics worth over 1k list price.

For stamps, just starting out, I would try to begin with pieces worth at least $50 by guide prices, or a high rarity index. If I enjoy it, I would ramp up the value per piece I search for.

But again, right now... I have too many to start with, or know what to look for on each one. I feel overwhelmed each time I open the drawers I stash them in.

I'll figure it out :/ Lol...

To be fair, some newer photo albums with quality plastic materials -- archival quality -- are popular with some of the people here.

Try browsing the Main forum and the Philatelic Book & Supply forum -- you'll find plenty of threads.

Also, learn to use the SEARCH button at the top of every SCF page.

Kirk

Try cutting the stamps as squares and using vario pages...
Also see if you can find a Scott book.... Best for identifying.. Them narrow it down by what you know... Makes the pile smaller

if a stamp is still on the envelope LEAVE IT ALONE. I would highly recommend not cutting anything at least until you show us what you have. Get a scott catalog if you can or check one out of your local library for info and book value.

When I started collecting in grade school, I sorted my stamps based on countries. I placed the stamps on envelopes per country. Then, I went through the "country" envelopes and sorted out the sets, duplicates and the quality of stamps. After that, I decided what sort of stamps I want to collect. Once I decided what to collect, I did research on stamp albums and catalogues and determined how best to store my stamps. For example, for my world used stamp collection, I use generic stamp albums without hinges which I get from Amazon.com. (Personally, I don't like to use hinges.) For my US mint stamp collection, I use the hinge-less stamp albums from Mystic Stamp Company. Their albums save me time in organizing and determining what I am missing in my collection.

So far this process has made my collection more focused and organized. I have felt overwhelmed a few times with what I need to collect and how to store them. Not to mention the increasing costs! I have had some decisions I regretted, e.g., using hinges, but I live and learn. My stamp collection is a work in progress and will always be.

By the way, I would love to work where you work! It sounds like a place where I can find a lot of hidden treasures.

Keep them out of the photo albums unless the album pages are Acid Free, Archival quality and PVC free. Also those albums like you are describing have the sticky pages to help hold the (pictures or whatever) in place. Don't ever put stamps on those sticky pages! If the sticky doesn't ruin the stamps. You run the risk of damaging them when you move or remove them. If you are not going to put them in a Stamp Album. Use Vario pages or Stock Book pages.

Steam and light....Kool! I too am a newbie but old (70) now, stamp collector! I still get befuddled by a lot of stamps, especially the Washing Franklin series.....irgggg, which I dearly love!

I agree with all the comments you have received so far especially about staying away from the older albums which leave the lined marks as shown on the envelope example! The lines are caused by the gummed portion that holds the picture or stamp in place.

I bet you that when you post pics of you stamps, someone here will let you know which are worth something. What a great community to belong to. Wish I had come across this sooner!

I have, as of late, significantly narrowed my collecting field to Canal Zone, early US including Revenues and the like, EFO's and BOB's in general. Oh, I forgot coils, especially error ones!

Take care, good health and have a great day!

Mudhut1000, John or just Mud