EssayK, I would think that CanadaStamp might have been reacting to something I've noticed occurs from time to time here. A complete novice asks for advice and is told to go to the library and find the Scott Catalogue. This might be good advice for someone who has already had some orientation to the hobby but for a complete novice, I agree with CanadaStamp, it's really not helpful.
Yes, it would have been good if Canada Stamp had given positive alternative advice.
So I'll try. Rookie23: go to
http://stamps.org/A-Hobby-for-Everyone and, after reading that short blurb, read a few of the sections that follow--how to identify stamps, glossary of terms, tools needed etc. Similar "how to collect stamps" information is available at other sites--google for "how to collect stamps"--there's no substitute for learning at least the very basics.
stampworld.com has an online catalogue with pictures of most stamps for most countries of the world. Go to the "Catalogue" tab. Watch the "how to" video and read any other introductory material. Then find the various maps, click on the country you want to identify stamps from. But assuming you click on the US first, what will come up are the very earliest stamps, very expensive, hard to identify because tiny little differences matter and you certainly don't have any. So skip ahead to 1900 or even 1930 or 1950. If your album has stamps mounted under date ranges, use those to find a time period where you have a number of stamps and start there rather than with the earliest.
Stampworld has information for each stamp that you will just ignore--like listing how many of each stamp were issued (millions and billions, in some cases). This can be important in determining prices but you should just ignore it.
Alternatively, as mentioned, try to find a printed catalogue (Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue in six volumes, with the US in volume 1) in a library. Paging through it might be easier than scrolling around at stampworld but stampworld.com is available to you right now through the magic of the internet.
Either way, as others have noted, it helps to read at least some of the introductory material, enough to understand how the catalogue listings are set up.
I would go much further than others upthread. Catalogue values are very far removed from what your stamps are worth. I would use something like 10% or 20% of any catalogue value as my starting point, not 50%. Damaged stamps, at least those that catalogue at minimal values to begin worth, are worth nothing (as in zero).
But it's not about the dollar value, it's about the bits of history and geography and culture embedded in the stamps.
Now, that's a pile of written advice and it may seem overwhelming. Take it one step at a time.
Or see if there's a stamp club in your area. Or ask around to try to find someone, anyone, who collects stamps who can sit down with you and walk you through things. If you can't find anyone, ask your questions here. People will try to help. They can't and don't want to do everything for you (and in many cases, without high-resolution scans can't identify individual stamps for you). But at the same time, any beginner will be confused and put off by trying to figure out catalogues and all the rest of this stuff by himself. So read the simple tutorials, then come back with questions.
And those who gave you a general assessment of what they could see from the photos and your description (1000 stamps total) are right: it's very, very unlikely that you have anything except very common beginner type stamps. A 1000-stamp collection is a beginner's collection. However, in your last comment you say it was begun by your great-grandparents. 1920s? Maybe earlier? That's old but still was at a time when millions of people were collecting and most stamps were worth little, so the likelihood of any really valuable stamps is low.
At the same time, it's always possible, merely possible, that a sleeper or two might be in among those 1000s. You can't find any sleepers right off the bat and no one on this forum can do that for you right off the bat. But you can have some fun learning the basics and learning to distinguish the different kinds of stamps, different eras they come from, different countries. And then you might find something that's a step or two beyond the totally ordinary. None of us can help you unless you were to post clear scans of each stamp and even if you took the time to do that, it could be that no one here has time to look at every single one. So that's why there's no substitute for you getting at least a basic orientation and beginning to sort things out.
Photographs are often not terribly helpful, especially if you photograph from an angle and cluster several stamps in one photo. To do much good, you need flat scans at a decent resolution. Yes, photos are a stopgap but if you can only do photos, be aware that that limits what those who look at them can determine.
What we can do we've already done: assessed your 1000-stamp collection as a beginner's collection begun perhaps in the 1910s or 1920 and which might have some more than minimal things (pre-cancels--the ones with the city name and a bar above and below--etc.) but then again, might not.
Don't hesitate to ask questions in this forum. I think most people were trying to communicate to you that there's no shortcut, no magic wand that permits us, despite good will and desire to help, to answer your basic question: anything valuable or special here?
There might be. Most likely there isn't. But have fun finding out.
Posted 12/03/2014 1:44 pm
