Unopened Stamp Envelopes From Years Past.

I'm new to the stamp forum and have been on the coin forum a few years now (over 1,100 posts on errors).

My profile photo is the only known quad-struck 2003D Lincoln Cent.

Below are unopened envelopes my grandfather purchased i'm guessing in the 30's or 40's (judgeing from the used raw ones I was given from my Uncle in 2001), that will be posted in the near future...

My grandfather lived from 1888 to Jan.1956 and stopped collecting years before his death...

I was going to open up the envelopes, but thought I would get other opinions here before opening...I know Error Coins & Currency, and darn near nothing about stamps...
I did notice my grandfather did place 6 blue/gray 5 Cent stamps on the back of one of the envelopes, why, I have no idea...

Anyway, I thought I would post them here as i'm new to this forum and don't know what forum to post under...

From what I seen in my 2001 Stamp Book, collectors must do it for the love of the hobby, because from the prices I see listed, stamps are worth next to nothing...

After receiving these stamps, I started purchasing 50 year old unused sheets for less than face value at local coin/stamp auctions for only a few years, then started to use them when I learned there was almost no premium... I did purchase new stamps from the Post Office for about 2 years about a dozen years ago (before grandchildren), and now that I have 4 grandchildren I thought I would pass it along to them...

I'll visit here from time to time and check this thread for any updates, and if I should just open them up and pack them with the other's, and place them in a binder..

Maybe the prices on the envelopes will help date the stamps..

***I thought my profile photo would have followed me here***
If you visit the coin forum, my user name is what my granddaughter called error coins, she said, "look grandpa, you have broken coins, thus the name "Broken-Coin".

Hello and Welcome to the forum. I wouldn't open them as the stamps by themselves aren't very valuable but the whole package might bring a few dollars for nostalgia's sake? Those Washington/Franklin issues though might be worth investigating a little closer however. Again, Welcome!

Welcome to SCF. These are what were called "packets," and they were the mainstay of the average schoolboy and low-end general collector in the 1930s-1950s. It's not that common to see them intact, which is why I Love Stamps counseled to leave them intact. They are like a time-warp--to see the definitives from the late 1800s selling for a few pennies apiece. Of course five pennies back then would buy you lunch, so these 10 cent packets would be the equivalent of $10.00 packets today.

The commemoratives from the 1930s are only worth 3-5 cents today but some of the earlier definitives will be a few pennies more, if you can find someone willing to buy them. It's possible, but rather unlikely, that something a bit more valuable might be lurking among the ones labeled "Washington Postage" and "Franklin Postage".

But given the above parameters, it's just possible, as ILS suggests, that someone might pay more for them intact as a kind of relic from stamp collecting days gone by. These packets were sold in dimestore,corner drugstores, tobacco shops and newstands, department store stamp counters and by mail (through comic book ads and so forth). The world they represent was still alive in the childhood collecting days of those Baby Boomers who are now returning to collecting. It's among them that you might actually find your best market.

Or, since they came from your grandfather, you might keep them for your children and grandchildren. They really are relics that will soon be 100 years old. Since you might at most get $10.00-20.00 for the lot even as "relics," they might be more valuable as family heirlooms. On the other hand, those younger than today's graying Boomers don't remember the "packet era" and your children and grandchildren won't have the faintest idea why we Boomers wax nostalgic about it. So perhaps it's not feasible to make them into "relics"--to be perceived as relics, things need to have some special connection or meaning associated with them and that might only be true for us "relics" of the 1950s who will be shuffling off this mortal coil before all to long.

Others might weigh in on one question: the envelopes are not made of archival quality paper; I don't know if there's any risk to the stamps from long-term storage in the original packets, though, they've been in them for 70 or 80 years already and don't appear to be damaged.

Hieronymus is a man of great wisdom and Is spot on! I apologize I didn't go into great detail but he nailed it completely.