Need Help! Have Big Collection Of Early Stamps

Just acquired grandpa's collection. Not really interested in keeping more than one or two somewhat valuable ones....
I don't even know where to start with these.
Pages and pages of the very very early us stamps.

What would you guys do? I have nearly zero knowledge about stamps, but have picked up a few things in the last few weeks.
Literally thousands of catalog pages full with lots of pages of 1847 to early 1900s. In lots of different catalogs.

Very lost. Please help.

1420tom, first of all, welcome to the forum. You are in the correct place here, but there is a special forum for your question. Please ask staff to put this in the correct forum.
Having said that, to try to answer your question just a bit, there are a few things you can do. One is to post a scan or two of some of the oldest stamps your grandfather left you.
The other thing ( which I personally prefer ) would be to go to http://stamps.org and find a stampclub near you. Contact them and if possible take some of your albums to their meeting. Personal contact , especially with large holdings is always better in my opinion.


Peter

Here's two quick low quality pics. Lots of these early stamps

Here's a few more quick pics to give you guys an idea of the collection. Theses are just a few from one page, from one catalog, of many.

The 2nd/3rd/4th pictures are not from 1847 - they are cutouts from a souvenir sheet issued for the 100th anniversary of those stamps in 1947. The first picture? Hard to say - looks like a reprint - would like to see a better picture.

The last 3 are nice stamps - imperforate & perforate versions of Wash stamps from 1850's - nice but not spectacular.

Post more pictures!

I would guess the price evaluation written above it is nowhere near correct but this one caught my attention

For this stamp to have a value in vicinity of $16K, it would probably need to be Scott 110 (current CV used $25K). A quick look at the PF data base of certs for Scott 110 leads me to believe that there's not enough "brown" in the brownish orange. But I am no expert. Ask the experts on this forum if they think it would be worthwhile to have it certified.

The 30cent was probably mis-identified as the A-grill SC81 by somebody who did not know what a grill is, current SCV ~200,000.

11 perf spacing and 19.25 wide x 22.25 tall

Tom, unless you use a perforation gauge your "11 perf spacing" does not mean much. Also, measuring the stamps does not mean a lot. If you are trying to determine printing scan the back of the stamp.
Also, if you are going to try to ID these older stamps read up on them - they are not the easiest in the world. You might give http://stampsmarter.com a try.


Peter

1420Tom, welcome to the forum. I was in a similar situation as you, except I didn't get my grandfathers collection (I WISH I had!) but I did inherit two boxes of letters and assorted documents, mostly from the 1870's up to the 1940's. I've been selling a lot of the documents on ebay and doing pretty okay with that. I'm keeping most of the stamps (as I said I didn't inherit that many) although I won't mind selling some to a collector. That being said, from the looks of things you have some nice things there (it seems to me, but I'm no expert). I'm with what was said earlier, try to find a local stamp club and see if you can connect with someone there to a) give you an idea of what you've got and b)offer you a fair price if you are looking to sell. I know I'd probably be interested in something out of there :)

I did read up on them for hours. I got a perf guage, and this is definitely 11 perf on both top and sides. I used a machinist electronic micrometer to measure the printed area. Actually measures closer to 22.35 tall, I'll have a look at the back, looking for inking that wouldn't be there if it was rotary right? It's a pretty clear stamp so I bet it is plate... Does it sound like I'm learning fast?
*Correction top bottom and sides are 11 perf

Looks like ink plate spots right? So it's not rotary?

That 30c stamp has 3 huge margins, whichever # it is. If that is the sheet dividing line at the upper left, the left half of this separation didn't have much of a right margin.

If this thread is heading there.... https://goscf.com/t/47911
Currently also under discussion in the "I inherited a Million" forum.

So I've pretty much decided to send this collection off to someone who can sift through it and sell/auction it off for me. I did find one ebay seller that specializes in this, noble spirit is the company name. I apologize if names are not allowed. Anyone ever use them? Or have a recommendation of another trusted company to use? Thanks!