New And Not Sure What I Have...

Found this at an antique store in my hometown, it is a leatherbound book and the title is "Golden Replicas of United States Stamps". It has 41 gold replica stamps and 41 matching stamps with first day covers and a certificate of authenticity from the US Postal Service. Just wondering what it would be worth? They are all from early 1984. Thanks!

G'Day Jarrid and to the forum,
Now to be honest with you mate there not worth much maybe .05 to .20 cents a cover and there are collectors here that may have a better idea on what the single item cost is so some one may chime in with a bit more knowledge,also I know there are collectors around that do specialize in them but the average collector doesn't collect them.
regards Harry

That's ok...i only spent 15 dollars on it so I guess I came up a little short but oh well it was worth it for a little while....also bought four plastic baggies full of stamps, am sorting them now, just keeping the U.S. ones for now, will probably need help identifying, is there a website to do that?

Welcome to Stamp Community Forum, Jarrid!

You can drop by or call your public library and ask if they have a Scott stamp catalog, either for check out or on reference. The US stamps will be in Volume 1.


You can also post some pics here, and I'm sure someone will be more than happy to either ID some stamps or point you in the right direction in the catalog.



USPS did not issue such certificates. It's probably a "certificate" from some company like the Postal Commemorative Society made to look like something "official". There's always a company that tries to sell things through mimicry instead of on its own merits.

I happen to like the replica FDCs, and have a couple in my collection -- even though you will meet some collectors who won't hesitate to trash talk those items. I think they are pretty. But as Harry noted, they usually don't sell well to seasoned stamp collectors.

Just remember -- the best way to enjoy stamp collecting is to collect what you want the way you want. While it's nice to learn and get advice from other collectors, don't feel compelled to follow our "rules".

Once again, welcome, and hope you will drop by and post often!

Kim

Hello Jarrid, welcome.

If any of your stamps have cancels (round or circular dated stampings) on them and you can see most of the cancel then those are collectible also. Some just collect those. I have started a collection on hexagonal shaped cancels and stamps and hexes on stamps too. An interesting side topic it is.

Any Canada or Great Britain or France? I'd be interested to see those if you have a scanner or camera. sometimes a library has a scanner that you can use. Best to call and ask.

Don't throw stamps away unless you are sure about them. Many here including me have thrown something out and learned later about some cancel or feature or something different about that stamp that made it worth keeping and interesting. There is always lots to learn, but, as khj says, you can do it your way and just learn what you are comfortable with. It's all good as they say.

Yeah several Canadian, Britain, French, Spanish, Australian, U.S. and what seems like a million other countries. Also did notice several that had round stamps, and a few that had imperfect round blobbish looking marks....anyway, while I didn't check all of them, I looked up a few that were interesting to me (www.theswedishtiger.com) and found that the oldest was 1932. I know with paper money, once you get back that far it starts becoming valuable, but not sure about stamps. I would think it would be the same way because of the paper being destroyed so easily?

I do not know about money values so can't do the comparisons like you. The paper's deterioration does make sense though.

When a person bought a stamp(s) to use he was paying for the service of delivery and handling. It was to show that the service had been paid for beforehand, at least partially. It was not that the stamp was actually worth that much but that it could show that a service worth that much had been paid for so the recipient would not have to pay anything.

The values you see stated in the catalogues mostly have to do with the price of buying a small quantity of stamps in very fine condition from a dealer and includes his costs needed to cover his overheads. Most stamps sell for less than the catalogue values. Used stamps re usually worth less than new mint with gum ones.

People collect for many reasons though. Topics on stamps, cancels, bull's eye's, slogans, shapes of cancels or stamps (nowadays), engraved stamps, certain eras or years, etc etc. What makes it so fun is that you can do much of this and not spend a lot if you do not want to. It's a very personalized hobby.

saw this on ebay--thought it might help-
"38 Golden Replicas of United States Stamps on 22k Gold
For auction is a collection of 38 Golden Replicas of United States Stamps on 22k gold. The collection includes replicas of stamps from October 12, 1982 through February 6, 1984. Each stamp has a corresponding description card."
These were starting bid of $9.99--it did not mention FDC's along with it though.

Gussyboy1