So What's Valuable?

New to this, and bought 4 baggies full of stamps. I have narrowed it down to about one and a half baggies of U.S. stamps that range from the early 1930's to the 1970's, and possibly some that are before 1930? What are some things to look out for while I go through all of these stamps?

I would encourage you to look at "value" first from a perspective of what you like. In other words, go through the stamps and pick out the stamps that catch your eye. Those are your "valuable" stamps.

Regarding retail value. Being able to spot stamps that have significant retail value is a skill that gets developed over a course of time. Without first getting a feel and some experience with stamps, it's rather difficult to give guidelines, because there have been over 300,000 different stamps issued. The best way (my opinion) to learn what stamps have retail value is to get your hands dirty and commit some time to sorting/cataloging stamps, and interacting with other collectors/dealers. Interaction is important, because catalog values are only a reference, not absolute. Most stamps get sold at a large discount off of catalog. Stamps that sell at catalog value or higher a distinct and very small minority.

I hope you enjoy your foray into stamps, and hope that it is a start of a lifelong hobby for you.

k