New And Overwhelmed

I'm new to the forum.
Really grateful to find someplace so active and willing to help out newbies.
Mom, (and my grandpa,) never met stamps, coins, or other "treasures" that they wouldn't collect.
Now, I'm opening boxes which have not been organized or seen the light of day in decades.
I've not only no idea what I've got, but no clue how to begin to organize it.
So far I'm finding lots of canceled, (embossed in the envelopes) postmarked 1900 - 1950. Also First Day Issues from 1947 - 1995.
Suggestions are appreciated.

well, you can sort them out by, single stamps, First Day Covers, etc..
Then you just start. Pick a pile and start cataloging them.

and if you really need help, just send 'em my way. I'll take care of them for you. ;)

Thanks for the offer :)I'm going to try to slog thru this on my own ... and make some new friends in the process, I hope.

Do you think it is better to, for example, put the first day issues together by year?
Or some other, (as yet unrecognized (by me) grouping... tropicals, christmas, come to mind.

..to the forum.
Have fun.post pics and enjoy sorting your new treasure.
However you decide to do it, it will be a great experience and a lot of fun.

Share some with us.

Londonbus1

I might allow for the possibility that there was some method to their madness, and resist re-sorting it until I was pretty comfortable that there is no system in place. Might make it easier for you down the road, if it turns out that there was such a system.

'course, you might be able to tell [that there is no system] just by looking at it...

C.

Welcome. And, I certainly echo Cjd's sentiment. Make sure that there is really no organization before you go much further. Take a trip to the library and see if they a basic 'how-to' book for stamp collectors or look at some basic web references to get enough basic understanding/background to allow you to carefully proceed. Good luck and let us know when you know enough to ask questions. That is not a slam, I only think if you don't ground yourself better, we won't be able to advise you in any helpful way, adding to your frustration.

Hi cgrotha, Cjd, Londonbus1, and Stampvirgin! Thanks for the encouragement. Believe me when I say that much of this inheritance has no organization... it's just box after box of canceled bits and pieces of envelopes... and so I'm sorting as much by cancelation date as type (embossed, precanceled,airmail, cinderellas, etc). Then I'll have to sit down and actually try to begin assessing which is what.

On the happier side, there are some collections and those are more organized, tho certainly not finished, with inches of pages to put in the binders, and then to figure out if the order is correct. etc... 1000s of plate blocks in glassine etc. and sheets too... shall begin to put it all in both spread sheet, and take pictures.

Welcome to this forum. "Overwhelmed," you say? Well then, you need to see my backlog of items to sort and I *know* what I'm looking for!

bfranton, looks like you have come across a nice find.
Like I said, just pick a place and start... you'll eventually get through it...
I might advise that you use tongs to handle the stamps to avoid damaging the paper with skin oil.

Welcome bfranton!
Glad to have you here!

As per sorting etc, there is no real 'proper' way to do it as people do it by what interests them. Like you say, topicals, themes, years, colours even, shapes, areas of the country, etc etc. There is no end. It is all good.

Sometimes now I wish that I have kept some stamps I have sold or passed on to others because I have 'just learned' about something new to me that I did not know before and am now interested in it. Sometimes it takes a while to even realize there are other aspects and avenues to this hobby.

Take you time. Just do what feels good at the time. That way it won't become a chore.

NEVER get rid of a stamp. Keep them all! You never know what will turn up. I had several Canadian stamps with some kind of goofy, messed up cancel, where the city and province were all gobbed up; blacked out, really. Junk.

Then, along comes David Giles (where are you, David?) with his topic explaining Canadian blackout cancels, and voila, my "junk" now means something.

This darn forum has had me going through some old packets of "extras" two and three times, looking for new things.

Ain't it grand?

Besides, think of the free entertainment value of revisiting stamps you've already been through once or twice. Practically priceless.

C.

G'Day BFranton and to the forum.