Inherited Stamps And Looking For Help Please

Rare stamps are rare, and for that reason you are unlikely to have any. The vast majority of stamps are financially worthless - it's a myth that old stamps are valuable. You can get thousands for a few dollars.

The only way rarer and valuable stamps can be realistically obtained is to purchase them. And if someone purchased stamps with value and started to build a collection, they would not put them inside a paperback all-round stamp album like this one, "ideal for the starting collector".

This is a hobby - a passtime. It is an enjoyable one, and I would recommend you forget thinking about monetary value and just take an interest in them. I don't know much about US stamps but in your scans I see a range of pre-cancels, postal cut-outs, special airmail stamps, dumb cancels and so on. It is rewarding looking into them, and I personally don't think damage changes that. I would try and keep the collection intact and find out about the stamps.

I assume there are 500,000 different stamps so far.
Can someone give an estimate of how many of those are "worthless" or cost a cent or two?
I'm an unprofessional WW small collector, and I'd like to know how many I can hope to collect.

If you are saying there are 500,000 different stamps which have ever been issued - suppose you are correct. There are more than one example of each. Every one of them is likely to be printed in millions and millions and used all over the country. Casual collectors will chance upon an ordinary example and keep it. 99.9999% of stamps will be practically worthless and millions are literally thrown away every day in homes and offices.

If you want to collect cheap stamps, you can get sackfulls for fairly modest amounts and spend weeks sorting through them. If you are thinking of one of each, you will start to get into spending more serious money.

Like I've stated before already, the money thoughts were assumed simply because the fact my gramps had his heart in total belief that he had something really worth it in this collection. Thats why I posted to ask if any jumped out at anyone cuz nothing did for me. Pretty sure I've gotten all the info possible on more then 400 of them and plenty on the rest but I was struggling to understand prices or how it worked cause everywhere I looked wasnt accurate at all unless everyone on here is wrong and I doubt thats the case. I've tried to get into it but my brain just dont see a point and hasnt sparked my interest after this long. Have you kept going in a collection feeling that way? Highly doubt it so not sure why its expected of me to get over iy or not worry about value lol..wouldn't finding out the value be part of learning about them cause if not my thoughts on collecting or having knowledge is totally wrong.

So no worries, I wont bother posting photos of the foreign stamps like its such a burden to be curious about the money value of a collection.

Kacinicole17,
First, welcome to the community.
The feedback you have received so far it truthful and honest, please keep in mind that we get many of these kinds of inquiries every week so some replies may come across as a bit abrupt.

Stamp collecting can be a great hobby but it is very rarely a good investment. It is not uncommon to think that old stamps can be worth a lot of money, and some truly are, but the overwhelming majority were literally printed in the millions. Making things worse is the fact that many of these very common stamps have quite similar looking less common varieties. So if a person looks at eBay or a catalog, they can easily be misled. And unfortunately, the values published in all the stamp catalogs never reflect actual market values. In many ways, this can be quite a shocking introduction to a new hobby.

But the hobby has many great attributes including as an introduction to history, other cultures, and an unlimited about of topics. No matter what your other interests might be, you can find stamps that celebrate and commemorate that other interest. And yes, you never now if a hidden treasure might be lurking among a large group of stamps. But you should seek enjoyment from the identification journey and not from the hope that you might have a great rarity.

The stamps you have posted so far do not have great market value but represent the enjoyment of the hobby by your grandfather. If your grandfather had enjoyed curving animal figures out of wood, it is unlikely that they would be artistic, museum worthy, masterpieces. But no doubt you and your family would cherish them and they would serve as a bridge to good memories.

I recommend that if you do not currently have interest in what your grandfather spent his time on, that you put it away for now and revisit this family heirloom at another time in the future.
Don

Kacinicole17, if I understand it right, there are mainly two types of valuable stamps:
Stamps that are by themselves rare, and one glance will verify their existence.
Other stamps, that their rarity comes from variation, errors, oddities, or special features like color variations, paper, perforation, watermarks, and so on.
In the first case, identification is simple, an "on-off" situation, and once such a stamp is found, all that is left is determining its condition.
In the second case, which includes your stamps, each stamp needs to be examined up close, mm by mm, to evaluate any uniqueness of that stamp, by experienced or experts of philately. This task is hard or impossible to do through an average scan in the forum and will require a lot of time and effort.

I think one of the best things a beginner can do it to obtain a book - either by buying online or the library - of basic introduction to stamp collecting, There are several out there and most good-sized libraries still have some on their shelves. It is much easier to focus on a book, where you can browse through the chapters easily, than an online site (though, of course, those are valuable as well.)

@Kacinicole17 - please feel free to post whatever you like. It's not a burden. Myself and others come to this site freely because it's good to engage with others, so by all means post your images up and you will get some views back.

I apologise if any of my posts sounded abrupt - I meant them in a friendly way.

Out of interest, do you know where your grandfather obtained the stamps? If he went to stamp fairs or dealers, there's a chance he might have something of monetary value, because realistically that's the only way you would obtain them - or if he bought someone else's collection. Generally speaking, you don't find valuable stamps by accident - it's just too unlikely.

No apologies needed. It wasnt any of the recent posters who were sounding bad or making it worse by no means. As for my gramp, I never seen him doing anything involving this being an actual hobby so to speak. The first time I seen these was when they were left to me and he mentioned them twice to me so I wasn't left with anything to go off and I truly have put alot of time and effort into learning what I can and trying to enjoy it. Took agood break also and now I regret it cause I cant hardly remember anything so its like starting all over again

I get how it can get old for all the long time members here to see people who just want the price but I can promise you I've tried very hard and its just not my cup of tea. Then when Im put in a situation of wanting to know cause theres a chance it could raise money and better the life of 1 of the most important people in my life then of course im going to give it a shot. Human life is worth more to me then any collection and I want to use it for good if its got value or not cause I'd love to help someone else get started if its not worth it

I thought I had a photo of the foreign ones all laid out but cant find it..I do have a photo that shows a good chunk though so might be enough to give an idea. I have no clue about any of these stamps yet but heres the photo I do have

These would be considered fun, c.t.o. or cancelled to order topicals worth less than a penny a piece.

I figured none would end up being worth the effort put in and no options for getting rid of them so think I've found my answer

Place them in an open box "Free"
and drop them off at your Library
Children love them,

Do not destroy, please.