Newbie Here: Help W/ Japanese Stamp Collection...

Hi, new here. I was given my grandmother's stamp collection in grade school and didn't really know what to do with it. I was hoping to get some help regarding rarity and valuation, so I hope this is the right place.

The collection consists of 2 stamp books, plus two containers of loose stamps.

I've posted pics of the entire collection here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/481564...26884505020/

If someone knows of an honest stamp dealer in the san francisco bay area and could send me a reference, that would also be much appreciated.

My wife collects Japan and she took a look through your pictures. She says that while you may have a couple of stamps that could net you $20 or so, for the most part, the stamps are pretty common and really not worth much. Japanese stamps really aren't worth much anyhow, there just isn't much of a market for them and most stamp dealers just don't deal with them much. She said that some of the definitives you have are pre-1900, but most were used which reduces their worth. The sports stamps tend to go for more than run-of-the-mill commemoratives but again, it's not really going to be much overall, especially if you find a dealer.

In her words, a few gems but certainly not a gold mine.

Thanks for the reply. It is much appreciated. Are there any books in english on Japanese stamps you could suggest? I never really took to Japanese myself.

Honestly, unless you want to buy the Scott catalog that contains Japan, and that runs about $100, not really. The Sakura catalog runs about $20, but it's all in Japanese and doesn't use Scott #s, which is really a pain, especially how the catalog is organized (or disorganized as my wife calls it). There certainly are groups that you can join that can steer you in a better direction than I can, such as International Society for Japanese Philately (www.iswsc.org), but I can tell you, from living with someone who collects Japanese stamps, it can be very difficult collecting a country without broad appeal.

Best of luck to you, if there's anything we can do for you, by all means ask and we'll try to help.

I would disagree with Cephus

I see that there are a lot of very nice stamps especially mint ones. I don't know about retail value but several are have catalog values of 40s 70s and possibly even higher $.

I recently sold a small lot of average Japanese stamps on ebay. Surprisingly I got lot more for it that I was expecting with lots of bids. I guess you never know what is popular on any particular day.

kaigunair

You may be able to find Scott catalog volume 4 countries J to O in your local library. Or, if you use torrents, download one.

Danko, thanks much. Am trying to get books to confirm.