International Stamps 1956-59 -- Anything To Look Out For?

Hey, Folks!

I'm a regular over on the coin forum, but this is my first foray into the wonderful world of stamps...

My dad just presented my 7-year-old son with a massive stamp album entitled "International Postage Stamp Album Part IV." It was published by Scott Publishing of New York and appears to hold stamps from every country (including a few that no longer exist) that were issued between 1956-60. It is by no means full, but has a significant number of stamps that my dad picked up over the years (probably in the 1960s and 70s).

Eventually, I hope to sit down with my son and try and research the value of each and every stamp in the album, but the task is a daunting one (especially since my dad told me he has three more albums in the set and plans to give them to my son over time).

I really know nothing about stamps, but I have always assumed that international stamps aren't generally worth much to collectors and are more about interest and education than investment. Is this actually the case, or do we have a potential gold mine on our hands? To be more specific, are there any international stamps issued between 1956-60 that are considered rare and/or valuable and that I should look for when sifting through the album?

If not, that's fine. My son has already expressed an interest in getting all the missing stamps from the album, and I think this will be a wonderful experience for him assuming the stamps are relatively inexpensive. If any of the stamps could be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars, however, we might just need to sacrifice them for the sake of his college education fund...

Thanks!

Sounds like a lot of fun ahead of you and your son, you will need a scott catalog which will give you all the values for the stamps. Go and check out the catalogs at your local libary. I take it your Dad was a collector of this album if so maybe he could help you both with them a lot of collectors will have a ideal of any valuable stamps in there collection, Also if you could post a few photos or better again scans you will have your answer in a little while. This is a great site for helping ID your stamps

All right, well, just knowing there is such a thing as a "Scott Catalog" is a huge step in the right direction. My dad made notations for many of the stamps with regard to how much he paid for them originally, but he never followed up on their current value (as I mentioned, he got many of these 40+ years ago).

As for posting pictures, I wouldn't even know where to begin. There are a LOT of pages in this album...

Scott uses a numbering system every stamp will have a number, your dad probally has these numbers writtin beside the stamps value. If he did what you can do is go on ebay and on the country type in those numbers and you should see the same stamps for sale. please dont take this for the value as some people will ask crazzy prices. On the scott catalog the value is the catalog value in reality one is propally only going to get 10 to 20% of this value.
Anyways enjoy your venture trust me you will be adding to the collection soon stamp collectings a mean beast once it grabs you your hook line and sinker

Sadly, I don't see any numbers other than value paid (and we're talking things like $0.15 and $0.30, so they certainly weren't valuable when he got them).

Welcome barryg. While there are many worldwide stamps that are valueable, the predominance of world wide collections hold stamps that are of minimal cash value and maximum intrinsic value. Your son will embark on a journey that can last a lifetime that includes friendships, learning, and even sometimes monetary gain. Tell him full steam ahead and when he decides on some that he is really after and you accumulate 50 posts, I am SURE that there are people here, myself included, that will be glad to help him fill some blanks in! WELCOME barryg and son. - Jeff

Thanks, Jeff!

Welcome to SCF, Barry!

As a rule, stamps from this era tend to be of minimal value. There are exceptions to the rule, of course, but they are few and far between. My guess is that the majority of the stamps will be common definitives (a design that is issued for common postage, but is not commemorating anything. The US commonly issues books of flag stamps for this purpose) and CTOs. CTOs - Canceled To Order - are stamps issued by countries for the express purpose of selling to collectors, usually have original gum on the back, and have a small, neat cancellation in one corner. Soviet block, tropical islands, and "dunes" countries are notorious for issuing CTOs and are almost literally worth nothing.

That said, I think you should follow IrishJack's advice and visit a public library and check out their Scott Catalogues.

Good luck!

Brian

That's pretty much what I figured, Brian. Of course, I was hoping somebody would say something like, "Well, they're all worthless except for the extremely rare Andorran 50 lek stamp that is actually worth $10,000." Hey -- it never hurts to ask, right?

Right now, as my son and I make it through the album, I'm more interested in teaching him a little about geography and telling him about the countries that no longer exist. He keeps asking me, though, "Is this one valuable?" It's my own fault, though, since I got him started with coin collecting and he knows I have a number of coins that are worth a pretty penny (so to speak). Now he thinks anything that is old or unusual must be worth a lot. I tell him that if that were the case, I'd be worth a fortune...

That is probably my favorite part of philately ... learning geography and history. I hope this sparks an interest in your son!




A natural reaction, to be sure!

If you are looking for potential treasures, there are a few things to look for. So rather than starting with page 1, and looking up every stamp in the album, start with the following:

Stamps from China. Stamps from China are hot right now. Stamps issued during the cultural revolution of the 60s and 70s are insanely expensive due to demand, but stamps from every era in China have increased in value over the past few years. Be sure to give them a good look.

High face values: Generally speaking, the higher the face value, the higher the catalogue value. This is true most of the time, but we may only be talking about pennies with stamps from this era.

Unused stamps: Unused stamps with original gum tend to be worth more than used stamps ... but rarely much more than face value in this era.

Brian

Thanks again, Brian!

The bit about Chinese stamps is a bit ironic. As it turns out, there aren't many in the album. As it also turns out, though, my wife is Chinese and her parents live with us...