I Inherited Grandfather's World Stamp Collection, Help?

First off, I am not a stamp collector. I know next to nothing on the topic, but I am in need of some honest guidance. I know, it's likely foolish to admit that then ask for help, but there you go. I have no clue where to turn to, and stumbled upon this board.

Years ago I inherited my grandfather's world stamp collection, that he acquired while he was serving in Germany during World War II. I am by no means an expert on stamps, so I'm not sure where to begin by explaining it. A good portion of the stamps are in a stamp book, listed by country. In addition, there are a lot of stamps in individual envelopes and many that are just loose that I have in bags. The stamps are from countries all over the world, most dating from the 1930's through the 1940's. There are some from years prior to that though. I would say the number of stamps in this collection is in the hundreds, if not thousands. I don't think my grandfather even collected himself. I think it was more of a memento that he brought back from the war, one of many, and he just tucked it away with his other items.

I am going to try and post a few pictures just to show the collection overall. I'll take a picture of everything together, with closeups, and a few random shots of the album. The album is just page after page of stamps. Be warned, I'm sure most of you will cringe at how I have these stamps right now. I just have no clue what to do with them, how to protect them, or even which ones I should be taking extra steps to take care of in the first place.

I am just looking for some guidance as to where to go from here. How do I go about finding out if there is anything of value here? It would be nice to know for insurance reasons even if I decided not to sell it. But I wont lie, if there is value here I would seriously consider it since I just got married this past October.

If you need to know anything else please let me know. Thank you so much for your time.

Thanks for the first reply! You're right, I do sorta hate the idea of selling it, but I'm just not sure if it's something I'd catch on to. But hey, you never know. I've gotten into other things I never thought would be something I'd enjoy.

Are found collections like this common? Just from the pictures, what do you guys think of what I have here? If any of you have any tips or ideas, or want any other type of pictures just let me know. I'll tell you anything or take any kind of pictures you want to see.

Thanks in advance to everyone!

Also, for what it's worth, the stamps in the book are attached with what I believe are called "hinges" in the hobby, and not simply all glued to the pages haphazardly.

Welcome Rocky. The best thing to do is head on down to your local Public library and check out the "Scott's Stamp Catalogs" as they should have them. This will help you to identify your Stamps. Also, if you have a scanner you can start scanning high resolution images of the Stamps and ask about them here as someone will be able to help you. I like the German Metered envelope !

Rocky, just take it slow and dont let yourself get overwhelmed. You have a great start on a collection. I didnt see any superstars, but that doesnt mean there isnt one there. Little bit at a time to get it organized and you will have quite the collection there. If you can get ahold of a catalog to help identify some of them or scan them individually and we can help. I am sure you will enjoy what you have there. - Jeff

I would suggest getting some glassine envelopes and separating the loose stamps that are on paper from the ones that are not on paper. Some of that old paper can be very damaging to stamps. Even the old paper envelopes and the cardboard boxes that they are in can be very hard on them. I think even if you decide to do nothing but keep them as a family heirloom, get them stored properly so that they can last for the next generations of your family to enjoy.

Thanks for the advice so far.

Do you mean put all of the loose stamps in one glassine envelope or each individual stamp into one?

Also, by "on paper" do you mean the ones that had been stuck to an envelope and has been cut off, but still attached to that part of the envelope?

By on paper he means the hinged ones in the albums ? Glassine envelopes can be purchased by 100 for a few bucks, I'd separate them by countries. For the glassine envelopes, see here.

http://www.smartcart.com/gvstamps/c...em_num=GLPP2

I'll pick some of those up for sure. I guess that will be a start.

I like it too, but, according to the on-line International Postage Meter Stamp Catalog, it's not a meter, but a "bulk mail machine stamp". I learned something new today.

Cheers, Robert

Hello RockySC, welcome!

Nice collection you have there. Part of the enjoyment of a collection is knowing where and who it came from. The history of the whole thing.

On Paper means stamps still attached to pieces of the envelope or parcel wrapping paper that they were attached to to be used in the mails.


The idea of separating them and getting them into protective glassines is to get the stamps away from non-archival type paper that can have acids and other chemicals in it that over time will transfer to the stamps or suck chemically affect the stamps.

Some of yours are nice ones, 410 or more a piece, depending on condition of course (the main factor in stamps) (Includes centering of the design on the stamp, paper cuts, tears, holes, thins, creases, stains, nold, mildew), color (the sun fades stamps), how much hinging was done over the years, how good the gum still is on mint stamps, how good the cancellation (cancel) is on used stamps, how heavy, how readable, the placement, etc).

Some damaged stamps are still sellable to a certain portion of the collecting market and are still valuable even if just to say, hey, I have a copy of that old stamp.

People years ago were sometimes happy to have any copy of a stamp, whether it was all there or not. Now, with the availability of stamps on the internet (see ebay for starters) prices have dropped and the selection is much greater it seems.

As for sorting, use glassine envelopes (pressed and rolled translucent paper that is protective) or even regular stationery envelopes.

Search and read on Stamp Community (SCF) here for lots of ideas on storing, sorting,reas on colelcting interest etc.

Maybe you might be interested in only a certain area of the whole world or a certain era or even topic like ships or birds. Or a combination of things. There is no 'correct' way to colelct really. Some people like to think there is but everybody is different from everybody else in their opinions and lieks and dislikes sometimes, and so it goes with collecting interests. And these may change over the years or months too.

When I started reading on SCF here I was colelcting just one area of stamps from one country. Now, years later, I have been interested in cancels and odd shapes of stamps (hexagons) and other things.

Stamps are history, art, beauty, and a lot of other things to many people. They can be a refuge from the mad world and a chance to meet new friends and be part of a worldwide shared interest. You can go anywhere in the world and people collect stamps. Stamp people are good people.

As for value and finding out, it can be hard at times to figure out why one stamp in the catalogue is worth $30 and the other worth 0.30 (30 cents) and they are the same stamp seemingly. It can be a lot of different thing., just like with condition. Easy ones to tell are the perforations (wiggly bits around the edges of perforated (holes punched along edges) stamps). How many holes that are there within 2 centimeters (worldwide standard). You can buy a little plastic perf gauge for a couple bucks.

You might not need it but then again you might. You can just use a ruler and do some math to figure it out too.

Colours are tricky sometimes, different things can affect colour besides different ink mixtures at the printers.

Paper type is an easy one usually. You might not run into this one at all even.

And there are more, depending on the country and era and how they were printed.

But the good thngs is that you don't have to be concerned with any of that stuff if you don't want to be. Details are fine for some (like me) but not necessary for most.

Look at the two France ship stamps ('Normandie') you have. Different colours. Might be the sun fading, might be ink, might be listed in a general catalogue like Scott, might have to get a specialized catalogue of France to see it listed and priced, might be worth not much here in North America, might be worth a lot in France to a France collector. And ebay and other sites make it fun to sell worldwide too.

Same with other stamps.

Depends on how you sell it (your skills, your description) and to whom you sell it (a general collector or a specialized collector).

Please excuse my half Canadian, half British, half American English.

First off, get some stamps tongs, special tweezers designed not to hurt stamps and to handle stamps without touching your fingers with who knows what on your fingers (oils, dirt, etc) to the stamps.

A stockbook of some sort is good to start and can always be used later also. See ebay or Mystic or Subway stamp shops on the internet. Even a used one is OK usually for now.

Then you can see what you have easier than in glassines but glassines are better for swift sorting and good storage too.

Wow Puzzler, thanks for that already wealth of knowledge! I believe that the book I have has the original owners name listed in it in a few places. I have tried to research the name, but wow, talk about next to impossible. What looks to me to be a different name seems to be quite common in Germany. It's good to know that there may be something in here that may be worth a few bucks too. I know, that's not the heart of the hobby, I fully understand that, but it doesn't hurt.

I am an admirer of vintage items and antiques, and historical items in general. I do buy and resell items, but I also personally collect them as well. I'm not "only" interested in value, but the hobby in general as well, what to look for, and just how to know what in the world I have now, and what to look for if I decide to stick with it instead of selling all that I got from my grandfather. I can not tell if I will stick with this specific interest as a hobby, but it does interest me. I am open to learning new things, and I hope I can let that happen here.

Anyway, back to a few of the things you mentioned. As fa as the glassines go, I have ordered some so I should have them soon. Do I put one single stamp in each envelope, or do I put the ones "on paper" in one, or a series of them rather, and the totally loose ones in other glassines?

I'm sure this is much harder to get started and get everything sorted than it is to at least then know where to go from there. I fully understand that needs to be done before even looking them up for value. I'll get started on that very soon.

Would any of you be interested in seeing scans of the pages of the album in the meantime, both for your personal curiosity and also to help me figure out if anything is of note? If so just let me know. I certainly don't mean to bombard you guys with anything.

Thanks again!

I would start by separating them into on-paper and off paper envelopes, and you can certainly put multiple stamps into each envelope. The idea is to get the ones that are on paper that can damage stamps away from the stamps that are already off paper. The same goes for the paper envelopes and boxes that they are in, the acid in them can be very hard on stamps. If you choose to pursue the hobby, the next step would probably be to soak the ones that are on paper off the paper, and then sort all the stamps by country. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like some of the stamps were put into the album while still on paper. It might be an idea to remove them from the album if that is the case. If there is any sort of tape (scotch, masking, packing types) holding them in the book, get the stamps as far away from the tape as you can!

I am sorting the loose ones from those "on paper" right now. I didn't think something as simple as that could be so time consuming, but I'm getting caught up in trying to make out the postmarked dates on them, lol.

I'm having some trouble figuring out how to even date some of these. For some I don't see the date at all, and others it has a series of numbers that I just don't get. One postmark for example says "Karis...." something at the top, "Filiale" at the bottom, and between those two words are the numbers from top to bottom, "22 12 98". How do I read that? Is it December, 22nd 1898?

Please forgive me for my stupid questions.

If that postmark is on a European stamp, then yes your interpretation is correct. Most European countries (and coloines) use the day / month year format as apposed to us using the month / day / year.

Asian stamps and dates are another thing altogether also.

Cancels or postmarks and other markings are collected and are valued by collectors (like me). Most enjoy a nice Socked On The Nose (SOTN or SON) cancel, and, if not that, one where you can read the name and date clearly.

As for the glassines, you can put multiple stamps in each or, if you have a particularly nice stamp, even on paper, that has a nice cancel or marking or attached to other stamps, you can separate that from the rest to help prevent any damage happening to it.

No stupid questions. If you don't ask, you don't find out. They may be answered in other threads here but if someone wants to answer now, that saves some time anyway.

Yes, lets see some pages and/or stamps from different countries. Always enjoyable to see stamps.

Thanks Puzzler.

I have been spending the past 3-4 hours sorting the "on paper" loose ones from the normal loose ones. Wow! I'll try to get some pages scanned in the next few days, likely over the weekend. In the meantime I did pull a few random stamps that I thought just looked cool, what do I know. But still, here is a really quick sample...