I Inherited Grandfather's World Stamp Collection, Help?

Row 1 helvatia is swiss
Row 2 is slovakia and bayern or bavaria its a german statE
Row 3 is danzig and I cant see the other one

There arent specific years on cancels even today they sometimes cancel a stamP by writing in it but mostly what I've seen is the date ines start to show up after ir around ww1 and the weird ones and ones that look like external tooth lockwashers are usually earlier pre ww1.

The greek stamp, is greek it could be a state or something I will ask the greek guy I work with at work what he thinks

You are meaning the target / bullseye cancel I assume. Could also be known under the category of fancy cancel.

Fancy cancels are usually cancels cut from cork in many different shapes by many different postmasters.

Any special cancel is worth mentioning when selling as even if the stamp is damaged, the cancel may sell.

Targets were used in the 1800's or early 1900's I believe. In Canada also.

Yes post tat Viking ship asking about what it is, probably call it a cinderella?


Row 1 Switzerland (Helvetia = the people who inhabited the uplands plains of the area ages ago), perfin (perforated initials or inscription) of a monogram (interlinked initials). Not sure of value or what it says even. Specialist area. Fun.

row 3 Brazil, possibly airmail because of the wings shown (in that era)

row 4 Nice Italy sailing ship (we don't see many Italy stamps here) possibly 1932 vintage? (design and printing concurs with this guess0

row 4 Bavaria (Bayern), Germany State, might be listed by itself or at the end of Germany, depending on catalogue. Lovely embossed eagle (raised area). Late 1800's. Imperforate (Imperf).

Lovely partial open-millwheel (closed versions exist) cancel (German = Muehlradstempel). (star shape with a numeral inside representing the post office the cancel came from. Usually seen on the older numeral stamps of Bavaria, nice to see and rarer (I think) on the eagle stamps. (I started collecting these as a sideline)

row 5 Danzig, German Free Port (trading) city. Lovely cancel, too bad a bit stained, leave on paper please!

row 5 Belgium Railway Parcel Post stamp and cancel. flipped on its side again. You can tell these sometimes by the luggage shaped cancel (sometimes hexagon).

Once you know the country you can look in the catalogue easier, plus look online at some of the world stamp collections published and sometimes online catalogues of the stamps (though not all).

Thanks again for the wonderful information. I have found that this is an incredible way to learn about international cities as well, lol.

I have a few questions if you guys don't mind. First off, which catalog to most use? I am on another forum and almost no one uses Scott and they all have the Gibbons guides. Is that more like it is here? Also, would it be possible for someone to help explain to me how stamps are listed - have it be in thread titles, ebay titles, and other places like that? I see various numbers and everything and have no clue what any of that means. I assume it's a catalog number, but I'm not sure.

Also, I have some stamps that have "rolled up". Is there a way to reverse that or is that hopeless? I also have a few with major tears and damage. Could I pretty much just toss all of those out? There aren't many like that, but I do have a few.

Also, I have a problem figuring out the date on some of the stamps even when I know it's printed right there in front of me. Is there anything I need to know?

A few more for tonight. The first scan of the three I just found interesting, and then a few SOTN examples (I believe at least) that I found tonight. I sat down and started to sort out all of the SOTN stamps and have pulled a great number of them so far. I especially like the first SOTN, since it also has perfins all over, leaving not much left of the stamp period, lol. These are just a few of the ones I pulled...

You have a lot of nice old stamps, and with nice cancels too sometimes.

The first, Russia, I think has some kind of overprint that possibly turns it into an Arrmy stamp of some sector. Not up on these.

The Great Britain King George V (KGV) has part of a slogan cancel probably from the exhibition (special stamps use that lion also) time frame. Lots of color shades of this stamp. The cancel probably says something like. . . British Empire . . .

The US stamp has the obliteration part of a duplex (two part) cancel on it. The first part would be a circular date stamp showing the town and date. This second part (oval or football shaped multi barred numeral cancel) shows a numeral that probably stands for the post office or depot in that town or the postal clerk? Not Sure.

The next, Austria, Oesterreich, nice perfin, well centered, some drift off to a side and ruin the side perfs, has a Praha (?) I think cancel (Prague, Czech Republic now), 30 Nov 1912, as shown in Europe, You can, with catalogues and web sites sometimes, find out what that perfin is. Like I said before, post singley on a topic and ask what you want to know. I know some things but am missing a catalogue so no numbers from me. Well, Canada and GB catalogues.

Most here is North America use Scott catalogues and the numbers from North American sellers will be from Scott. However, different countries have their own specialized and general catalogues. Gibbons is best for British Empire and Commonwealth stamps, being based in Great Britain. More detailed reference, showing errors and varieties sometimes, that Scott does not show.

Scott is better at showing US stamps. Yvert or Maury (I hear) are better at France and colonies. Michel at Germany and states and possessions and colonies. Unitrade for Canada but uses Scott numbers under lisence. Depends on how specialized you wish to get when collecting.

If collecting just s few countries it is worthwhile to get the specialized catalogues for some. You don't need to though.

I could tell you a number for a Canada stamp or a Gibbons for a GB stamp (that shows in my concise catalogue) and when talking to someone else, well,, they better have the same catalogue or the numbers mean nothing really.

The numbers you see in ebay titles are catalogue numbers but probably different catalogues depending on who is listing the item and where they live, or even which catalogue they are using. If they don't state a catalogue maker then you can assume from where they live (Germany area = Michel) which catalogue usually. Or which is preferred by specialized collectors of that area also. Confusing at times.

Next two stamps are from the AustroHungarian Empire period from Austria I think. The Konig is King, Wein is Veinna, the names of towns might have changed over the years also. The dates are 1893 (I think) and 1890 or 1898? Not an exact science here. Day Month Year usually. The cancel will not always tell you the exact year either that the stamp was issued as some stamps had a long life of usage (10-20 years) but should put you in the general area.

Damage to a stamp can be looked at in different ways by different people. You can say, well I want a copy of this stamp and willkeep what I have until I find a better one. Or you can say its not good enough for my standards now so in the trash it goes, or I will trade or sell it. Its up to you what you do.

For display and competitions I would imagine no damage is acceptable at all.

Next stamp is Jugoslavia / Yugoslavia.

Cool pyramids on the Egypt airmail stamp. Post Aeriene is French for Air Post or Air Mail. In Scott these would be listed after the regular postage stamps in an airmail section. In Gibbons they are listed all together with the other stamps.

Sorry I have no idea on years or numbers again.

Last is France airmail 1935 (cancel). The names along the bottom on some country's stamps are the designer and engraver.

Thanks again Puzzler!

I see some stamps are "signed" (usually on the back) on the boards and on ebay from time to time. Is that by the designer and engraver, or someone else?

[quoteThe greek stamp, is greek it could be a state or something I will ask the greek guy I work with at work what he thinks][/quote]
Marklin, if you refer to the overprinted one, it`s from Greece. The overprint says `PRONOIA` (might mean `providence`-in the NT- or `provision`). It`s from 1938, social care stamp. The use of these kind of stamps was compulsory on internal mail in Greece, as far as I know between 1937-1956 (but this information should be checked).

Signing on the front usually means the stamp was used as a revenue stamps to pay a tax and not as a postage stamp to pay for a service.

Signing on the back? Might be a collectors initials or a dealers mark, signifying he checked the stamp for its authenticity. These marks and signatures were used before the certificates we use today.

You could still put some mark on the back of a stamp to signify ownership to help prevent theft or catch a theif after the fact or just so you feel better.

Most people now, when this practice has syopped almost, frown upon the marks on the back of any kind. I don't. Like a cancel on teh front it shows the stamps history and is interesting. More than me feel this way I think.

Ah, yeah, a dealers mark makes perfect sense to me.

It is ungodly how much time I have poured into this since I made my first post here. I dreamed, DREAMED, about stamps and trying to find a perfect bullseye SOTN stamp. I did buy some small glassine envelopes btw, 25 of them just to get me started.

Is it fine to continue posting in this thread with random postings and questions and comments? I know I wont get as much help as I would if I started individual threads, but I'm learning a lot doing it this way and then I'll take this information and use it for when I start a specific thread so I am not going in so clueless.

I still plan on scanning each page of the album. I'll post it soon.

While going through some more tonight I found a few that are multiples still attached. Does this make them any more "special" or are all of these pretty much common finds? Heck, I don't even know if anything I've posted are normal common finds to be honest, lol.

Regardless, I thought it was cool to find these...



And one more scan before bed, one more attached pair, and some I just found interesting, especially the one different shaped cancel...

One quick post before bed then I likely wont be able to post much more until after my birthday on Sunday...

I just randomly picked a few of these two cent Washington stamps to scan. I assume all of these are common but thought I'd post this up just to make sure.

Hello RockySC, I cannot be much help on the ww items, but the last George Washington two cent stamp is number 319 in Scott's if there were extra ink in the lower left corner below the "t" and been a lake color it would be a 319a ( or 319f depending on how old the catalogue you are using may be.)

I have been enjoying this thread.

Thanks sirruspoe. I'm about to take off for the weekend so I'm gonna post one more scan of some Washingtons I grabbed really quick. They may not be worth anything, but they're still interesting to check out...

RockySC,

You're going to be wanting WAY more than 25 glassines before long!


Karen