I Have Way Too Many Stamps And I Need Some Serious Advice.

If this is in the wrong place I apologize

Theres no real easy way to explain my situation other than, a while back I was a self proclaimed antique dealer. Being a young fool I bought six ziplock bags worth of stamps with the idea of "I can figure out what these are worth and sell them!"

Fast forward five years. I still have EVERY single stamp and I have no idea how to even sort them. theres just so many of them I'm a little overwhelmed and need some advice want to do with all of them.

There is so many variations, differences, and I have no honest idea of what I'm doing.

I'll get a photo up of what I've got. I know that most of it is canceled as in it has cancellation marks. theres some kind of cool stamps in here. one of them is a Woodrow Wilson $1.00 stamp 1912 - 1931

Any help is appreciated. Thanks guys.

Hello shadow, welcome to Stamp Community!

To sell here on SCF you need to follow the rules upper right button.

But showing and asking is OK. Are you interested in how to sell on ebay or somewhere or how to value your stamps or stamp lots also?

Currently, how to understand all of the different values. I'm not looking to sell right right now. I want to figure out a reasonable way to organize them, keep them nice, and sell them.

I'll be honest there is way too many here so I do plan on selling eventually. Had a crazy idea of putting the cheap ones in frames and making wall art out of them if all else failed. I remember a lot of them being beautiful stamps, but worth like 10c lol.

Main thing is, price, storage, and control of the collection. Also understanding variations of what i've got too.

Your going to have to do some work and studying, there is no easy road. This means buying some books, using the internet along with this forum to start the process.

My guess if you bought them in zip lock bags you got ton of low valued used common stamps.

Your Wilson stamp is part of the Prexy Stamps, Scott number 832. It is worth about $15 if it is mint not hinged and about $2 if used. And these prices are subject to grading and condition of the stamp.

Good luck and have some fun with the stamps.

Shadaw,

Start with a basic catalogue that has lots of pictures. The USPO puts out a pictorial catalogue that I would suggest you buy.

A ten year old one will cost you next-to-nothing.

Sort out the stamps by the photos, you'll develop reasonable knowledge quickly.

Of course, the likely outcome is that you will sort through a bag of basically worthless stuff, but hopefully you'll have some fun doing that.

Not too may people make a profit from a hobby but we all think the next big find is in the next lot we buy.

Enjoy your learning.

John

I'm fairly confident there's nothing super rare in these. Still I think I'm going to have to get a book to be able to organize anything really.

1) Are they all U.S. Stamps or a world mixture?
2) Do you have a local library, if so, they usually have a copy of the Scott's Speciallized & other reference volumes.
3) It's unlikely that the real, not catalog, value exceeds $100.00
4) Donate them to a school, a kid, an adult, the library, anyone and use the catalog value as a charitable donation. Check your accountant to see if it qualifies as a tax deductable donation.

Art

If you're interested in making money, every second you spend on these will be wasted.
Just sell them on ebay !

If you're interested in learning about stamps without regard to turning a profit, then by all means get access to a catalog and have some fun.

shadaw,
I see you are in Iowa. Are you near where they might have a stamp show? If you brought them to a show I am sure you could get a quick opinion from one of the dealers. I know a couple nice dealers from Iowa, but I see them when they come up to Minnesota for a show.
Most of us started our collections with a whole lot less than 6 baggies of stamps. Many like me started with the family mail and a lot of us have accumulations of over a million stamps when you collect for almost 50 years like I have. I have bought box lots or collections that at first glance were overwhelming. You have to be patient. Break it into small chunks and pace yourself. You eventually get through it. This is not a race. Of course for this to work, you have to have interest. If you don't enjoy the hunt/investigating and discovery your time will be much better spent by selling the whole lot. If it is all common material you will not get much interest from a dealer. You best bet would be to take some pictures and sell it on ebay. Even with all the crap most collectors have, they are usually willing to take on more crap.
Good Luck