Stamps On Envelope.

I am very new to all this, I've had stamps given to me years and years ago and was so over whelmed my the sheer amount of them I never did anything with them. Well fast forward to now, I was given a total of 11 medium to large cardboard box full of albums of stamps and envelopes and envelopes. I am trying to get them organized. My question is, the ones that are on envelopes should I leave them on them or should I soak them and get them off the envelopes? Please help! Any other tips or tricks would be appreciated too!




This is one of them.

For identification purposes, you'll need to take clearer photos, with the camera square to the subject, notice how your image seems to taper? Use your camera's best close up mode. If you have a scanner, a 600 dpi scan is much better for identification on computer monitors.

Please leave the stamps on the envelopes. Generally, a stamp on cover (envelope) has a higher catalogue value than the same stamp off cover.

I can't see your image all that well, but it looks like a 2 cent Columbian on a hotel corner card ( the advertizing on the upper left corner) used about a year after issue.

Paraphrasing George Lucas: a stamp by itself is (can be) a pretty dull thing.

On the envelope (cover), you get something of a story: from whom, to whom, when.

Then there are the extras: messages, advertising, special postal services used and, on very old covers, routing information.

All that having been said, covers *are* bulky, and come in a variety of near-random dimensions, making them less convenient to store & display. Stamps are readily albumized; covers, not so much.

Some day, for some covers & their stamps, you may feel confident that pulling a stamp-you-want-as-a-stamp off of a cover will not destroy a Great Philatelic Legacy ... which is when life gets interesting.

Participating in a forum such as this can broaden your standard of 'interesting'.

For example, there is a thread on this forum where folks post covers that were postmarked that day-of-the-year. While folks tend to post better stuff, you might enjoy participating, even with unexceptional material. Baby steps.

Similarly, you might have an ordinary cover with an ordinary President Lincoln stamp that happened to be postmarked on, say, his birthday. Or the date might be the EKU (Earliest Known Use) of that stamp. Or, you might get interested in the cancelling machines themselves (honest, people do!). Or you might decide to google the sender & addressee, which can lead just about anywhere. Or, someday, you might decide to start collecting covers from a particular town/time.

If you've got album holes to fill, consider selling the covers for which you have not yet discovered their value (a weed is a plant for which we have not yet discovered a use), and buying the stamps. Or, trading. You just might make somebody's day.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Some early information on the Beaumont Hotel in Green Bay, Wisconsin may be found here:

https://books.google.com/books?id=F...ge&q&f=false

Thank you very much.
Leave stamps on envelopes! Check.
I was left boxes and boxes of just loose stamps from my great grandmother.
That is how this all started, I was very young and had no idea where to even begin.
Last year I was doing a house clean out on a gentleman from England that passed away and found 4 more boxes.
My local dump has a 'trash to treasure' spot and last week I found 8 more boxes of stamps (Most of them still on the envelopes) so this recent discovery has me really wanting to actually get into collecting and sorting them.
I take them out and look at them for hours but I am really wanting to take that next step.

Hello Dakotah13, welcome to Stamp Community.

Even if the stamps are not in the greatest of shape, the cancels may be collectible by someone, especially when you keep them on the cover (envelope).

People do research on names, as shown by WT1's post ebove, and on places, and collect them too.

Some people collect errors and varieties and mischances on and about stamps and cancels / postmarks / markings.


For selling purposes, when you do not wish to keep everything at some time or another perhaps, you can keep learned info about items, stamps or covers or on piece items, on a card or piece of paper. Do not write on the cover itself or stamp, bad people do this.

Is it all US or various countries? If it were me, I would begin by sorting all the stamps into groups. Don't use your fingers, get a pair of stamp tongs from iHobb.com or other stamp supplier. When you have things sorted out, at least by country, than the next step is a few more supplies you'll need, and a discussion of albums which you will find most educational here.

You will also need a catalog (or catalogs) for identification.

Lots of smart people here. Keep asking questions. They like it!


-IBFS

It is various countries. I have stamp tongs. And some albums I do have. A catalog I do need to get. There is just SO many I am having a hard time figuring out where to start! Thanks for the help everyone! Is there one catalog with ALL stamps made in it? Or do I need multiple?

In the USA the primary catalog is Scott, and it takes six volumes to cover the whole world. I'd suggest you look for a set that is ten years or so old, you'll be able to get them cheap and only be missing the newest issues.

If you were in the British Commonwealth you'd look for Stanley Gibbons, in Germany you'd find Michel, in France it would be Yvert et Tellier...

If you end up focusing on one country there are typically specialized catalogs.

Wise advice you've been given. My simple rule of collecting is never to do to some stamp item what can't be undone. Soak a stamp off its cover, and you can't put it back.

It's amazing how often stamps on cover will be far more valuable than they are off cover. The (India and Jammu & Kashmir) stamps on this cover have a grand catalogue value (in Gibbons 2015) of a bit over £11



although in practice I'd be over the moon if I got $5 for them. On this cover, though, Gibbons seriously undervalues the cover at a bit over £70. I wouldn't even begin to consider offers at less than $175. And that's before I research the addressee, who looks to be particularly interesting.

If your hoard is mostly old, then you DON"T need to buy all 6 volumes of the Scott Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, which would cost a good bit even if you buy 2005 or 2009 used copies.

Rather, look for an older Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers. It will cover the whole world up to 1940 and the British Colonies/Commonwealth up to 1952. Values will be out of date but still give a comparative picture. (And an average condition stamp will never sell for the catalogue value found in Scott or Gibbons or Michel, rather, at anywhere from 10% to 30%. Fine/very fine copies will sell for more.)

But yes, if you are working with stamps after 1940 or 1952 from the whole world, you would need the 6 volumes or the equivalent from Gibbons or Michel.

Many public libraries in the US used to have these but I think that is increasingly less common. It never hurts to check.

Here is a link to a FREE On-line catalog. Sometimes it takes some searching but it does give you an idea of roughly what value your stamps have. And it's free. When you get into the collecting more, you'll want to buy the catalogs.

http://www.stampworld.com/en/maps/Europe/