Rough Estimate Of Stamps In The 12lb. Box Of US?

Hey All,
I have a 12 pound box of U.S. stamps on paper of all types from recent back to the 1920's or so.

Paper around the stamps is anywhere from close cropped to more paper - sometimes to save the postmark.

Any rough formula out there to try to determine how many stamps in the box? I tried using one I saw from KGV, but I think it would be too high for me to use.

Thanks, Will

I've included a few pics to get an idea of the variation and paper cropping -

This has a few:
https://goscf.com/t/22771

Applying averages from there, I come up with 23,500 stamps in your 12-lb box.

My rule of thumb is 100 stamps per ounce (but, I think that number is low). So, a 12-pound box equals 19,200 stamps (minimum).

Robert

Thanks for the info! Helps a bunch.

On paper stamps by the pound yield relatively few stamps compared to off paper stamps by the pound. My experience in estimating how many stamps to an ounce is also 100 but that is off paper stamps. The amount of envelope paper in this purchase appears to be considerable. My guess is for every pound on paper you are possibly getting a rough estimate of more or less 3 pounds of stamps.

Assuming single paper with a quarter to a half inch of surrounding paper, you're looking at about 160-175 per ounce, small sized definitives, 80-100 per ounce for larger commemoratives. The US doesn't issue many "jumbo" sized commems, but the yield can be as low as 40-50 per ounce for those. I usually buy kiloware by the pound and I always sort by size prior to soaking. Makes it go faster and is generally a more efficient use of space in the drying book.

What if you did maybe an 8-oz sample and extrapolated? It might help test those numbers above.