Estonian Stamps I "Inherited"

Hi everyone,
I recently fell in love with stamps when I bought a house and the former, deceased owner's stamp collection was included. So it's not exactly inherited, but sort of. These are the Estonian stamps (and the stamps that hooked me on collecting). I would love anyone's thoughts on rarity, value, etc, if you don't mind. I'm still really new at all this. Thank you so much.

This look way better thant the Germman one, the 1939 souvenir have a catalog value of $ 45 and the one on the side is $ 35 Many of your stamps can't be ID from those scans.But for sure it'S a keeper

Thanks again, area66. I appreciate the input. I'm glad there's some value here, though the real value I find is looking at them myself. #128512;

As I figure all this stuff out, I'll try to also figure out a better way to upload images.

Stamps overprinted "Eesti Post" on the 3d line of the 1st page can be somewhat valuable if genuine.
1 kop. imperf orange is Scott No. 21 (cat. value $27),
10 kop. on 7 kop. light blue used (if that's what I see) is Scott 14 (cat. value $425),
10 kop dark blue with black overprint is Scott No. 12 (cat. value $50), and
15 kop. red brown and blue is Scott No. 15 (cat. value $42.50).

Dangerous forgeries of these overprints were made in the 1920s and later.

Dangerous ????

Well, in philatelic literature forgeries that are difficalt to tell from originals are often called "dangerous"; Scott catalog regularly mentions in its notes: "Dangerous forgeries exist."

I believe it is a correct term.

Definition of dangerous
1: involving possible injury, pain, harm, or loss : characterized by danger <a dangerous job>
2: able or likely to inflict injury or harm <a dangerous man>

You can get started with id using http://www.filateelia.ee/efur/catalogue/cat0.html , but the truth is that if you are ever about sell some of those stamps and desire *full* price, then having a recent Estonian certificate is must. Many of the stamps have been forged, overprints have been forged, cancellations have been forged, even proofer marks and certificates have been faked - anybody with some knowledge of Estonian dreads to buy anything more expensive without proper certificates or personal knowledge.

And no, I'm not Estonia collector myself (besides having a somewhat decent basic collection). But Estonian stamps are 'the second hottest thing' in Finland, so it is (and has been) very hard to avoid of proper education.

-k-

Within the philatelic context the expression "dangerous forgery" is used very often. If you have any objections against this usage, please argue with catalog editors and philatelic writers, not with me.

I agree. I knew exactly what you meant. If you bought one, it would be "likely to inflict injury" to your pocketbook.

Dangerous or not, this is a nice colourful group of a small country, very collectable. You rarely see this much Estonia in one place.

Thank you, everyone, for the feedback. And, tvorog, special thanks for the valuation and forgery insight.

Here are a couple more pages from the album.

Mark, I really like Estonia stamps, and collect the country pre-1945. The history of this first period of independence is wonderful and sums up so much of what was happening in europe in the early to mid-20th century.

Yours is a nice accumulation, and is well worth building on for a collection. Others have commented on value, so I won't. Apart from a very few stamps (e.g. the provisional overprints, about which more below) Estonia stamps are relatively cheap and a good collection can be amassed pretty quickly. There are numerous varieties, both major and minor, of the early issues and always something to look out for. The research and writing up comes later, and is fun to do! The link that scb posted is the best on-line resource and is enough for even the most serious specialist.

Your most recent scan shows some nice things as well. Have a look at the German occupation "Swastika" issues. Whilst they are not rare as such, you probably have sets of both issues. The first issue is on thick paper, I mean really thick, and the second issue on thinner paper. Most of the cancels you will see are from Tartu where the stamps were first issued in August 1941.

All four "Eesti Post" provisional overprints in the first set of scans look like pretty crude forgeries, unfortunately. Your overprints cover much of the stamp from bottom left-hand corner to top right-hand corner, whereas the genuine overprints are shorter and tend to sit more in the middle of the stamp at a slightly shallower angle. Here's an example of a certified genuine example.