Negative Rhetoric Regarding Rare Stamps

I don't think to OP understands the word rare. Now if he just means something of significant value, however he might define significant, then yes with enough (lots of) time and effort (in both learning and then looking) finds can be made on occasion.

Being a bit of a pessimist I usually take it that the rare stamp I have just found is due to my misidentification, sometimes it isn't. I think stamp collecting is one hobby where there is still a real chance of finding "treasure", and I tell other people this. Since being a kid ihave never been disappointed to find out my stamps aren't worth much. I once Bought a Blackjack for 2 pence (British) and I found a highly desirable Canadian stamp of the 1930s in a glory box and sold it for than 2 1/2 times more than I had dared to hope for. In us dollars I got about $40 for it. These are my stories of finding treasure. All my treasures still don't pay for the catalogues I have, to identify finds. The treasure lies in the memory. I tell people that collecting stamps for profit is impractical. If it deters people from collecting then so what! What I do say that is more encouraging (I Hope) is that if stamp collecting is something you think interesting then it is a great multi faceted hobby that can yeild hours of pleasure.

10 years ago I bought a 1978 Stanley Gibbons simplified world catalogue. As is sometimes the case with these old tomes, a stamp fell out from the pages.

It was a New Zealand Scott #AR61, 2014 cat. value $200. I sold it on ebay and it more than covered the cost of the SG catalogue.

A world class rarity? Of course not! But a nice find indeed

Nice!

How many 537s did you have to look though to find your three?

People throw out the word "rare" far too frequently and casually. A $50 or $100 catalog value stamp is not rare. $5 Columbians are not rare. C13-C15 zeppelins are not rare. Just expensive.

Extant population in single digits, now that's rare... still may not be valuable though.

P.S. If your motivation or impetus to collect stamps is to "find rare stamps", you're setting yourself up for disappointment.

Knowledge and experience go a long way in finding different stamp varieties. A specialized catalog and handbook are very helpful. Also, having the right tools such as a perforation gauge, watermark detector helps. There are many stamp discoveries out there waiting to be discovered. The fun of this forum is that these discoveries can be shared with others faster than by any other means of putting it out there first. No matter how many times it has repeated itself, I do like the initial optimism that newbies have when they think that they have found a U.S. Scott # 596 since this appears to be a popular favorite of theirs. Hope does spring eternal, doesn't it?

Revenue collector is so right but I sometimes enjoy sorting through stamps for the unusual. I picked up two or three bags of GB King George the 6th definitives on paper ech bag contained only one type of stamp but I enjoyed soaking them to find the sideways and upside down watermark. About 3% proved to have unusual watermarks, I enjoyed finding "treasure" I didn,t need many for my collection. no one wants to buy them. it would possibly been cheaper and certainly faster to buy them but what the heck I enjoyed mysel. I have the early GB line engraved stamps but aesthetically I think the GB stamps of Queen Elizabeth are far superior and give me more pleasure. Nowadays the rarities are good postally used commemeratives of the internet and cell phone era; but perhaps they are just unusuals.

Another thing I've noticed is the frequency with which sellers use the term 'unsorted'. For example, you'll get a lot of Germany 1930s Hindenburg definitives, which had two watermarks -- 'mesh' to start (in 1932?), which changed to 'swastika' in 1933. Usually the 'unsorted' lots are 100% swastika, except for the common varieties. And then once in a while you do find a genuinely unsorted lot, and the valuable mesh varieties may not be common, but you do find quite a few of them.