Curious To See What My Stamps Would Be Worth?

Greetings all, I am very new here as a matter a fact I just registered today. The reason being a few years ago I received a relatively large collection of stamps from my late great uncle. The collection consists of around five boxes full of stamps I have no idea the amount of stamps but I estimate it is in the thousands. Anyways I have finally got around to tackling the issue of sorting the stamps and finding their worth as when I recieved them there were no notes attached or anything. To do this I will probably need some assistance from more knowledgeable individuals, I would also like to find out what tools I will need to tackle the sorting. I intend to get many albums for organization as well as some stamp tongs, if anyone could think of anything else that would be useful for this project feel free to speak up.

Cheers
-J

Welcome.
Don

Greetings. You will need a reference, depending on what stamps you have.....

Welcome!

If you provide some images of what you have, we may be able to give you an idea about what they are worth. Unfortunately, most stamps issued after 1930 or so are generally common with not much value especially in mixed unsorted lots. The fact is that you can buy even Mint unused stamps in lots for less than the face value.

Yeah I was hearing that the ones made issued after the 30s probably aren't worth much. I guess I'll find out when I start sorting through the stamps, I have barely scratched the surface so it will be interesting to see what I find.

Welcome Mrlordcameron!



Some questions to ask yourself might include:

1) Are stamps organized or sorted on pages or small "dealer sales cards" or glassine envelopes? Sometimes these can have country names, catalogue numbers, prices paid (most often heavily discounted from "catalogue" value) and can help in evaluating scarcity, value, and origin.

2) Are there stamps in black "mounts" or other protective sleeves or envelopes? For better stamps (as well as common material) condition is extremely important; the difference between a hundred dollar stamp and the same stamp being worth less than fifty cents could be something as tiny as a nearly-invisible tear, less-than-perfect centering, less-than-like-new gum, if unused, or a heavily inked, illegible, or smudged cancellation. So be careful! If there are any stamp tongs you can quickly learn how to safely handle any stamp.

3) Did your uncle spend more than "pocket change" for example, are there any invoices or receipts from stamp dealers, auction houses (a good sign) or ebay? (not necessarily always a good sign)

4) Was your uncle a member of any stamp collecting group--local stamp club, national collector group (such as the American Philatelic Society, BNAPS, etc.) there may be fellow collectors who dealt with your uncle and might have an idea of the intensity of involvement and/or resources spent by him. You might even want to attend a local stamp club, especially if your uncle attended with any regularity. Lots of selling, buying, and trading go on at many clubs, and you usually will have helpful knowledgable collectors glad to answer questions (but seek second and maybe third opinions!)!

5) Were there any stamps previously separated from the "collection" before you received them? Maybe some in books/albums, or otherwise stamps first "picked over" or perhaps sold to a dealer, fellow collector, auction house? If this might be the case, you may be literally left "holding the bag" with fairly worthless (but nonetheless interesting and educational) common, cheaper material.



Either way, opening your mind--not necessarily your wallet--to finding out about the stamp collecting world will definitely help broaden your education, maybe leading you to as yet undiscovered interests or distant memories. You just might catch the collecting bug which can open the doors to many lasting friendships--including online here!

Don't be afraid to ask questions, our members can lead you in the appropriate direction if they can't answer every question!!!

--Jim Wentzell
stampguyaps177-681

Mrlordcameron, welcome.
J sounds like you may have an accumulation if they are not in albums or in mounts on pages.

If they are just all thrown into boxes and you are just looking at values, to get a rough idea without spending a lot of money, you can always go to your local library and borrow their copy of the Scott standard world catalogue. This will give you a "catalogue value" and a reference place to start.

Mike

Well thank you for all of the information guys! To my knowledge my great uncle was never a member of any sort of stamp collecting community, and he didn't have any receipts from any stamp related purchases. There were a few stamps separated from the rest and put in envelopes but they were not put in any albums, I will go through and update you as I go along and I will let you know what I find.