Grandfathers Stamp Collection

thanks for everybody's inpus thus far! a greatly appreciate your help. I am still just organizing things into bulk categories. I saw a few stamps that just caught my eye because they look interesting.




anyone curious whats in this envelope??

Stamp-dealers in their familiar "step right up, folks" mode. I suspect the Chinese stamps are still worth 50c

haha;
im sure they probably are only worth 50c. I am afrait to open the envelope because when I touched it the ink started to rub off onto my fingers. It would probably get all over the stamps anyway. Are these envelopes a common way that stamps were purchased back in the 50's? I have shoebox full of them. none of them seem opened however. I even have the flyer where you could pick and order them from.

maybe its a bunch of lantern fly eggs!

This was common in the olden days. Actually most stamps in glassines from Kenmore, etc. are not worth more than a penny. Still being worth 50¢ is a testament to the fact that China stamps have some worth.

I actually have another question;
What is the best way to look up a stamp? Any good websites? For example:

i have a stamp #1123 – 1958 4¢ Fort Duquesne
ho would I know that there is only one of these? Like the presidential series has all different types of the same stamp... How do I know to look deeper than just "google said its 1123"? how do I know there is no 1123a or some other number 666 that exists that is a more rare version. note that this stamp is just an example to explain my case.

Scott catalog would be the obvious place - how did you get the Scott number ?

Peter

For US, Canada, and Australia stamps you can use Stamp Smarter
http://stampsmarter.com/1847usa/ALLIdentifier.html
http://stampsmarter.com/features/Ca...ntifier.html
http://www.stampsmarter.com/feature..._AU_ALL.html
These all have 'keyword' search capability.

Don

Thanks! stamp smarter looks promising.

I know that Scott catalog would be the obvious place if I knew the number...... but how do I know how many numbers and if it is a reproduced at a later date or not? couldn't they obviously be not in sequence? i'm new so I don't know how it works yet.

thanks for the help!

With the Stamp Smarter search feature you can use a keyword to search on the stamp's description. It will return all stamps that match that description. of course, searching on 'Washington' will return several hundred matches. There are other tools, including a visual identifier, that help you zero in on the correct identification. Poke around the site, there are literally thousands of pages (and over 100,000 image files); if you only spent 60 seconds on each page it would take you over 3 days to view them all.
Don

Thank You!
it is indeed a useful place. I am slowly composing myself thanks to this kind and knowledgeable forum.

If you are looking to sort with speed and expediency, you could start with sorting by mint vs used/cancelled as a previous poster said, then select what appear to be the higher values (older stamps with 50c or $1 values etc) and check their value. If they are high, investigate the other stamps in that set more closely.

If you are simply enjoying sorting through them and are in no rush, buy yourself a catalogue and look them up. You can buy catalogues that are a few years old at a discount. Or check your local library as they sometimes have them in the reference section, or they used to years ago last time I checked. Also your local stamp club can be a great source of information. These guys don't get a lot of fresh faces walking in the door, so when someone new comes by with a genuine interest in what they have, you can expect to find some good natured input.

It depends on the library, of course, but the main branch of my local library always has the latest Scott catalogue in the reference section. Quite an expenditure on their part, but I for one really appreciate it!