Inherited Stamps, Please Help

Hi Guys,

I have inherited thousands of stamps and have no idea about any of them! I have taken a few pictures below of some that may be worth something? I could be wrong, could anyone let me know please? This is only a drop in the ocean of what I have.

Thank you in advance

Hi Csluggy - welcome to the Stamp Community Forum!

You seem to have a good start on Great Britain stamps, including the first issued stamp (aka "penny black"). The person who collected these stamps was interested in identifying the different perforation varieties and maybe color/cancel variations.

There is some value here as the stamps appear to have reasonable condition and cancels. This would be a great start to add to the collection, as there is some value here ($100+).

As for other countries, as shown by USA, there is some moderate value as well.

If you are looking to sell these, I would recommend keeping the country collections intact, as there may not be individual stamps with sufficient condition or value to sell separately.

Have fun and consider collecting!

Thank you for that!

They are all segregated into albums with dates and countries etc.. there is a whole album of British stamps (25+ pages) for example then albums for each other country, some I've never even heard of!

Is there anything I need to look out for in regards to finding a rare stamp or?

I'm not looking to sell just very intriguing.

Thanks again

To get a general idea of worth, you can go to stampworld.com, which lists stamps from all countries. Also, a great site for all types of stamp information is stampsmarter.com. Some things you should be aware of:

1. Stamp values listed are approximate, and considered "buy" prices, as if buying from a dealer. If you are selling, the valuation will be a buyer/seller negotiated price, typically much less.

2. Stamp values are mostly based on condition (prices listed are for stamps free of any faults - creases, thins, short perforations, etc.) and centering (desired to be with margins clear of the stamp design on all sides). Other things include cancel from desirable to heavy/obliterating.

3. Gum condition for unused stamps. Original undisturbed gum is most desirable, then hinged, partial gum, lastly re-gummed which has ungummed valuation.

4. Prices negotiated between buyer/seller may vary based on demand/scarcity and country. Don't be surprised to have offers as little as 25% or down to 10-15%, but may be up to more than catalog value, depending upon the above conditions.

If selling, still may be better to sell in groups or countries, but will most likely get 10 - 20% unless very premium material.

Hope this helps!

Consider yourself fortunate to have inherited this particular collection. It appears to be well organised and contains some worthwhile material.

It appears to me that the quadrilled notebook paper used as album pages is starting to change colour, and this could damage the stamps over time. If this is indeed the case and you intend to continue on with the collection, you will want to transfer it onto acid-free album pages or some other safe long-term storage method.

Regards,
Greg

Hi, welcome to the forum. On the fourth page of stamps, you have two copies of the halfpenny "bantam" stamp, so called because it was much smaller than any other British stamp issued up to that time. It might be worth having a closer look at them with a magnifying glass to see if you can read the plate numbers. Many British stamps of that era had various plate numbers which were incorporated into the design. In particular for this issue,plate 9 is the most valuable, and plates 8, 1 and 20 are also worth more than the average for this stamp. The plate number itself can be found just to the right of the fraction bar on the left side of the stamp, and just to the left of the number 1 on the right hand side, and in all cases the number is colorless, and sideways. Unfortunately, on the one with the very heavy 123 cancel it might be difficult to see it.