Purchased A Stamp Collection At An Estate Sale.

Hello to the stamp community!
Thanks for allowing me to join this forum. A few days ago I purchased a 15 stamp album that appear to me truly amazing due to this person's organized stamps from literary all over the world. Including countries that no longer exist! I just put together some of the US stamps and any feedback would be amazing. Just have no clue what I should do. I plan to get it appraised next week but I wish I could learn more information beforehand. Thanks so much!

Hello, and welcome. These seem to be common stamps, some of which are damaged. What should you do? Decide whether you want to collect - most stamps can be obtained very cheaply, so you can build an attractuve collection without spending a great deal.

The stock pages if emptied of the stamps might have some value on ebay.

Welcome! Seconding GeoffH, most stamps are affordable, often at a nominal price, so it will be quite easy to build from what you have if that's what you're interested in doing.

Thanks for kindly responses. I have many questions but in general , is there a country that for whatever besides Great Britain minus their former colonies that are of interest to collectors. I attached some German stamps since I find them historically Interesting especially the during their high inflation period after WW1.

If I understand your question, the highest interest countries today, aside from Canada and Great Britain, are countries of east Asia. China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, etc.

Welcome to the hobby of stamp collecting. If you keep the collection, you can define your collection as you desire. Whether or not you worry about the value of the stamps is your discretion. You could simply collect for the fun of it. There can be a lot to learn. Give it time.

The first scan you provided appears to be used/canceled United States stamps. That is precisely my specialty. However, I am an amateur. In the fifth row, the second stamp has a series of punctures. This is called a "perfin." A definition of perfins is available on the homepage of The Perfins Club.

A tool for quick identification of most stamps is StampSmarter.com's 1847 USA.

Another great source for identifying stamps is the SCOTT catalogues. As a beginner, perhaps you could borrow catalogues from a local public library.

Thank you shermae! exactly what I was wanting to know. Fortunately I do have stamps from all these countries - most of all the Japan and Malaysia stamps in his world album is filled. Thanks

The country (or topic) which is the most interesting is .... the one which interests YOU the most. Nobody can collect everything, so you have to explore and figure out for yourself which areas really grab you. Satisfy yourself first, and second too! For beginners, it usually does mean accumulating quite a bit material until something jumps out at you.

What is a 15 stamp album? What is the name of the world album?

Sorry I meant it cost me $15. And seems a generic world album. The whole thing is falling apart. I believe
the original owner started the album between 1900 to 1914. The album is filled with countries that no longer exist but did so at the time.



Where can I find identification of this album . I can post more pictures of album when I am home. does the age of the album have any significance?

Pearlina,

Your stamps are of far greater value in terms of the enjoyment you gain from playing with them than their economic value for resale.

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences. Russ