Help Needed With My Great Grandparents Stamp Collection 1890-S+

Hi guys Im Matthew in Australia and I need help.
48 years ago I was given a paper bag full of stamps by my Grandmother
She said they were my fathers he died just after I was born
The bag sat in a cupboard for many years in 1975 I put them in three albums. There they have stayed ever since, I recently got online to see if they would be collectible
To my horror I have hundreds of rare stamps from everywhere
all of the stamps are so old they had to have been from my
Great Grandparents correspondence. Although I cant grade stamps
they all look to be in excellent condition
looking online only leaves me more confused. Many from Japan, USA Germany, England, Europe etc
Most of them are 1890s to early 1950s .I would deeply appreciate any and all honest advice as I find out how to move them along
Thanks in advance Matthew

Hello. If you upload some good quality scans or photos, someone will be able to give you an idea of potential value.

Hi Mathew,
could you possibly give the link, or how you found out these were "rare" please?

Why "horror" would that not please you?

You can post pictures here. There are enough members with knowledge in specific areas. When you post, try to have the stamps sorted by country.

"Rare" stamps are rare and tend not to come by the hundreds in a paper bag. Many websites claim stamps are rare when they are not. Often, rare stamps are varieties of a more common stamp.
Quality does matter. This could be the quality of the stamp, but when cancelled also of the cancellation. Most of the time unmounted mint stamps are more expensive than mounted mint or used stamps. Sometimes, used stamps are more valuable than mint stamps. So, if you post pictures of mint stamps, it would be interesting to know whether those are hinged. When hinged, hinges can destroy the trade value of stamps.

Another option is to visit a local stamp club or even dealer and ask for their opinion on the stamps and whether they merit a closer look.

Do not rely on one opinion.

Matthew, given that I am fairly new to collecting, let me give you a start. My collecting started in 2016 when my mother was cleaning out her attic, and presented me with 4 large garbage bags of binders and boxes. I've identified over 100K stamps and still have some outliers.
Here is what I would do:

1) Sort by Country (Use the internet to identify by inputting what is on the stamp. You may have to guess for some languages)

2) Go to World Stamp Identifier, or Subscribe to Stampworld (Free) and go country by country to get a date or an approximate date. (Stampworld gives you their catalog number, but once you have the country and date there are sites that we you can get a Scott, Michel or Gibbons number) Now the fun begins because you will need to identify Perforations (get a guage), Watermarks (if serious get a kit), Design (get a way to significantly magnify) and other identifying features such as overlays.

3) Record basic catalog values (This is just a ballpark)

4) Eyeball the stamp for quality (damage, centering, cancellation, etc.)

5) Now you will have a set of stamps that either unidentifiable or range in value from 1 cent to hundreds or possibly thousands of dollars and may need help closing in on actual value

6) Now you can go to auction sites and ebay to see how your stamp stacks up.

This will eliminate the need to post hundreds of stamps, one at time, online and wait for each one.

Hope that helps. BTW I lived in OZ for a year.

Call me cynical but hundreds of rare stamps from the 1890s to 1950s period?

Without some photos/scans we can't move this forward.

Matthew,

I suspect the greatest value these have is to those who knew her and treasure her memory. Consider keeping them, possibly better organizing them, and passing them down in your family?

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

Matthew,

What kind of albums did you use? How are the stamps attached into the albums?

Welcome Matthew!

Hi Thank you for the advice
When I said rare that does not mean valuable only a fool would claim that. Im sure a few will be pennys other whos knows. pics will come as soon as I learn how to transfer from fone 2 comp.To my horror doesnt mean im ungreatfull .Its overwhelming as im a carrer for my disabled brother my time is limited.
The websites I used are .Empire philat, Mystic stamps, Applebaums,
Presitge philat, Seigel international, American philat and german
deutsche breifmarken and others all I needed to know do they go in the bin or do I save them these sites have many of my stamps
What is a cancelation?
What is mounted or unmounted mean?
i do get the hinge thing yes some had been most not though
My Nan kept them on the second shelf right corner of her linen cupboard yes in a bag.my garndparents relatives were dispersed Ireland, USA, Sweden, Hungary, Germany wales etc emigrating mid 1800s
Cynical you might be im 63 and had them forever and im the one looking at them from queen vic to HItler Hindenburg KIng george 5+6 +David +QE1 QE2 Q Mary ETC
I have no family to pass them onto I appreciate your thoughts thanks Russ
The stamps are in albums with clear sleeves side by side Some of the other countrys are Polska Svierge Norge Japan ( 3 Empress Jingo stamped in China 1927 ) Russia Italy Belgique Osterich Magyar UK and its terratories Malta and a few islands China
Danmark Helvitia Ceskoslovakia Germany Francaise and terratories
Errie Espanola Greece Liberia Ceylon India .I did find out a few are from whats called dead countries .It doesnt bother me if some are given away to a collector starting out
Thank you 4 the good advice pbmorris im doing that now Its suprising what can come along when least expected Thanks Matt

Hi Thank you for the replies
When I said rare that does not mean valuable only a fool would claim that. Im sure a few will be pennys other whos knows. pics will come as soon as I learn how to transfer from fone 2 comp.To my horror doesnt mean im ungreatfull .Its overwhelming as im a carrer for my disabled brother my time is limited.
The websites I used are .Empire philat, Mystic stamps, Applebaums,
Presitge philat, Seigel international, American philat and german
deutsche breifmarken and others all I needed to know do they go in the bin or do I save them these sites have many of my stamps
What is a cancelation?
What is mounted or unmounted mean?
i do get the hinge thing yes some had been most not though
My Nan kept them on the second shelf right corner of her linen cupboard yes in a bag.my garndparents relatives were dispersed Ireland, USA, Sweden, Hungary, Germany wales etc emigrating mid 1800s
Cynical you might be im 63 and had them forever and im the one looking at them from queen vic to HItler Hindenburg KIng george 5+6 +David +QE1 QE2 Q Mary ETC
I have no family to pass them onto I appreciate your thoughts thanks Russ
The stamps are in albums with clear sleeves side by side Some of the other countrys are Polska Svierge Norge Japan ( 3 Empress Jingo stamped in China 1927 ) Russia Italy Belgique Osterich Magyar UK and its terratories Malta and a few islands China
Danmark Helvitia Ceskoslovakia Germany Francaise and terratories
Errie Espanola Greece Liberia Ceylon India .I did find out a few are from whats called dead countries .It doesnt bother me if some are given away to a collector starting out
Thank you 4 the good advice pbmorris im doing that now Its suprising what can come along when least expected Thanks Matt

Cancellation is when a stamp is used and the post office applies a mark (stamp), most frequently but not exclusively in black, to cancel the stamp. This prevents re-usage. Often it also shows where and when the item was posted. Some cancellations also tell you how the stamp was used: e.g., postage, in payment of tax, telegraph, railway carriage, etc.

Mounted and unmounted are terms frequently used in Great Britain. They are the same as hinged and never hinged, respectively. These are used in connection with mint stamps. The hinge disturbs the gum resulting in a stamp that is no longer as sold, i.e., post office fresh.

Some sites you mention run auctions. Auctions may post pictures of stamps that are varieties. They may look the same. Experience often helps to recognise the varieties.

I think the remark that hundreds of rare stamps from the era you mentioned is not so much a remark about value. There are many sites that say "rare" stamp when the average dealer will have more of them in stock than there are fish in the sea. ebay is one of the sites where all types of crackpots will claim rare stamps or sets, when they even are incapable of recognising the stamps. Not many stamps from that era are rare and they do not tend to come by the hundreds. Also, if a site posts a variety, that may be rare but the stamp without that variety may be awfully common.

If you would consider putting them in the bin, some little boy or girl might be extremely happy with them, probably more so than your bin.

Before doing so, it might be useful to post some pictures here. There are many people that have experience in one or more areas – hence the advice to sort by country – and will tell you whether it makes sense to have a further look at stamps. They will know what stamps indeed are rare or have rare varieties.