4 Generations Of Stamps, Rich? Book 1 - Australia

Hey Everyone,
I found these stamps at a friends house, and became super interested. She has about 6-8 books of stamps, many of them 19th, 20th century. She might be interested in selling them, so we were wondering if you would help us identifying and perhaps pricing some of them.

This book has mostly australian stamps, Though I chose to share this one because of the penny black that was in it. It seems to be pretty good, unstamped, good margins, though a crease in the bottom left and wavyish on top. She was wondering if it was real.

Others I thought might be good are:

the new zealand 'Chalon Proof'(I think) on page 13 row 5

Australia 163, Acsc 175e, "Tail Flaw" (I think, I just read that forum post haha) - the first one on page 10

Any help would be greatly appreciated!, Thanks

page 1



page 2



page 3



page 4



page 5



page 6



page 7



page 8



page 9



page 10



page 11



page 12



page 13



page 14



page 15



page 16



page 17



page 18



penny black front



penny black back

That Penny Black looks like it was cut-out from a printed album page. It is not a real stamp.

To explain: the stars lack any detail, the background to the portrait appears a blob, stamp 2 from row 1 with such a huge margin should show a trace of stamp AB. The shading in the face does not look good at all.

Ok, Yeh that makes sense. I thought the corner letters were a bit too perfectly centered.

Is the paper wrong? how could you tell? // Okay awesome, thanks for the knowledge. Shading on face is too dark huh?

Thanks for the reply.

Comparison of genuine (left) to your stamp (right). The genuine stamp is engraved and has sharp details.

No, the shading in the face is too crude and missing in most parts of the face. The paper looks too much like cardboard and too smooth. The centring of the check letters is not an issue. I would not be surprised if it is some photographic copy of a real stamp. So, the check letters may correspond to a plate.

Thanks @Germania, good example. You posted as I was typing and looking for a good example.

Overall price to a serious collector is less than US$25, in my opinion. Unfortunately, lots of common stamps, and quite a few are not in very good condition. Keep posting, though. Something may come up.

I would halve that, in my opinion.(what is shown) $20 Aussie.
Very common material.
Be careful the booklet panes, they may adhere together.

Joining a stamp club in your area, you may even get this type of stuff free from members.

Okay, Thanks a lot for the feedback. I'm kind of surprised some of the older ones aren't worth a bit more, but I understand that a lot of people must have collected stamps back in the day.

I'm finding it very interesting though. So I think the next album is a bit better condition, and more interesting as they are world stamps.

Thanks again for taking your time!

That is normally the first thought from new stamp collectors. Those that have been collecting for many years consider "older" ones to be from before 1900, and some go all the way back to 1880's, or even earlier. You have to start somewhere, though, so please post some of the ones you have in the best condition, and we'll add our thoughts. Happy Holidays to you and yours.

It is an understandable thought. Just as is the case today, certain values covered standard rates. Even in the 1800s, but certainly in the early 1900s, most stamps were definitives (the UK did not issue a commemorative until 1924 and they remained few and far between). These remained in use for a long time. Consequently, they are common.

Stamps that did not cover the basic letter and postcard rates were issued in lower quantities and used less frequently. So, your expectation may well hold true for those stamps and for some commemoratives.

If you look at your collection, you will notice there are many duplicates. That is an indication your collection was built from basic letters and postcards. Those, tend to have been franked with very common stamps.