Estate Sale Find Has US Hooked

Hi
My husband and I have acquired hundreds of stamps from an estate sale. To say we are excited, intrigued and hooked would be understatements! I was hoping for some advice on how we should begin to catalog, sort, organize etc. We have stamps from around the world. Classic to more recent decades, cancelled, postmarked, sheets... you name it. So any and all advice is welcome! Thanks so much!

Newbie 2.0,

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.

Personal bias. Used stamps are best collected on the cover they carried through the mails. This documents their journey.

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

Pictures will help a lot.

Hello. I'd suggest you forget "cataloguing" (if by that you mean pricing) for the time being and concentrate on sorting. There are various approaches to an initial sort. Mine is to do it by continent, then split into individual countries. If you have a large number from one place - eg the US - you can make that a. separate category at the outset.

Thanks so much! As for the cataloging, no not for pricing. I probably am using the wrong words. I was wondering if we should begin sorting by country, the dates, subject matter etc.

Agree with Geoff. My sorting practice is to focus on individual countries (i.e., stamp-issuing entity).

Most philatelists use tongs to avoid touching their stamps with their fingers (given the oils etc.). Such tongs are readily available on the web. Personally prefer "flat tip" end so as to reduce the likelihood of damaging stamps.

If you're just starting out you may wish to place your sorted stamps in envelopes. Over time you may wish to obtain glassine envelopes or dealer sales cards (for individual stamps). Personally prefer the 102B sales cards as the black background allows me to assess the condition of a stamp's perforations). I use small post-it notes to note the catalogue nbr and catalogue value if significant. (Using post-it notes allows me to re-use a sales card multiple times. Versus writing directly onto the card.)

If your stamps are attached to a remainder of an envelope or have other matter adhering to the back side, you may wish to soak the stamp in a small bowl of cool, clean water. (Avoid the temptation to soak lots of stamps at one time or to use hot water. While hot water may expedite the paper removal process, it can damage the stamp depending on the stamp ink or cancellation ink.) Avoid soaking stamps that were placed on colored paper. The color can/will transfer to other stamps and ruin them.

Avoid soaking stamps that feature peel-able backing paper and adhesive. (Google the Forum archives for more details.)

And most importantly, have fun. Its intended to be a hobby.

Great advice. I had tiny flat tongs already (I'm a miniaturist) so we have been careful not to touch the stamps. We do have a bag of stamps that have partial envelopes still attached, but for the time being, we'll probably just leave those as is. Also, the ones attached to antique postcards will stay too. They tell such a story. One such postcard,a later one, is postmarked 1924 (or 1925 not sure) and has a franklin 1 cent stamp. I'm sure it's not THE coveted Franklin stamp haha. So it for instance will probably live with my collection of ephemera. I really do appreciate the advice. Let the sorting commence!

Welcome!

Dale

I would sort by country and then by stamp and see what you got. Country is good because all stamp listing begin with country and then number.

what's your favorite piece in your collection of ephemera....if you don't mind me asking?

Hi and welcome!

Topical and thematic is another way to sort your stamps. Here you sort based on what is on the stamp, for example fish, ships, birds, flowers, famous people, etc.

Thematic is looks at what the stamp is about/commemorates. For example The Queen's Jubilee, holidays or other events.

When I started my world wide collection, I first picked out the stamps I liked the best and found most interesting. I started organizing them first and found I enjoyed the hobby more and didn't get discouraged too soon and want to quit.