Greetings From Canada

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to say hello from Canada. I just finished creating an account because I inherited a stamp collection, and I know almost nothing about stamps haha!

The stamp collection was my grandpas and he left it to my mom, unfortunately she recently passed and left the collection to myself ... and now I am here. I have never collected stamps but I wanted to organize and preserve the stamp collection for sentimental value. It is a work in progress however it didn't take long to figure out that I love collecting stamps, I'm completely addicted! Basically, I am planning on completing the organizing of my grandpas & moms collection and I am going to start my own. I cut my first stamp off an envelope and placed a cheap order from ebay to have a bit of a "base" for my own collection, still waiting for it to arrive.

I wanted to create an account because I know that I will have questions in the future, especially once I get to the part of storing grandpas/moms stamps that are still in original sealed plastic(?) from the post office... and a couple used ones in sealed plastic(?). My limited understanding is that plastic is bad, so I will post pictures later on in an appropriate board. (Not glassine envelopes).

Anyways that's all for now, greetings from Canada.

:)

Welcome to the forum, and the hobby. A few quick thoughts: given your location your first, best bet for organizational guidance would be the Scott Catalog from your local library (as you progress, other catalogs will become important). Next, while a few collectors put a small premium on the "sealed" packs you have, most do not; you don't really risk anything by breaking these open. Any used stamps sealed in plastic should be taken out of those ASAP, they're likely Crystal Mounts and will ruin a stamp. Finally, don't be too quick to remove a stamp from an envelope (or cut it away), sometimes a stamp on cover is much more interesting and valuable than one removed.

Hi Classic Paper,

Thank you! I had to look up what a crystal mount looks like - thank goodness I haven't seen any of those here. It's a loose plastic, similar to the post office - except thinner. The used stamps in this plastic have at some point been opened and re-sealed with what looks like scotch tape.

I wouldn't have went, or even thought of going to the library to look at a catalogue. It's been quite a number of years since I have been inside a library. This entire experience is like a journey into the past, old stamps, letter mail, catalogues, libraries, what is going to be next?

It's such a journey :)

Welcome to the forum from fellow Canadian. Are you by chance in Nova Scotia? Is it organised in albums, by country, or theme or is it just an accumulation in bags. The local library usually has a set of Scott worldwide catalogues as well as the Unitrade Specialised catalogue. These are good reference guides but the prices quoted are not what the item is actually worth. Read the intro for learning about what the catalogue gives you.
Any stamps in plastic sold by Canada Post would be mint and not used and definately not in crystal mounts. You mention used in plastic? If so they were put there by the previous owner.
Take your time and relax. It takes lots of time and no rushing in this hobby or you will end up losing the enjoyment. As well leave used cancelled stamps on envelopes as one, and do not cut off the stamps until you know what they truly are. A piece of postal history, family history or just another common item. Have fun!

Welcome to the forum!

Thank you Going Postal, I'm glad to be here.

@No1philatelist

I am in northern Ontario. The collection is mostly all Canadian stamps organized by 2 small cardboard boxes and 1 small cedar chest/box, while there are thousands of stamps here, there isn't "totes upon totes of stuff". The cardboard boxes contain ziplock bags organized by "theme" or "place outside Canada", these are all used stamps mostly all removed from their envelopes, but some were on small remains of the envelopes. Some of these I have removed from the piece of envelope while others remain.

A significant amount of the used stamps are from places that my grandpa and mom lived, so any legible markings on the remains of envelopes were not touched because this collection isn't about money, it's sentimental. He has a couple intact envelopes but I haven't looked at those yet - and there is only a couple. Everything from the 2 cardboard boxes is being removed from Ziplock bags and going into lighthouse stockbooks, that's what I'm working on now.

I have only looked at some of the items in the cedar box, this box is mostly all mint stamps. Full sheets are on the bottom and are separated between each one with various materials - wax paper & some kind of soft smooth tissue like paper - not glassine. The cedar box seems to contain : Canadian mint sheets, Canadian souvenir sheets (Not the highly picturized ones that Canada Post currently sells today, but like smaller mint sheets.), glassine envelopes containing mint stamps, "plastic" Canada Post packaging with mint Blocks (?!? not sure if my terms are correct yet), mint strips and blocks not in plastic, mint sets of "10 stamps" that you would buy to put on envelopes, some are opened some are still sealed, and some various "packs" such as Canadian Tire, Winnie the Pooh (I think), "newer" souvenir cards like Princess Di after she passed, and some Easter Seals / Lung Association sheets. Some of the stamps in the cedar box have been exposed to humidity, nothing seems stuck together, but some mint stamps have curled a bit.

I believe the mint sheets are for the most part more recent than the bulk of the used stamps, it seems grandpas collection would have evolved over time to include mint stamps. My mom did continue the collection but mostly (it seems) continued tearing stamps off of envelopes for the Ziplock baggies, she is the one that organized the themes into baggies I have no idea what grandpas storage for these would have been, but it's highly unlikely to be Ziplock baggies he was very serious about "proper materials" IE: cedar box etc.

There isn't a single album / stockbook in the original collection, however I did find an old, partially used, package of "hinged mounts", so I am quite sure that he did have albums at some point in time.

For everything other than the full mint sheets in the cedar box I'm planning on putting those into Vario binders / pages. I haven't found a cost efficient solution for the full mint sheets yet - a single 24 page "mint sheet BOGA album" won't come close to holding all of these, with Christmas sales being over I won't buy multiple BOGA albums, maybe next year. Eventually once everything is organized I would love to find/build/buy a cedar cupboard of sorts to put the albums inside, as a 'nod' to grandpa and to mom.

Hello and welcome. I like that you are continuing the collection. It will grow in family value.
The best part of stamp collecting is gathering and organizing... the worst is trying to sell the collection...

PS. Keep an eye on us Canadians in our own section here.

Thanks Sak! I didn't know we had our own board for Canadian Stamps, that's awesome :)

I hope that I never know what it's like to sell a collection. I absolutely love the sorting, viewing, and placing stamps into books - it's calming and enjoyable. It's much more than that though, but I can't quite put my finger on what is drawing me into the world of stamps...

I will never be able to excitedly look through the mail for special stamps on envelopes, because I get very few pieces of mail with real stamps on them (except Christmas and BDays), grandpa and my mom both checked letter mail for stamps. It's almost like inheriting this collection has shown me what my generation and younger generations have lost. I am not young by any means (42) but I'm not so sure that I would be able to live without google, email, and my smart phone etc. Stamps are real tangible items while emails are lines of computer coding. A real stamp attached to a real hand written letter is much more meaningful and personal than an e-mail can ever hope to be. Something along these lines is what's drawing me in.

Welcome.
Wooden boxes are not great for storing stamps or paper. Being wood, they create an acidic environment which can eventually tone and make brittle any paper in them. Please do not take this as something that needs to be done immediately, it is about longer-term storage.
More info can be found here https://www.gaylord.com/resources/g...re/section-1

Please note that this forum has Glossary of stamp collecting terms here
https://www.stampcommunity.org/dictionary/
And here is an illustrated Glossary of stamp collecting terminology
https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/G...aryHome.html

Don

Welcome - Sorry to hear about your mom. This is a great hobby to make into a family tradition and a great way to stay connected to those loved ones. As others have suggested, do take your time. It has taken me awhile to figure out my collecting interests and I've been through some false starts. That may be unavoidable as sometimes "you don't know until you try." But the key thing is not to get discouraged. It can be a little overwhelming. Also check and see if there's a regional or city stamp club nearby that you can connect with.

Welcome aboard. It is nice to see yo looking at continuing on in stamps.

Thank you Mainer.

@Don. And there it is, everything that needs to be known for proper storage, this certainly changes my plans - thank you so much I almost made a huge storage mistake! That article also points out various other things that are not ideal, the sealed "wrappings" that hold blocks from the Post Office catalyzes the degradation of paper, glassine envelopes will break down over time, and I need to remove and separate the news paper clippings from stamp articles that they saved with the stamps. Mint sheets shouldn't be laid flat in a stack. Air flow getting to stamps is critical. And wood is bad, they do have the wood box lined however the box is normally closed and the wood has been stained with god knows what chemicals.

This leads me to a strange question?

VARIO black sheets...
Some websites claim that:

"VARIO PLUS sheets
Black pages are made of Hard PVC; clear pages of polyester. Both are 100% acid- and chemical softener-free, and have been chosen by experienced collectors time ..."

Other websites only mention the polyester portion being used in Vario pages. Are black Vario pages ok, is "Hard PVC" acceptable while regular PVC is unacceptable? Or do we just need to wait 30 years to see the outcome?

Whmmmm,

The true value of you collection is in its family history. Enjoy it today and pass it on to future genertions as best you can.

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.

My personal bias is a used stamp loses the story of its journey in the postal service when it is removed from the cover it transported to its destination. Collecting postal history adds a whole new aspect to your journey in our hobby.

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

WelcomeWhmmmm

Which part of Canada are you from? There are lots of stamp clubs around that may be able to help you :)

Dianne

In answer to your question about the black vs. clear Vario pages, I think they're both ok and wouldn't hesitate to use either.

I like to use the black Vario pages for stamps, because I feel it helps the colors and art to pop.

I use the clear pages if I have some stationary or a cover that has interesting cancellations or detail on both sides. That way I can view both sides without having to remove it from the page.

If/when I get to the point of having stamps valuable enough to really really care, I'll be sure to upgrade my storage to something geared toward long term archiving.