I've Come Into Possession Of My Father's Stamp Collection, And I Need Some Basic Help

I recently came into possession of my father's stamp collection. I hope I am reaching out to the right forum for help and basic advice. Please bear with me if I ask clueless questions.

The collection seems to have four parts: 1) a very specialized collection of Norwegian Post Horns; 2) a general US collection (I think, there may be aspects to it I don't understand); 3) a collection of topicals featuring Birds, Flowers, Butterflies, and Sports; 4) some research materials, much out of date.

I know the Norway stuff has value, and I think the US material also may have value. The Topicals collections just confuse me. I'm pretty comfortable with understanding the research materials.

My goals are to return the collection to the stamp collecting community (he would not want his collections just discarded), and to not be ripped off too badly.

So, my questions as of now. How would you recommend I make these stamps available for current collectors? Is this the right forum to ask questions about what does or does not have value? Is anyone else interested in the Topicals collections? Is there a market for the research materials?

More specifically, how do I determine the value for plate blocks (mostly US but not all)? First day covers?

Please be kind. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

Welcome to the community. There is some basic information here: https://goscf.com/f/57

We usually recommend finding a local stamp club and asking their opinion. Don't take the first or second offer. Think it over. Probability is that the value is relatively low, so don't hold your breath. Good luck.

If you can post photographs of the first few pages of the US and Norway collections, that will help a lot in the proper guidance.

First day covers have pretty much no value these days (it costs more in shipping than they are worth), unless they are early (pre 1920) or have hand-painted cachets or feature other out-of-the ordinary features (e.g. autographed by the designer or relevant celebrity etc.)

Plate blocks also have little value, figure half of face value on the average, especially for lower denominations (e.g. 3c-20c), again unless older (pre-1930). There are exceptions but the majority of plate blocks from the 1950s to today have minimal value and are best used as postage (although it takes a ton of them to make up 73 cents to put on a letter). Higher denominations are easier to use as postage and command a higher percentage of face value when trying to sell them.

Topical collections of birds, sports, etc. are quite popular, but also of relatively low value, unless extremely specialized with rare items.

The research materials, do you mean published books and catalogs etc., or is this handwritten original research on a specific topic that your father was a specialist?

A picture is worth a thousand words to help you get headed in the right direction.

Thanks for the quick response. I was initially looking for guidance on how much time to devote to the plate blocks and covers. You provided it, so I'm going to focus on inventorying the US collection.

I am posting pictures of a couple of pages of the Topicals and Norwegian collections. They're well defined in that Dad had mounted the he stamps.

Most of the US material is contained in two stock books, but he also had a lot of unsorted material, to say nothing of the 50 years of stamp purchases mixed in his correspondence. I'm going to leave the unsorted stuff for now. The loose purchases present a lot of issues for me. I think I'll post these as separate questions.

The research materials are fortunately not huge issues. Yes, his notes are in there, but I don't think they have any value outside the family. The published materials fall roughly into three groups: obscure books, often in Norwegian, about the Post Horn; out of date catalogues, that he kept for reference purposes, and the entire set of Billig's Philatelic Handbook. I've been told that there is no market for any of this, but I find that hard to believe. Any guidance would be appreciated.

Thanks again for the advice. Having some trouble uploading images. I'll figure it out and post later.

I think you are correct in that the Billig's set of books, though old, would have some value to certain collectors. Once you get 50 quality posts on this forum, you should be able to offer them for sale or trade to one of the members here.

That's good news, thanks. When the time is right I'll post about it, until then I'll focus on inventory and understanding.

Posting two pages of the Norwegian and the Topicals collections, each.

Hello there! I'm responding as best as I can with what I have learned so far I'm stamp collecting. Take it to a local dealer or join a local stamp club/community and see if someone would be kind enough to sit down with you and your collection and go through it with you. Also I believe you can post photos on this forum of your collection and I am sure we would all love to see what you have and give you our advice or input, as we LOVE stamps. Lol. Other than that I think you should hold onto it and who knows, the more research you delve into whilst trying to get rid of them, may just pull you into the stamp collecting world. It's pretty amazing stuff. Would love to see what you have. You can also email me if you want.

Well, I must say that your father had amazing penmanship. Lovely presentation on the first two Norway pages. If I am reading my Scott's album, correctly, the first page contains Scott 16-21, with a value (in my 2017 catalog) of $285. The second page is not a complete set of the 1877-78 issue, missing the top values of 1k, 1.50k, and 2k. I see Scott 22-31. However, the 25 ore lilac alone is catalogued at $150. If you find the missing top values, then this second issue would total a catalog value of $414. Very nice to a Norway enthusiast.

The US collection could also be of interest to some. You can start by posting a few pictures/scans of the oldest items, including any nice writeup pages like the ones you have shown. He may have some nice BOB (Back of the Book) items that would be of interest.

As far as the topicals, I don't put much value into them, but there are interested collectors out there.

Keep them coming, and good job on your posts.

Nicely done, mbaranovic. Well organized and everything is in mounts, even the cheaper used stamps, it just makes the pages look more balanced, rather than just putting the expensive stamps in mounts like most people do. This is a good sign to the love and care put into the collection.

p.s. Posts in this section "Introduce Yourself Here" do not credit to your post count, and you need 50+ posts in order to access additional features on the forum like emailing other members. I suggest you start a new thread(s) here in "World Classic Stamps", "US Classic Stamps", and/or Topicals, that way any replies that you post in those threads will count towards your 50 posts.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and encouragement, particularly zebraman. If you are interested, I will try to post a few more pages in the World forum. One of his stamps was contentious, so it would be great to get your opinions on it. I'll post it if I can figure out which it is.

My father was very proud of his collection, he spent about fifty years on it. I would take it up in his memory, but barring that, I think the best thing is to get it into the hands of people who will truly appreciate it.

Thanks again for the kind words.

mbaranovic

Beautiful pages full of stamps with meaning to your father. Please keep them in the family for future generations to enjoy.

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