Old Stamp Book collection. LOTS of stamps in it.

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Hollie

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Jun 23, 2014
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This book is large and in charge. Has thousands of stamps and random envelopes and letters in it. The pages are yellow and is quite full of stamps, new ones and used. Not sure if it is worthless? Or if there is anything in this book I should even be looking for that might be of value? I took pics of random pages as well. What do you guys think?

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So I'm not a international stamp expert, but I can tell you that all the US stamps you show are not worth anything, at all. Given the type of album and the quality/type/date of the US stamps, I would guess that the rest of the material isn't that great either, but you should of course verify for yourself. In the US we usually use the "scott stamp catalogue" to ascertain prices. You probably can find a copy at your local library. No need to worry if they are 10-15 years old, as the value doesn't change that much for most issues.

United States stamps after 1940 or so need to be unused, unhinged, and in pristine condition to have any value and frequently what little value they have is just the price of mailing a letter.
 

Thanks for the response. The stamp book has thousands and thousands of stamps in it from a plethora of countries, including ones that no longer exist. As a whole, sold as one giant unit, is it worthless to a stamp collector? In other words, if I listed it on ebay as no reserve, what can I expect to get for it? Or what pages or countries stamps should I be profiling when selling this book?
 

Also to note, since you have focused on stamps from the United States, there are many in this book dating back to the late 1800's. Not sure if that changes anything when assessing this collection.
 

Yeah, you need to post some pictures of the pre 1900 stamps. There could be significant value. I assumed you had picked the best US stamp pages to post.

The moisture damage on pages (e.g. the spotting) is a big deterrent when selling on eBay. If stamps are stuck to the pages, then also a huge problem. You need be truthful about the condition. In general, you want to take pictures of all pre-1900 stamps when you list the album. I would say take pictures of ALL of the pre-1900 stamps and let the market determine the value. If you have torn, stained, stamps or pages in the pictures then that automatically brings the value down as it calls into question the condition of the entire album.

If you show me some more pics of the older US stamps, then I can at least tell you if they need to be broken out on their own.
 

Oh, in general, stamps from first world countries will sell a lot better than those from 3rd world. e.g. German/Japan/UK sell great, Canary Islands, Tonga, Egypt, not so much. I haven't seen anything so far that would lead me to believe that this album should be broken up, but maybe that will change once you post the pre-1900 pics.
 

Okey Dokey. As per your request, here are some pre-1900 pics of 1st world countries, except for the one from Jamaica and Grenada :). I am with you and think this book should stay as a unit, however, I would be sympathetic to whomever needed a certain stamp to complete a collection if I had it in this book. Also, there are about 30 envelopes full of random stamps as well as letters and post cards.

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The older US stamps have nothing of value. The general quality of the stamps and the type of album leads me to believe that there isn't probably anything that should be broken out.

Here's another hint... Higher denominations in the pre-1900's stuff tend to be more valuable due to rarity.

Sorry I don't know much about the international stuff and my stamp catalog's have been packed away for a move. I guess I would spend a few minutes looking at the first two (oldest) GB stamps and the oldest Japanese stamps, looking for higher denominations or older rarities. Maybe someone else can chime in.

I still don't have a good sense of the scope of the album. People tend to get excited when sets are complete on album pages. They will buy to fill holes in a collection. If there are a couple of stamps they need, then might overpay. Right now, based on what you have shown, I'd be surprised if this album yielded more than $50 on eBay, assuming there are many more stamps I haven't seen.
 

Honestly, with the amount of time that it takes to catalog a collection like that, unless something stands out from the mass of it, the value is probably in the sheer variety. There is so much specialization in stamps that value is often very well hidden. China, and particularly PRC has been a really hot area in the last few years, but FC is generally right about the value being in first world countries (and their colonies.) If you have any pics of the Hungary section, that is the one area I could pic out value the easiest.
 

Oh very cool! That gave me a good starting point on value! My pre-1900 USA collection is not as full as the post 1900's! So do you think I can start the value for this whole book with mostly hinged, some unhinged, and included several envelopes and letters and so forth at 300$? Or should I just start an auction and see where it goes and sell it off? OR, should I hang on to this book? Will it go up in value at all by hanging onto it? Thank you for letting me nag you BTW. Your input is much appreciated! :)
 

That is super nice find, I collected stamps when I was quite young. Are there any pre 1970 Nigerian stamps, if so I may be interested in purchasing them.
 

old digger said:
That is super nice find, I collected stamps when I was quite young. Are there any pre 1970 Nigerian stamps, if so I may be interested in purchasing them.
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Old Digger I just took a peek, and indeed there are Nigerian stamps from the 30's. Here is a pic for you. :)

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Mackaydon said:
Strange as it may sound, the Album, itself, may have a higher value than the stamps inside.
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Nah that doesn't sound strange at all. The package of stamp hinges likely has more value than most of the stamps.
 

david680 said:
Honestly, with the amount of time that it takes to catalog a collection like that, unless something stands out from the mass of it, the value is probably in the sheer variety. There is so much specialization in stamps that value is often very well hidden. China, and particularly PRC has been a really hot area in the last few years, but FC is generally right about the value being in first world countries (and their colonies.) If you have any pics of the Hungary section, that is the one area I could pic out value the easiest.
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David680, here you go. Stamps from Hungary. What do you think?

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Hollie said:
Oh very cool! That gave me a good starting point on value! My pre-1900 USA collection is not as full as the post 1900's! So do you think I can start the value for this whole book with mostly hinged, some unhinged, and included several envelopes and letters and so forth at 300$? Or should I just start an auction and see where it goes and sell it off? OR, should I hang on to this book? Will it go up in value at all by hanging onto it? Thank you for letting me nag you BTW. Your input is much appreciated! :)
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Sorry Hollie, you misunderstood. In my opinion this is a start at .99 cent type auction and hope you get $50 bucks. The album will not go up in value over time, in my opinion. Stamps that were produced in huge numbers just don't have the rarity necessary to increase in value.

If you take a LOT of pictures and include them all in the auction, then perhaps you will have better luck.
 

FC-Treasure said:
Sorry Hollie, you misunderstood. In my opinion this is a start at .99 cent type auction and hope you get $50 bucks. The album will not go up in value over time, in my opinion. Stamps that were produced in huge numbers just don't have the rarity necessary to increase in value.

If you take a LOT of pictures and include them all in the auction, then perhaps you will have better luck.
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No need to apologize. I understood you perfectly. That guy is going to get close to 1k for his book. I would count on getting about 300$ for this one since it is in better condition and has just as many stamps, as well as envelopes full of stamps that have yet to be hinged.
 

Hollie said:
No need to apologize. I understood you perfectly. That guy is going to get close to 1k for his book. I would count on getting about 300$ for this one since it is in better condition and has just as many stamps, as well as envelopes full of stamps that have yet to be hinged.
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That guy is getting a high price because he has rarer stamps in his book that you do not have. Whomever owned that album originally probably spent a lot of money to populate it with stamps by buying them individually. Whomever owned your album probably populated it with "mystery packs" of worldwide stamps that they bought in bulk for very little money. I would guess the envelopes are what's left from the bulk lots when the person lost interest. These bulk mystery packs are pre-screened by dealers to make sure that nothing valuable is sold for a pittance. They will have a bunch of stamps worth nothing retail wise and they will take a handful of this, a handful of that, mix it together and sell it for much more than they are worth.

Definitely take pictures of everything and list it for whatever you wish you would get for it. Post a link to the auction for us to see, I'm certainly interested in seeing it all. I'm just setting your expectations for what is most likely going to happen.
 

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