Help with stamp value please.

[meld55003]

I recently found a large envelope containing literally hundreds of new stamps.  Some are individuals, or 2 or 3 or 4 joined together but I also have several full sheets (pages) of stamps.

I am sure they are worth more than face value but is there a source for me to use to get an idea of the values before I list them on-line ?

Thanks

Example;

 Well I uploaded a picture but no idea why it is not showing...

[mr.elmwood]

Why would they be worth more than face value?

We have a few stamp dealers, on this board, who sell mint and unused stamps for way less than face value.

[dutchman48]

Hi

You would have to give a better idea of what you have, country, year, etc

[fatdane]

If the stamps you have found are Canadian stamps with a face value of 5 cents to whatever the current Canada Post charge for a letter is, they will sell for LESS than face value in most cases . Most public libraries have a Scott Catalogue in their reference section. H ave a look there. If the value given in the Scott catalogue is 25 cents then they will trade for less than face value. If the Catalogue value for a stamp is $10 or more you MIGHT have something worthwhile.

[meld55003]

Less than face value eh?

never even considered that.  I always thought a full sheet was valuable to collectors.

Oh well, thanks for the info.

They are all Canadian Stamps, in perfect condition from the 1970's.

[purpleziggy434]

Hello

I too found a vast array of stamps inside the bottom of a box purchased at an estate sale.Some in not so great condition and others in very good condition.Stamps from all over the world.

I sought a member who sells stamps and asked him to critique the three lots I put on as a test.

Sadly I will not be retiring !

Good luck to you .

[diracdelta52]

I always thought a full sheet was valuable to collectors

Too many people saved these items. Stamp collecting is not a growing hobby. At my local stamp club I am a "younger" member and I am in my 60's. It is like 1990's hockey cards...more of them around than there are collectors that want them. Now the older guys or their estates are disposing of collections and accumulations and there are not enough new collectors to absorb it all.

You will find many lost of stamps like that here on eBay selling for perhaps 20% off face. I have purchased over $6000 in face from 2 local collectors in the past couple of months at 55% of face.

The really good early stuff in prime condition is a different ball of wax.

Likely it is best to use them as postage to mail your parcels.

[mr.elmwood]

Don't ya just hate when a bubble gets burst!

An ex MIL of mine collected Cdn stamps 60's, 70's. All the "recommended" stuff: sheets, corner blocks, etc. I bet the whole lot, many thousands of $$, was given away.

[widgetc]

Even worse were those that purchased "investor" stamp lots around 1980. Non-collectors here purchased many of these in stock books designed to fit in safe deposit boxes. They typically paid $5000 per book some purchased quite a few books. Today they will being $300 to $500 at best. Every year someone shows up at my stamp club with them. The most recent was this past Tuesday night.

[mr.elmwood]

And? Folks are still buying at the PO for "investment".

I remember thinking: "Aren't they printing BILLIONS of these?".

Stamps and cars, the two worst things you can put your money into.

[purpleziggy434]

Oh yea my bubble got burst !

I will just blow the whole lot out and that will be the end of my stamp venture.

[widgetc]

If you purchased early quality material at a good price you might well make a profit. At a recent stamp meeting a member brought a cover he just got a V.G. Green certificate for that he purchased for $40 about 45 years ago. He has been offered $2000 for it.. But common stuff will always be common.

If my hobby is fine dining or going to the theater once the money is spent only memories are left. Someone who collects stamps should do it for the joy of doing so. In the end even if money is lost it is OK if you had fun and more is left materially than would have been left from the dining or theater hobby.

The big losers are would be "investors" that had no fun and were looking to reap a big profit in a field they were not familiar with.

[ricarmic]

Mr E. Well I have to disagree a bit. If one just willy nilly buys cars or stamps to resell, then one won't make money. I like to use the example to stamp collectors that if one is investing in the stock market, one doesn't go out and buy one of every stock produced, or the pretty looking stocks, they investigate the company, its performance etc and purchase based on that as an investment. Widge is absolutely correct that a collection is something you should be doing for fun. If you want to do it for a profit the whole process you go through is completely different. There are people who are successfully investing in cars and stamps but they are spending their time figuring out how to make money moreso than having fun collecting..... sadly collectors and inheritors very often don't understand the difference between collecting and investing and that causes a lot of problems....and frustrations...

[femmefan1946]

When I was working in the family stamp store (closed last month) I had a set speech about the value of stamps:

Stamp collecting is a hobby, like golf or knitting. Don't go into it as anything else.

Stamps do hold their value * against inflation when:

1) they come from a country with a hard currency AND a literate population. So USA,Canada, GB, France, Germany but not Russia, Kenya, Cameroun, or East Germany.

2) They were produced before the Queen came to the throne. (Partly age, partly the flood of stamps produced by newly independent colonies for hard currency)

3) The stamp cost most of a man's daily wage the day it came over the PO counter. Because it is easy for a child to buy a penny stamp, but not one that costs a day's wages.

My example was the Canadian Bluenose (Scott #158). Canada has had a hard currency and high literacy rate for a long time. The Bluenose came out in 1929 before the Queen took the throne. And at 50cents, it cost a substantial amount of a workingman's wages at that time.

This leaves out varieties like the 5cent stamp that currently sells for $15,000, and condition and grade and the current stock of the dealer the stamp is being offered to or by. But its a start.

Getting closer to Victoria. I will have my postage lots back on eBay by November, if the good Lord's willing and my car doesn't get hit by any more suicidal rocks.

*Knitting wears out. And just try to sell last year's golf membership.

[nuvistors]

You can still use these stamps on your letters and packages.

[femmefan1946]

I have about $5000 worth ready to list as discount postage when we get settled.

The saddest item in the Postal Archives display at whatever Stephen Harper is calling the Museum of Civilization this week, is a postcard in Russian, sent from an unhappy immigrant in Ottawa to a friend in the UK, complaining that he cannot find work, his rooming house is expensive, he is running out of money for food and wishes he had never come to Canada.

It is stamped with a Seaway Invert.