what to do with old stamp albums

Yorkielass

Thanks for this thread was going to post a new one on this subject but thought I'd search first.

I have some stamps that my Grandad has given me, lots from the earlier part of the last centuary and I don't really know what to do with them, but this thread confirms probably no value there, and I don't know enough about stamps to list on ebay I don't think. Will try and present them nicely I think.

Crowqueen

The tip is to look at stamps not as investment material but as things that people are interested in collecting and if you have some patience, you might make a little bit of money in dealing in them. They are not going to make a fortune but the hobby is not as dead as it may appear.

cestlavie

when i was doing probate for someone and found two stamp albums, i i found it helpful to research via library and their stanley gibbons books in their reference section. it was a littel laborious, but i did discover a few stamps that were listed as being worth well over a £100 each. of course condition is everything, but this knowledge meant that i did then know an approximate value and i took it to an auction house (this was in the days before ebay - now, if it were mine to do, i'd photo some of the pages and put a min on my listing!). best of luck

emmbrook

Stamps from the early part of the 1900s might potentially have some items of value. If you do use a catalague to get a rough idea of value you need to keep in mind that the actual market price may be only a quarter to half the catalogue value. The condition is important too - a rare stamp that's in poor condition won't be worth a great deal. Good luck!

Azari

It's worth noting that mint stamps from before WWII are usually worth something to someone. Some used stamps from that period are worth listing, particularly higher values.

I don't know what the ebay rules are but you see quite a few people offering dross on ebay at 99p and continually relisting it if it doesn't sell.

The problem is that you really need a catalogue to see what might be worth selling (but don't, as emmbrook said, get too excited at the valuations as they are ridiculous), and to find out whether or not you have complete sets (of significant contiguous part sets).

The stuff that is likely to be worthless are pages of used stamps that do not appear to be be in series or sets.

porto_bello

Generally speaking, older stamps that have higher face values are rarest and most valuable. If it were me, I'd have a look to see if there are any older stamps (Queen Victoria, Edward VII & George V) from the Commonwealth, which show values in shillings or higher.

Try looking these up: Larger libraries usually have a copy of the annual Stanley Gibbons Catalogue. It doesn't matter if it's s few years old - older stamps tend not to dramatically lose their values. If you find one rarity, it'll be worthwhile.

Crowqueen

I don't know what the ebay rules are but you see quite a few people offering dross on ebay at 99p and continually relisting it if it doesn't sell.

There aren't any rules regarding what you can list - if you have the money to subsidise unsellable stock you can listing ad infinitum. The situation is worse on the free listing sites where people list stuff like cancelled-to-order USSR stamps individually - which have no value on their own and only sell well in bulk. As a USSR collector, I look for genuine postally used stamps (rare since the Soviet Union encouraged the use of prepaid postal stationery so they had stamps to export to collectors; some of these envelopes are works of philatelic art on their own), and despair at some sellers who think they have hit the jackpot with such ephemera but can afford to list it forever because they don't pay anything to list. Which is why free listing sites get spammed up with unsellable lots.

The stuff that is likely to be worthless are pages of used stamps that do not appear to be be in series or sets.

Hence the value of organising similar stamps into themed lots so that people who only collect birds or trains or famous people can find them more easily and will pay a little bit more for sorted lots than just for what is called "kiloware" - loose, junk stamps.

porto_bello

Crowqueen wrote: »

My advice is always to sort the stamps for sale into country or thematic lots: either you get more for them that way than just loose or in clumsy and heavy-to-send albums, or you realise you enjoy them and become a hobbyist yourself.

This is excellent advice. I have found football and Olympics themed collections and First Day Covers are still very popular, particularly amongst Western European and US buyers.

Crowqueen

The market is very flat at the moment, once the economy gets going again hopefully the stamps market will be rejuvenated.

mobile48

I found one also but I've been using the stamps to send out my ebay parcels. Need to add in pairs to make the half pennies count.