Stamps

[Seahawk]

My MIL's husband passed away a few years ago and she just gave me a few envelopes full of old stamps, 20's to the 50's, commemorative stuff, etc.

I am not a stamp collector nor do I wish to become one...but, I won't mind a heat of the day project.

Are there any collectors here and can you recommend a few websites to get started?

There are thousands of sites!

Thanks in advance.

[id10t]

Only have one friend that collects stamps, and he's stuck on one exact stamp as well - lemme know if you find any

[ckcarr]

The problem with stamp collections, like coin collections, is that when the collector passes away the survivors don't know what's what. My brother passed away almost four years ago and we discovered a large coin collection. You don't want to just take to a dealer because who can you trust? You lug in boxes of coins and say "What's this worth? And somewhere there might be that one coin out of 1,000 ... that might actually have value and disappears... So now it just sits in my sisters basement.

[MMiller]

I have this situation/problem as well. My grandfather was a collector and left them to my Dad. My Dad passes and now I have them. A few hundred coins and stamps and 0 understanding of what if any have real value. I researched the Internet till I was dizzy...

[ckelly78z]

Sounds like a good Winter project looking up values on the interwebs. I was given a large jar of older (1940-1980) Canadian coins when my Aunt died. After some research, I found that they were worth up to $5 each depending on age/condition. It was kind of exciting to count my money.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by MMiller

I researched the Internet till I was dizzy...

I called friend of mine and he recommended this site: https://findyourstampsvalue.com/

I did the $19.95 for a month deal and the site is great...the interface is perfect in my mind: Type in the description and the pictures of the stamps show up. No fricking brainer.

Originally Posted by ckelly78z

Sounds like a good Winter project looking up values on the interwebs...

Exactly what I am doing. I have been working for an hour or so and I am up to $500 or so being very conservative...even have an excel spreadsheet working!

This is actually kind of fun.

[Neilk]

Not adding anything to the conversation, but it seems like a stamp site could use a reverse image search tool where you could upload a sheet of stamps and their program would ID all the ones it could from a master image library.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by Neilk

Not adding anything to the conversation, but it seems like a stamp site could use a reverse image search tool where you could upload a sheet of stamps and their program would ID all the ones it could from a master image library.

Absolutely.

Update: 3/4's of the way through, need to stop and go feed horses then watch the PGA.

I am at $4,500 using the most conservative guidance.

I am going to let MIL know I'll find a way to get 1/2 that (I am assuming retail on the pricing) and give her the money.

This was fun. I can see how folks get roped in.

[Seahawk]

I have no illusions, btw:

[biosurfer1]

I had a coworker go through the same thing, inherited a TON of stamps and started going through them all. When he got up to $~$8000 in "value", he took them to a couple professionals to see what they would offer. The highest was $600 for everything he had (including everything he hadn't gotten to). Those "valuation" sites aren't worth the paper you wipe your butt with. Bottom line is practically no one collects stamps anymore so supply far out paces demand much like baseball cards... better used to actually send something which I actually thought was pretty cool. Send a package with half the front plastered with stamps and the post office still honors them.

[on2wheels52]

I took stamps once when I had the pawnshop. Learned you can't get face value

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by Seahawk

This is actually kind of fun.

Oh no, this is how it starts.....

[ckelly78z]

I was able to sell full year sets of coins, and older rarer coins on ebay, and got good money for them. This might be an idea for stamps as well...someone out there still wants them, but a dealer has to take the financial risk, and find that person that wants to buy them, hence the low offers. Rather like Pawn Stars !

[911 Rod]

I have a few binders of stamps from when my father passed away.
Maybe scan the pages and then what?

[Tobra]

Mom got a bunch of coins and stamps when her father passed away. Some of that stuff is worth bank.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

Oh no, this is how it starts.....

I do not have the collector gene, thank goodness. I do not collect anything. I have no issue purging books, old CD's that are on other media, etc.

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

I have a few binders of stamps from when my father passed away.
Maybe scan the pages and then what?

The site I linked to earlier has a one time fee and they take scans.

This was simply fun for me - what looked rare to me wasn't and what looked mundane popped a few times. These are all unused stamps, btw.

I had fun inside out of the heat.

Ckelly: Great idea. He had a lot of other stuff: Buddy L's, old trains, Matchboxes, cameras, etc.

I helped him sell his trains before he passed away. We did ok.