Stamp Collecting 2024

[Snapolit1]

Loved collecting stamps and to this day, decades later, I absorbed a lot of US and world history collecting stamps. Was tremendous fun as a kid receiving "approvals" in the mail and going to stamp show.

Stamps turned out to most people to be a dreadful "investment". I know people to this day that use mint commeratives from the 40s and 50s to mail letters (often afffixing 5 or 6 old stamps on an envelope). Better value to just use them as postage than to sell to someone for 15 cents on the dollar.

Know two families that inherited and had to deal with Dad's stamp collection. Not good stories. Like pleading with someone to buy albums of stamps.

And yes, we all know about the Inverted Jenny and the handful of other stamps that have become iconic and skyrocked in value. It's not many.

[gonefishin]

I've been studying it the last few weeks as I started seeing stamp collections going for big bucks, and I have several autographed first day issue envelopes (Mantle, Mays, etc.) but always stayed away from stamps because it seemed so specialized.

I would love to hear anyone's opinion about the future of the market as I'm thinking about snatching up some rare ones when I see them - however - I know nothing about them so I'm going to be cautious.

[WhatsNext]

For anyone interested, I'm trying to unload around 1200 stamps right now. No clue what, if anything they're worth. Asking $50 but please feel free to pm me with offers:

https://net54baseball.com/showthread...61#post2398561

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Loved collecting stamps and to this day, decades later, I absorbed a lot of US and world history collecting stamps. Was tremendous fun as a kid receiving "approvals" in the mail and going to stamp show.

Stamps turned out to most people to be a dreadful "investment". I know people to this day that use mint commeratives from the 40s and 50s to mail letters (often afffixing 5 or 6 old stamps on an envelope). Better value to just use them as postage than to sell to someone for 15 cents on the dollar.

Know two families that inherited and had to deal with Dad's stamp collection. Not good stories. Like pleading with someone to buy albums of stamps.

And yes, we all know about the Inverted Jenny and the handful of other stamps that have become iconic and skyrocked in value. It's not many.

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by JustinD

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

Thanks Justin, I don't know the background on stamps like the Colombian Expo, etc., so I think that why it's hard for me to wrap my head around some of the $ I see being paid for stamps. There is seller on ebay, Dr. Bob's stamps, that routinely sells stamps for big bucks. I checked his website, and for all I've read he is pretty legit.

I guess it's like cards, know what to buy and how much to pay.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks. Jim Hoskins

[steve B]

I still collect. Started around 5 and never really stopped.

It's like many of the older hobbies, the really good items are bringing good prices. While the very common are not. A typical price to pay for a collection or accumulation that has some fairly nice things is around 10% of the catalog value of the nicer items.
Most US stamps from the 30s on are as has been pointed out, used as discount postage. Bought that way, maybe 80% of the face value, sometimes less.
Even some from earlier get used that way by stamp collectors. If a stamp catalogs 50 cents or a dollar but has major flaws, it won't sell at all.

Most can be bought for 50% of catalog value.

The fun and the interesting stuff you can learn about are the key, and even some big ticket items don't make good investments.
Generating interest with younger people without the whole "you can find rare expensive stuff with no real effort" angle is hard.
That being said, I do find some pretty good deals, and some really good deals by knowing specialized info, that most dealers can't spend the time to be bothered with.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by steve B

I still collect. Started around 5 and never really stopped.

It's like many of the older hobbies, the really good items are bringing good prices. While the very common are not. A typical price to pay for a collection or accumulation that has some fairly nice things is around 10% of the catalog value of the nicer items.
Most US stamps from the 30s on are as has been pointed out, used as discount postage. Bought that way, maybe 80% of the face value, sometimes less.
Even some from earlier get used that way by stamp collectors. If a stamp catalogs 50 cents or a dollar but has major flaws, it won't sell at all.

Most can be bought for 50% of catalog value.

The fun and the interesting stuff you can learn about are the key, and even some big ticket items don't make good investments.
Generating interest with younger people without the whole "you can find rare expensive stuff with no real effort" angle is hard.
That being said, I do find some pretty good deals, and some really good deals by knowing specialized info, that most dealers can't spend the time to be bothered with.

Congrats on sticking with collecting all this time Steve! What is your take on grading stamps? Does increase the value? Let's say one has a 1847 Scott #1, would it make sense to have that stamp graded or stamps from the Columbian Expo?

[steve B]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

Congrats on sticking with collecting all this time Steve! What is your take on grading stamps? Does increase the value? Let's say one has a 1847 Scott #1, would it make sense to have that stamp graded or stamps from the Columbian Expo?

It's been like card grading, a lot of resistance in the hobby, but some crazy prices for perfect stamps.
The first company tried slabbing them, and that didn't get much traction, fighting the whole mounting a stamp in an album thing that was established almost since there were stamps wasn't a winning play.

For some issues it can add value, but only at the upper tiers. It's mostly about centering, and stamps that were poorly centered nearly every time benefit the most. Some very cheap stamps have sold for silly prices, but only ones that are really incredible. The top grade is 100J or 100 - the J is for jumbo, one having all borders larger than normal.

The people who want a Scott#1 generally aren't into grading. So the market is just like ours, the handful of registry type collectors that want something someone else says is the best.
The Columbians are maybe more gradeable, but have to be very nice.

I'll use sb1s stamps as examples. Noting first that they're all very nice for the respective issues. I wouldn't reject any of them. Maybe a bit picky on price, but they're all good.

The #1 five cent Frankiln. Presents well, but has one corner cutting off a bit of the border. Very typical on that issue, and much better than most. I wouldn't grade it.

The #2 the ten cent Washington. Just barely what we call a four margin stamp, with the full narrow frame present. It's an excellent example, one all but the most pick or well funded collector would be proud to have.

If they have any special features, like double transfers or something like that, a certificate would add, but only saleability as that variety.

The strip of three - A nice strip, the margins on most plates for the imperfs were very very narrow. Not something I'd grade, but might pay to get a certificate with the plate positions if it includes one of the better ones. I can't tell from what I see, the difference can be substantial. I only have the most common. the others range from "ask permission" to "you're not spending a new car on a stamp" prices.

Of the others. I might grade the three cent Washington... maybe. Not an expensive stamp, but It's a really great example, all four margins, neatly cut.
But that just slightly less large lower margin would probably keep it out of the very top grades. If I was into grading, yes. If I thought it was a #10 and not an 11, yes.

The five cent next to it.... Maybe. I don't think it would get a high grade, but for that issue it's as good as most people can afford. A certificate would verify that it has no faults(damage ranging from trivial to massive) and that would be worth doing as the margins on these were also very small.

The other two are also very nice, I'd be glad to add either to my collection if I didn't already have them. But they just wouldn't grade high enough.

https://auction.siegelauctions.com/sale/1305?PageNo=12

Lot 2234 on this page is a good example of a graded stamp, catalog value is 100 I could find a normal copy for 50 easily, it sold for 400. It's pretty spectacular as far as centering goes, including parts of the stamps next to it.

https://auction.siegelauctions.com/sale/1305?PageNo=19

Lot 2426... Catalogs $8... Graded 95J. Sold for 160!

Browsing that auction will give you a good idea of the higher end of things. Their other auctions are also fully online, and can be real eye openers.

Just like with cards, the ability to tell if a stamp is THAT nice is the key.

I will say that the expertizers /graders have less work, take more time, and are nearly always correct.

[gonefishin]

Steve, thanks so much for your insight, knowledge and perspective on grading. I've learned a lot already!

I'll check out the auction and information you provided. I'm also glad to hear there are some stamp collectors out there and still active!

I'm finding stamps to be very interesting and unlike today's card market, still affordable.

[Snapolit1]

Ah the Graf Zeppelins. Really loved those. Showed to my dad once at a show and he was equally entranced. He always talked about buying them but never did. I wonder how they have appreciated over time. Beautiful stamps.

Originally Posted by JustinD

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

[sb1]

Here's a few early imperfs...

[gonefishin]

Those are fantastic.

Do you, or anyone, have knowledge of foreign stamps i.e. China, France, etc.?

[steve B]

I have a full set of catalogs, and my wife collects France, so I'm pretty good with France. Not quite as good as with US or Germany.

China is not usually as complex, I have an older specialized catalog, but it doesn't get into many varieties and stuff like that.

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by steve B

I have a full set of catalogs, and my wife collects France, so I'm pretty good with France. Not quite as good as with US or Germany.

China is not usually as complex, I have an older specialized catalog, but it doesn't get into many varieties and stuff like that.

My stamp collection arrived, and it far exceeded my expectations. There were 2 albums of US Stamps contained in 2 Scott Binders, ranging from 1947 forward. I'll try to get some pictures posted in the next few days, but I think there are some really nice stamps in the collection. There was also a home made (looks like an accounting binder) album that contained stamps for about every country in the world. Most of that collection ranged mainly from mid 1800's to around 1930's, with a few later stamps. Unlike the US collection where the stamps are stored in like individual sleeves, the world stamps were all hinged. There is a nice mix of used - unused mint in the binders.

Since Steve is familiar with France, I thought I would start by adding the France Stamps from the world binder. There are several other French territorial type stamps, but the ones pictured here were in the French section. Anything - anyone - could tell me to educate me on the French stamps is appreciated.

Thanks and enjoy.

[sb1]

Originally Posted by sb1

Here's a few early imperfs...

These are all dupes for me. I am open to selling the group. $1,800 for all if anyone is interested.

Scott