Stamp Collecting 2024

[todeen]

When I lived in Thailand I collected stamps and currency. I'm on a hockey trip this weekend, but I will post them when I get home. Their artwork was fantastic even if value was meaningless once I returned to US. I didn't care about rarity. I figured if I ever put together a shelf display that they would be great items to add color. They had pictures of everything. They had dealers in front of many post offices selling discontinued stamps. I wanted stamps that were quintessentially Thai. So I bought stamps of the royal family, tuk tuks, muy Thai, ceremonial dancing, folklore, the Buddha, etc. It's a walk down memory lane when I come across the binder and peruse it.

The one item I never collected was religious pendants. I was a Christian missionary and it didn't seem right to buy something that Buddhists put spiritual value in, but which was only an artistic item to me. However, they were cool and they chronicled the historical aspect of Buddhism. Different poses have various meanings. Some pendants had famous monks from bygone eras. A lot of people I talked to stated that new monks were not worth spit because they live a plush lifestyle. The best monks were solo, living in forests, trying to survive. The sellers resembled MR. T because they wore so many around their necks.

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[gonefishin]

Robert, congratulations on your purchase! It will be interesting sorting through them.

Eddie, I have never seen a postage stamp graded by PSA. I had no idea they would even grade a postage stamp! Never too old to learn I guess. Thanks for posting.

I'm learning more every day about stamps.

Thanks for everyone for their information. Keep it coming!

[steve B]

PSE began grading stamps years ago, I'm not sure if they are or were related to PSA, but they used a slab that was similar to the ones used for coins.

Slabbed stamps got little traction, most stamp collectors prefer an album - maybe something about the 150+ years of albums being the main storage...

I haven't checked, but I think most of the big US expertizers will give grades on the certificate. The same debate about that being a good thing or not had been going on since it became a thing there.

Unlike cards, you can get a certificate just stating if it's genuine or not, and as a bonus listing any flaws spotted at the time it got the certificate. Or you can get that same certificate with a grade. The couple I had a friend send in for me I didn't bother with a grade. I think PF won't grade if a stamp has faults, so the grade is pretty much just centering.


PSA has essentially no traction in the stamp hobby. All I've seen them grade are sports related stamps, and the asking prices are usually pretty well insane. That same Ruth Stamp can be had in full sheets, occasionally for under face value if it's in a bulk lot of "discount postage" basically anything a dealer has too much of (Nearly everything after about 1930 or so.) It's bought in bulk, for under face value, because few people want the nuisance of sticking 8 stamps on a letter. It's also sold in bulk, often for a percentage under face value as well. The ruth stamps usually get pulled out because some dealers have an easier time selling them for more.

[gonefishin]

When I look at stamps in binders, going all the way back to the 1800s, I am amazed at how much work, research, and man hours go into putting something like that together. Most was accomplished prior to the internet, when research was done manually from reference books. Today finding information, etc. is at our fingertips. I couldn't imagine doing that before the internet! Hell, let's say in 1966, how would a regular person find a China Stamp from 1899, properly identify it, and then safeguard it for all these years. Mind blowing. Sports card collecting pales in comparison to stamps when it comes to research.

It's too bad card collectors didn't learn more from stamp collectors in the 1930s!

[steve B]

Originally Posted by gonefishin

When I look at stamps in binders, going all the way back to the 1800s, I am amazed at how much work, research, and man hours go into putting something like that together. Most was accomplished prior to the internet, when research was done manually from reference books. Today finding information, etc. is at our fingertips. I couldn't imagine doing that before the internet! Hell, let's say in 1966, how would a regular person find a China Stamp from 1899, properly identify it, and then safeguard it for all these years. Mind blowing. Sports card collecting pales in comparison to stamps when it comes to research.

It's too bad card collectors didn't learn more from stamp collectors in the 1930s!

By the early 1900s there were catalogs that identified and priced most stamps. (I forget when the earliest one was, but it was well before 1900. )
Many of them were literal mail order catalogs. And the companies that made them are still around, Scott in the US, along with Harris. Stanley Gibbons in the UK. Most have separated the publishing company from the stamp dealing company.

A guy named Luff wrote a huge book about the stamps of the US around 1902. He worked from documents held by the post office department, but did make some mistakes. And didn't really get into plate varieties.

In the 1930's was when some of the incredibly detailed study was done. Plating of many of the 1850's issues was attempted. Picture the work Pat has done on T206 with the plate scratches, only there were documents telling how big the sheets were and how many different plates there were.
And in the 30's, those stamps were relatively common and inexpensive.

Stuff is still being discovered about those stamps 170+ years after they were issued.

The 1873 officials I collect still haven't been fully plated, and most only have one 100 subject plate. The tiny differences are there, but for some there just are so few pairs to know what goes next to what.

[Lobo Aullando]

Maybe I missed it, but the Scott 855 needs to be in here somewhere.

[bigfanNY]

Stamps were the first thing I collected. Went with my Dad to MSG stamp show in 1969. Collected mostly Animal stamps..gave it up pretty quickly as Baseball cards took over. For now I have this from my Great Aunt. I will pass it in to one of my Grandkids when they are old enough and hopefully show interest.