Hundreds and hundreds of stamps. What now?

November 29, 2008 7:42 AM

I was going trough my late grandfather's belongings and found a box choke-full of stamps. Are they valuable? What should I do with them?

The box contains hundreds and hundreds of stamps which are used (i.e I suspect he received a lot of letters and collected the stamps as they arrived). They are daed from the 1920s to the 1980s and originiated from a lot of different countries - from Peru to Morrocco, but mainly Europe.

My grandmother would like to know if they are worth anything, but there are so many of them, I don't see myself googling each and everyone of them (not sure it's even possible?). So my questions are:

1. Are stamps still valuable if they have been used?
and
2. Can I contact anyone for an appraisal? I live in London if that helps.

posted by Sijeka to sports, hobbies, & recreation (7 comments total)

Try Spink.
posted by fire&wings at 7:46 AM on November 29, 2008

My strategy on this would be to scan them with a flatbed scanner, packing as many stamps as you can into a single image, then post the pics in an appropriate place of a philatelic discussion forum. From the "oohs" and "ahhs" you should be able to figure out what kind of collection you have and roughly where the gems are.
posted by crapmatic at 8:00 AM on November 29, 2008

Generally speaking if the stamps are just in a box and not stored in any sort of sleeves or anything else and have been cancelled, they're unlikely to be valuable. I think crapmatic's advice is still good, but I wouldn't get your hopes up. There are a lot of nifty crafty-type things you can do with old stamps even if they're not particularly valueable
posted by jessamyn at 8:25 AM on November 29, 2008

Your local public library probably has a stamp catalog like Scott or Michel. A handful of stamps and a few minutes flipping through pages on your own would probably give you a general notion of value, and help you decide if you want to ask further.

Sorting for duplicates is worth doing, too, to help the process along.
posted by gimonca at 8:50 AM on November 29, 2008

It is unlikely that they are worth much, unless, by some outstanding stroke of luck, there is a rare stamp in there. (I'm a stamp collector)
posted by HuronBob at 9:33 AM on November 29, 2008

If you do end up selling some, would you please let me know? I'd be interested in the ones from Morocco.
posted by HopperFan at 7:50 PM on November 29, 2008

Stanley Gibbons on The Strand in London will assess them but it costs £5 even if they tell you they are worth nothing.

I'd keep them for future generations, they will at least have some historical value then.
posted by LyzzyBee at 6:34 AM on December 2, 2008