Comments on: Hundreds and hundreds of stamps. What now?

Question: Hundreds and hundreds of stamps. What now?

Sijeka — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:42:20 -0800

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.

By: fire&wings

fire&wings — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:46:40 -0800

Try Spink.

By: crapmatic

crapmatic — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:00:42 -0800

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.

By: jessamyn

jessamyn — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:25:29 -0800

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

By: gimonca

gimonca — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 08:50:54 -0800

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.

By: HuronBob

HuronBob — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 09:33:59 -0800

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)

By: HopperFan

HopperFan — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 19:50:10 -0800

If you do end up selling some, would you please let me know? I'd be interested in the ones from Morocco.

By: LyzzyBee

LyzzyBee — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:34:41 -0800

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.