r/stampcollecting

I have a 6’x8’ closet filled with stamps— down from About 120 boxes (pandemic binge of purchasing several estate collections) where I got rid of envelopes, gold foil stamps, packaging, flyers, catalogues, first day covers, etc.

I’ve been thinking about continuing to organize the boxes by country. But with the albums, should I also take pages out of the albums by country and start over with albums? The albums are so hit or miss— trying to sift through these in a meaningful way somehow but concerned I’d be making a bigger problem down the road.

How would you organize this collection? I’ve got 3-4 hours a week for attention.

Hi there, so I acquired my grandfather's stamp collection among. Other things. Now I am a collector of other collectibles and have done some research amd wanted to see if I should look into any certain ones for variation

Stuck to the back page.

hi! I posted a few one of posts with images on another subreddit as I was getting started, but here’s the story.

Well it’s a giant collection from someone who used to support missionaries all over the world.

I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s in so far. I don’t really want to have the hobby (it is interesting but it already consumed too many hours of my life lol) but I do want to make some money back from it to give to my family that needs it. I don’t want to just go to a dealer I know will take steep cuts. Is it worth the endless hours of research and selling one off or in small collections? I have included some of the photos I’ve been using with ai but I’m finding that is really not trustworthy. There are more stamps than pictures! there is a lot more to do here…

For, example there are many many French stamps (including a big pretty $2 one some with hole punched perforations in the middle) and , some unique ones from Canada and Mexico, and one offs from at least a dozen or more other countries including some pretty old ones from England), there are seemingly bulk Christmas ones of various eras, loved ones and more like that. There are a few unique things like an earth stamp that was some kind of exchange, something that has us treasury stamped onto it, ones that have navy or aforesaid or airmail on it, some war time collectible one from Canada, some pretty Colombian ones, and  random things like a 12 and 1/2 cent blue bibles rsa stamp with goof foil, There are some prixie collections and a bunch of Toledo precancellation (two horizontal bars) of many kinds, plus quite a handful of other cities.  Some very old 1800 and early 1900s stamps including some 1902 Ben franklins, there are some envelope scraps from old letters but not the full letter and not the stamps on them….

There are hundreds and I’ve spent many hours just starting to figure out what’s here. I’m planning to go to a club soon to talk to real humans but I don’t want to overwhelm them with bags so that’s why I was trying to sort…. Any additional thoughts based on this?

I inherited a stamp collection from Cook Islands to Zanzibar...sadly my dad's girlfriend took the USA Canada collection and probably sold it. But from om what I have learned in only a couple hours of research is that most collections are not worth much monetarily speaking but might have more value as family heirlooms being passed down...so I will not be surprised if that is what I am told here in response to this post but figured I should ask a little more because it looks like some of the pages in my grandfather's collection have catalog and issue numbers from when he went to Stampex in London.

Some of the information I found about the health stamps from New Zealand sounded positive initially but I think the ones he had are not old enough to have much value but perhaps may be of some value to a historical type of collector because of the notations.

Would it be worth my time to bring it to the Stamp Expo that is happening in Minnesota in July? If so can someone give me suggestions for what type of dealer(s) I should look for?

Sorry I know I haven't done nearly enough research to speak intelligently about philately. 🤦🏼‍♀️

all are original

Hi All,

I really appreciate the time you have taken to help and point me in the right direction. I’ve been reading resources provided and learning how to separate out what I think is probably still kiloware. Some I’m less sure about and seems like some of these are coming up as possibly interesting.

Does anything stand out as really worth setting aside to sell or hold onto? If it’s worth $5 or more, I guess it’s worth my time given I’ve already poured in a lot of hours to try sorting. I’m think I have 1/3 left to sort.

Also, if I’m going to sell the whole lot, does having these type of items make it worth more than pure cents on the kilo? maybe at a club or something? if I do that or even donate is it worth sorting these out into themes? I’m trying to but I’m afraid it will all be for no reason if I am not sorting properly.

It seems like there is enough interesting stuff here to split the lot and sell on eBay but maybe I’m underestimating how much this would continue to take over my life and time is super valuable too…

Thank you again. I realize you’ve spent many many hours becoming educated in this and I’m mostly replaying another version of the same question. I’ve tried to make sure all but those think are probably less valuable are at least upright based on someones comment in the last one…. hands and body too sore from this to try to do that with the possible kiloware plates :D.

Heres a listing of some that came up in my searches:
First photo (and second, more zoomed): Mainly in the middle, are some interesting things. the outside as a fre I’m curious to look into more it I think most are kiloware.

Middle few: growing cities precancel collection. I guess my question is how big or eclectic or narrow or old does a pre cancel collection need to be to pique collector interest to buy a set? edit: the floor pic is actually in addition to the papers pics.

next: some that were labeled by original ….accumulator? … as revolutionary war. they seem common enough, but just sense checking.

remainders: looking again these are probably mostly kiloware? Thwas were earlier plates, but at the time they seemed interesting enough to not throw in my growing kiloware bags.

Thank you for your patience with me.

These were given to me by my grandmother and they belonged to her father.

Found this book of stamps, partner and I both unsure where they came from! Appear to be from Soviet Union (labelled почта ссср) and clearly celebrating space exploration/ aeronautics.

Is anyone able to tell me anything about any of these? Are there any of particular note? Would be so grateful to find out anything else about these- the illustrations are beautiful and the design is so striking!

Thanks in advance

I’ve been enjoying this set of natural history stamps from Monaco. There’s something charming about how much detail they fit into such a small space, almost like a miniature museum page

Hi stamp collectors. Back in the '70s, I collected stamps. Fell away from it in college and never resumed. Have a large 3-ring binder of stamps as well as 4 more books. Nobody in my family is interested in this. I'd like to give/donate this to someone/organization who would want it. Thoughts? Do teens today collect stamps? Could post to neighborhood lists if anyone has kids/grandkids interested. Would Senior Centers have any use? Any charities that would be interested? Thanks!