r/stamps

Hi everyone,
My dad has vascular dementia, and my parents are in the process of selling the home they’ve lived in for the last 51 years so they can move closer to me. The goal is to give them more support and help Dad stay in his own home for as long as possible.
While cleaning out the attic, we rediscovered Dad’s old stamp collection. None of us know much about stamp collecting, and we’re trying to figure out what we have before making any decisions.
I’ve attached a few photos of some of the albums. From what I can tell, there are Canadian stamps dating back to the early 1950s, along with larger souvenir sheets like the 1976 Olympic issues. There are multiple albums, and I honestly have no idea whether this is a beginner collection, something with collectible value, or mostly sentimental.
I’m not looking for someone to appraise it from a few photos, but I’d really appreciate advice on questions like:
Does anything in these photos stand out?
Is there anything I should be especially careful with?
Is it worth having the collection professionally evaluated?
What’s the best way to organize or photograph it if I want to learn more?
I know enough not to peel stamps off pages or handle them unnecessarily, but beyond that I’m starting from scratch.
Any advice for a complete beginner would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Some of the tools of the trade I put together from my uncle's collection

Are any of this listing have any worth? I’m fairly new to stamp collecting and I’m not sure if any of this are worth keeping for. What are your thoughts and opinions on these collectables?? And how much do they actually sold for now?? Are the prices they’re selling it for reasonable??

I tried googling but I couldn’t figure out the exact country where these stamps are from.

Hello friends! My collection hobby started ~3yrs ago when I found out US stamps release newly designed stamps every quarterly. I used to get one of each sheet that’s available to my post office but since it’s becoming an expensive hobby, I rarely get new sheets nowadays. Until recently a year ago, I got into the old stamps and wonder what type of stamps should I look and buy for? I saw some infos online but nothing really helped me at all, maybe the history of it. If anyone out there can explain a beginners guide for me on this whole collectors stamp, it would be a huge thank to you!

PS. Please include any websites or images that helped quiet a lot on your collectors stamp journey, would love to see it!

It is seldom that you need two pictures of a postage stamp but it is the case here. When Latvia gained independence in 1918 the situation was so dire that there was no paper to print their first stamps. The only paper available were unfinished military maps printed for the retreating German army. Consequently, there are six types - with the maps printed in two colors, one color, or white - printed on the margins of the maps, the most valuable - each available as perforated and unperforated. This map shows South-East of Lithuania, close to modern Lithuanian-Belorussian border.

Alright, so I just stumble upon the 22k US stamp on Facebook marketplace and I pretty much wanted to get a hole of them BUT how worth are they?? Is it true that they’re worth $1-$2 per piece? If I buy a whole book but there are some missing stamps, how much you think they should actually price it? I would not want to buy it over priced if it’s for decorations that don’t worth much.

I went out for some international stamp to send some postcrossing cards, and these stamps were in a display poster in the postoffice. I found them so cute I took a set home with me to add to my collection

Picked up this lovely 1949 Royal Mail Canada Miniature Mail Bag from Halifax, Nova Scotia.
It still has its original red souvenir tag attached, which reads:
“To you I send this souvenir… Good health and luck to you.”
The tag credits Novelty Mfg. Co. Ltd., Montreal as the manufacturer.
I’m curious if anyone here has more information:
Were these sold only in Halifax or across Canada?
How common are they today?
Has anyone seen similar examples or old catalog listings?
Always fascinated by how these small souvenir items preserve a piece of postal history. Would love to learn more from fellow collectors!

Family member passed away a while ago, it was a hoarder situation so we're still working our way through the chaos. This is one of countless things that weren't looked after as they should have been.

Where do I start with organising and valuing a collection like this? Or would it be simpler to just sell as a job lot?

Polish number 1 stamp was issued in 1860 by Russian authorities so these are numbers 2 to 5 but they are considered the first stamps of independent Poland. They were originally printed for local Warsaw city post but after the immediate overprinting served more broadly. You can see that old postage stamps were still used with German names such as Warschau instead of Warszawa. They were introduced very quickly, the date on the 25 fenig stamp is mere three weeks after the independence.

Carpathian Ukraine was the eastern part of Czechoslovakia which gained authonomy within the republic following the Munich agreement in the autumn of 1938. When in March 1939 Bohemia and Moravia were occupied by Germany while Slovakia became independent, CU proclaimed its independence on March 15th 1939 and immediately asked Romania for a union. The proposal was rejected and on the next day Hungarian army entered. Hungarians were replaced by the Red Army in late 1944 when the region was annexed by the USSR as a part of Ukraine which it has been ever since. The stamp was printed in Prague to commemorate the opening of the local Soym (Parliament), it entered circulation on March 15th and became invalid on the next day. The date is incorrect, the first and last session of the Soym took place on March 15th. It is one of four stamps which used the name Cesko-Slovensko, indicating the new federal organisation of the state.

Just a couple of stamps I was lucky enough to inherit 🕺

I stopped collecting stamps as a teen but these Kenyan stamps were just too nice to ignore. And I found my first Japanese stamp too!

My mom gave me this old suitcase that my great grandfather used to collect thousands of stamps. I've seen some dating back to 1890 and they are from countries all over the world. One day I hope to go through all them.