Stamp Collecting 2024

[gonefishin]

I've been noticing a big uptick in stamps selling at auction for pretty good penny. Is stamp collecting coming back - maybe I'm missing something. I usually do, it's tough staying up with the times for me.

[philliesfan]

I hope so. It was a lot of fun when I was young. I think stamp collecting is much bigger worldwide than in the US.

The more desireable and higher grade will always keep their value.

I have been buying some lots on ebay and selling off parts until I recoup my money then I stick the rest in boxes to go through and sell o ebay when I retire in a few years.

Bob

[bnorth]

I believe it was 5th grade when we had some classes about stamp collecting. I started a very small collection back then and someplace still have a few of those stamps. I have only ever met one person who had a huge stamp collection. My brothers grandma had several albums full of stamps back in the 70s when I was a kid.

[Snapolit1]

Loved collecting stamps and to this day, decades later, I absorbed a lot of US and world history collecting stamps. Was tremendous fun as a kid receiving "approvals" in the mail and going to stamp show.

Stamps turned out to most people to be a dreadful "investment". I know people to this day that use mint commeratives from the 40s and 50s to mail letters (often afffixing 5 or 6 old stamps on an envelope). Better value to just use them as postage than to sell to someone for 15 cents on the dollar.

Know two families that inherited and had to deal with Dad's stamp collection. Not good stories. Like pleading with someone to buy albums of stamps.

And yes, we all know about the Inverted Jenny and the handful of other stamps that have become iconic and skyrocked in value. It's not many.

[gonefishin]

I've been studying it the last few weeks as I started seeing stamp collections going for big bucks, and I have several autographed first day issue envelopes (Mantle, Mays, etc.) but always stayed away from stamps because it seemed so specialized.

I would love to hear anyone's opinion about the future of the market as I'm thinking about snatching up some rare ones when I see them - however - I know nothing about them so I'm going to be cautious.

[WhatsNext]

For anyone interested, I'm trying to unload around 1200 stamps right now. No clue what, if anything they're worth. Asking $50 but please feel free to pm me with offers:

https://net54baseball.com/showthread...61#post2398561

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

Loved collecting stamps and to this day, decades later, I absorbed a lot of US and world history collecting stamps. Was tremendous fun as a kid receiving "approvals" in the mail and going to stamp show.

Stamps turned out to most people to be a dreadful "investment". I know people to this day that use mint commeratives from the 40s and 50s to mail letters (often afffixing 5 or 6 old stamps on an envelope). Better value to just use them as postage than to sell to someone for 15 cents on the dollar.

Know two families that inherited and had to deal with Dad's stamp collection. Not good stories. Like pleading with someone to buy albums of stamps.

And yes, we all know about the Inverted Jenny and the handful of other stamps that have become iconic and skyrocked in value. It's not many.

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

[gonefishin]

Originally Posted by JustinD

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

Thanks Justin, I don't know the background on stamps like the Colombian Expo, etc., so I think that why it's hard for me to wrap my head around some of the $ I see being paid for stamps. There is seller on ebay, Dr. Bob's stamps, that routinely sells stamps for big bucks. I checked his website, and for all I've read he is pretty legit.

I guess it's like cards, know what to buy and how much to pay.

Any insight is appreciated. Thanks. Jim Hoskins

[Snapolit1]

Ah the Graf Zeppelins. Really loved those. Showed to my dad once at a show and he was equally entranced. He always talked about buying them but never did. I wonder how they have appreciated over time. Beautiful stamps.

Originally Posted by JustinD

This is how I feel about my years of stamp collecting. The knowledge of history was invaluable and I love what it gave me.

I doubt any boost is on the way as other than the gold, there just isn’t the interest from new collectors…for many reasons.

The inverts and key errors will always be valuable. Key sets like the Colombian exposition and Graf Zeppelins. However, I fully agree…a hobby renewal is far more than unlikely

[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.

[todeen]

Thai stamps: 1) Southeast Asia version of the Ramayana 2) Muy Thai 3) Life of the Buddha 4) Royal boat parade
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[todeen]

More Thai stamps: 1) Kings 60th birthday 2) 50 years as king 3) Thai folklore 4) Historical Hindu temples, some part of Angkor Wat civilization...I visited the temple second from bottom.
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[steve B]

Those pages are really wonderful. Are they made by their post office?

[todeen]

Originally Posted by steve B

Those pages are really wonderful. Are they made by their post office?

I'm not sure who made the collector versions. When I bought stamps from dealers and collectors, I had the option to buy the nice artistic display. They also had envelopes with the first day cancelation stamp. They were usually set up in front of the post office. When I bought stamps direct from the post office, they were in standard sheets. It may be possible that a larger post office sold collector versions. I was usually in rural towns with smaller offices.

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[philliesfan]

Some are issued by the Post Office as they are souvenir sheets. The top one (in the second post directly above, with eight stamps (circles to the right on the stamps) are Scott catalog # 1197-1204 stamps as a souvenir sheet and is valued at about $35.00 mint unhinged. I did not look for the others yet.
Bob

Attic find 1950’s pre printed 2 & 3 cent postal cards except for the bottom 2