Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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Tizer
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Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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The price of shares in Stanley Gibbons, the seller of rare postage stamps, have been steadily rising, from about 97p in the credit crunch to 235p last week. Well-off folk eager to find a place to invest their money find that the price of gold has gone too high and they are now buying rare stamps, which is boosting trade for Stanley Gibbons. We are talking stamps costing hundreds, thousands, even hundreds of thousands of pounds each. But if you get any ideas about shifting spare money into rare stamps, beware - the rogues out there have cottoned on to this already and poor quality stamps are being sold at extortionate prices to people who know nothing about stamp values. A gold bar is a gold bar and you buy it by weight and carat (purity), nothing more. Rare postage stamps are a different kettle of fish altogether and two examples of what appear to be the same stamp to an unwary investor could be different in value by 100-fold or even much more. It's an extremely complex business and very easy for outsiders to be sold a dud.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

Post by Wendyf »

Is it a good time to sell stamp collections Tiz? My Dad built a collection back in the 80's partly as an investment, partly as a hobby. He specialized in Israeli stamps.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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A perfect area for the get rich quick kids. But ad P T Barnum once said, there's a sucker born every minute.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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Sorry to have to say this, but be prepared to be disappointed Wendy. Most collections will bring only a small fraction of the current selling price of the stamps. The dealers look for any high value stamps in the collection and then write off the rest - they are only interested in the high values because it's not worth their time selling on the others. So the collection gets valued on those `premium' stamps only. The value of these good stamps depends on quality - even the stamps with the potentially high values will get disregarded if they are not of high quality. The type of stamps that are causing all the excitement among investors now are (or at least should be) excellent, perfect examples but very, very expensive. The rest of the stamp collecting world carries on as usual, a hobby not an investment. I suggest you find a local stamp dealer and ask him about valuing the collection - he should at least be able to take a quick look and give you some idea of the general quality of the stamps in the collection. To provide a proper estimate you'll probably have to pay him because he'll need to work his way through looking for those relatively high value specimens. If you get an idea of value you then have options - sell to the dealer or, if the value is high, go to an auction house. Or if you are used to selling on Ebay you could put the collection on with a starting price at the value quoted to you and see if you get some mad individuals who'll bid it up to a much higher price! Good luck.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

Post by PanBiker »

I have my Grandfathers collection accumulated during the early days of Air-Mail in the USA. He had a cousin over in the states and also contacts in the USA that he traded with. He amassed a good number of first day covers for that period where they were pushing the various routes across the USA and Canada. 1st flights and all that, some really off the beaten track places. The collection was passed on to my dad when Grandfather died in 1960 as he also collected but mainly UK commemoration and first day covers. I inherited the lot when dad died. I have hundreds of of UK first day covers and special commemoratives which I did have valued 15 years ago. They were not deemed to have a lot of value then but I only sent the British stuff. I have been meaning to catalogue the early USA Air route stuff and do some research but never got round to it. Maybe I should have a look the net.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

Post by Wendyf »

Thanks Tiz, we realized a while ago that there wasn't a fortune to be made, just hoped that things might be looking up!
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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Wendy, it's a strange market now - the expensive stuff is in great demand as an alternative to gold for investors and because of rich folk overseas (e.g. good, rare Chinese stamps have become very desirable now among the Chinese middle class but the ordinary stamps suffer the general recession effect of people having less money to spend (although demand from collectors always stays firmer than demand from consumers in general).

Ian, the early 1st flight covers should be valuable and it would be interesting to get them assessed. But in the end it comes down to deciding whether you'd be better to keep them for your own pleasure, especially if you are not hard pushed for money!

The most profitable way to sell is often to find a collector with that specific interest, for example Israel stamps for Wendy and US 1st flights for Ian. They will pay higher prices per item than a dealer, but if you want to sell the whole collection they may not want everything - so its' `swings and roundabouts'!
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

Post by Whyperion »

Both Wendy's and Panbiker's may have a little extra value as generalists from one country may be short of a few stamps to complete their collection , and with the subject matter someone with an interest in air travel as well might pay a small premium. Its the time and effort of finding the interested buyers that is quite difficult.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

Post by Moh »

Perhaps I should sell mine which includes a penny black on its original cover stamped 1840.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

Post by PanBiker »

What I should check for in Granddads collection is an "Inverted Jenny",that was the name of the aeroplane depicted on some of the early USA air mail stamps. Apparently some were printed upside down. I saw reference on an auction site to one example selling for $160,000. An odd one of those would be welcome!
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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Moh, Penny Blacks can be worth anything from very little to a lot, depending on many factors. There are thought to be over a million still in existence. The following is copied from a web page devoted to Penny Blacks LINK:

The usual reason given for there still being so many Penny Blacks is that, at the the time they were in use, stamps were put on the letter, not on an envelope. The letters were folded and delivered. People were more likely to keep a letter than an envelope, so more of the stamps survived.

"How much is a Penny Black stamp worth? In 2008, a Penny Black in poor condition can cost as little as £15. A reasonable looking Penny Black will cost you £25. A better quality specimen might cost £60 to £100. A stamp with unusual attributes can cost up to £250. Mint examples are considerably more valuable – expect to pay anything from £1800 upwards. By contrast, a used Penny Red can cost as little as £1.50. Penny Black stamps sold in presentation folders, with certificates of authenticity tend to be priced at well above market rates."

Ian, inverted jennys....unlike my Players cigarette cards of 1930s aeroplanes which have two inverted...but they are both trainers and shown this way on purpose!
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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I think I am going to sell my stamp collection, started in the late 1940s, it is not doing it any good stuck in a cupboard.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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Good time to do it Moh. I often think I hang on to too much stuff! Am seriously considering building more bookshelves.....
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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In amongst my great aunts belongings I found a set of gold ear studs plus 3stamps dated , I think the 1935 jubilee. I wonder what they are worth and why are they in the box with the earrings?
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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Ready in case she wanted to return them to whoever had given them to her?
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

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Sue, the 1935 Silver Jubilee stamps can be bought from Stanley Gibbons, a full set of the four (1/2d, 1d, 11/2d, 21/2d) for £6.00 new, or £7.00 used. These are prices for stamps in what Gibbons defines as `Fine condition'.
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Re: Postage stamp collecting and postal history

Post by Sue »

Thanks Tiz. They are now stored safely with the earrings in her box, that I have inherited. It is full of interesting stuff including 3 , what look like, 1920s lipsticks. Tiny and bright red
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