Inherited A Large Collection - Looking For Info

What you do with the materialin terms of storage rather depends on what you want to do with the stamps. If you want to sell them, you may as well leave them as they are and put them on ebay. Ifyou want to keep them, it would be worth putting the loose material in a decent stock-book.

* * * Moved by Moderator to more appropriate thread. The new user may want to introduce themselves in a separate thread since this one was moved * * *

I appreciate the suggestions. Not sure what we will do with them yet. I may end up donating to the local stamp club if there is nothing of appreciable value. I want to do what is best for the family and if they can benefit from selling that's what we would do.

Thank you all for the welcome and comments.

Not much $ value here. Not worth much effort either. I would consider donating.

In addition to the album, there is a large box of stamps in small holders such as below. The photo below is just a small sampling of what is in the box, including some cancelled stamps. It's great fun looking at all these stamps. I would consider giving the family a fair price and keep them myself, but I'm just about ready to retire and downsize. In fact, I'm starting to liquidate my coins as well. Padding the retirement account is the primary effort at this point.

Is there a site that I can look at that would help me identify the specific issues and provide a general price guide? I'd like to be sure I'm not overlooking anything that may have nominal value and worth offering for sale somewhere.

Edit: forgot to add that I'm ordering some of the stock pages so I can get the stamps into more secure storage as suggested.

Those look like Crystal Mounts also, so not good for long term storage. Those all appear to be plate blocks which are beloved by some collectors. However, they are mostly worth the face value of each stamp. Still, not much there. I second the thought of donating the entire collection. I took a good tax write off for a big chunk of mine several years ago.

Note that someone from here will probably ask about the gum on the postage due blocks. Some are worth a bit.

As a rather newer collector than many who have posted, the ones I find most appealing are a few lightly cancelled or mint Air Mails and the plate blocks of postage due stamps. You see US postage due stamps mostly as singles but not as often as plate blocks on Ebay or Hipstamp.

So if you have the time and space you could offer on Ebay or Hipstamp a few grab bags of plate blocks - one can be a mix commemorative plate blacks and the other a combo of air mail and postage due. I would think a beginner or intermediate collector would love to get these. However, I do see a little damage on the edges of two of the postage due plate blocks - nothing major but it does reduce value. Otherwise I would suggest donating them as others have suggested - preferably to a stamp club. The American Philatelic Society has a listing of stamp clubs in the US. If you live near Canada or Mexico, the interest may be greater for those so selling online and offering shipping to Canada and Mexico may make it worth your time. I am on the fence about selling them overall but I am agreement with others regarding donating most of them (and heck use some for postage --- some of your collector friends would love the postal coviers created fromusing these!)

Ah and I forgot one other site that is invaluable for collectors seeking to sell stamps to those who would appreciate them - Stamporama. These stamps would be ideal presented as an approval booksale format. It is also worth joining and finding some good deals on stamps too.

I purchased an assortment of pages to store these stamps and they arrived yesterday. Over the weekend, I'll get to work. As instructed, I will remove them from the clear plastic "flips" they've been in for many years. Hopefully, this will help get rid of the curls and protect them. Thank you all for the advice and information.

I have been using a couple of reference sites online. There are a couple of stamps that I think may be revenue stamps. I've not been able to find them on the guides. If I remain stumped, I will post a photo for your help.

I agree with what others have suggested and your plan to get things out of those old Crystal mounts.

For the plate blocks you may want to consider Vario stock pages made by Lighthouse. They have all different sizes of compartments and some that are just right for storing those plate blocks. The curling that you're seeing may be something caused by those old mounts or might be a humidity/age issue.

Thanks, @Mainer. I ordered a 20-page variety pack that has various sized "pouches." I think the blocks will fit in some of those pages. Would you suggest I remove the ones in that Scott book that are taped into the book in the crystal mounts?

Well, I see there is some discussion around your maybe wanting to sell this. You could spend a fair bit of money cleaning things up (like getting rid of the crystal mounts and replacing them with something better) and you may not get that money back when you sell. So, I think that's one thing you want to think about.

For me, I just love the stamps and I don't worry too much about the how much money I'm going to get selling them. So I've bought very nice albums (Schaubek) and stock pages (Lighthouse) to store things even though the expense might not seem justified given the ultimate contents.

If you search through the different past threads on this forum you'll find a lot of discussion on these tradeoffs.

Thanks, again.

Not sure if/when they will be sold or donated. At this point, I'm just trying to preserve them the best I can while I learn more about them. I think I will move everything that isn't glued into the Scott book onto those storage pages.