Can anybody help me with my new stamp collection?
I recently inherited a fairly large stamp collection from my husbands stepfather. I have been trying to sort through them but I know nothing about stamps. This stamp collection spans 2 generations, since my husbands stepfather inherited his fathers stamp collection.
I could really use some advice on this subject. I want to know how to find out what they are worth, and how to preserve them. Also the stamps appear to be from several different countries.
Thanks

I collected stamps as a child and I was always advised to use Stanley Gibbons as a reference. If you type that in to Google it will tell you the best places to answer all your questions. Also, one of our members, Howie, is a collector and I will try and get hold of him.

Thanks that would be great.

My mother was a stamp collector and I remember that she always used tweezers (never fingers!) to handle them when she placed them in her various albums. The tweezers were special ones with blunt rounded tips so they would not damage the stamps.

What are the stamps like? Are they in albums or loose? If loose, are they still attached to the envelopes they were used on, or have they been soaked off?

No I don't have a pair of tweezers, but I do plan on getting a pair as well as a magnifying glass. Some of the stamps are in a book for stamp collecting, but many of them are just jumbled loose in envelopes. I haven't done to much to them because I am worried that if I handle them to much I will ruin them. So I kinda want to have a bit of a idea of what I am doing before I start looking at them and sorting them. I have been doing a bit of research on the internet, but mostly I am still unsure and confused as what to do.

I have pmed Howie. I am sure he will help.

red_stone,the tweezers and magnifying glass are essentials. For identification try your local public library and see if they have a copy of the Stanley Gibbons catalogues, there are quite a few, but the general World editions are the best to start with. You can move on to the individual countries later. For albums, use a proper stamp album, either a 'stockbook, or one that uses individual mounts, do not use the old fashioned stamp hinges, they can ruin a stamp. Stock books have strips of a clear material behind which you slip the stamps. Individual mounts are more time consuming but better for the 'look'. That's enough to get you started, anymore info send me a note.
And yes, I am a collector. I specialise in GB pre decimal and Germany pre 1950. I've also got a large Commonwealth collection.

I have collected stamps for many years and even worked in a stamp dealer's shop for a few months. I specialise in Australia and New Zealand, but the principles are similar with most countries.

I have seen many 'estate' type collections- one was over 50 albums- and have to break it to you gently- most are not worth a great deal of money. That is not to say that there is no chance of picking up a 'diamond'- some of the world's rarest stamps started off in a young kid's collection, and are now worth millions. Check out this stamp.

I agree with Ren that Stanley Gibbons is a great catalogue and this site is a good start, but locally issued catalogues are good, too. You may find the SG catalogues (there are many different volumes) at your library.

The first thing to do is to organise your accumulation, by country, and then roughly by date. With Commonwealth stamps, simply follow the succession of kings and queens. Canadian stamps are all dated, too, but non-collectors are probably not aware of it, as the date is in tiny writing, and you will probably need a magnifier to see it!

Most countries issue two main categories of stamps; these are known as 'commemoratives' and 'definitives'.

'Commemoratives' usually have a picture celebrating a particular event or person- eg 100th anniversary of the birth/death of a nationally famous poet/sportsman/statesman/organisation/whatever, or events like the Olympic Games, moon landings, etc. These tend to be on sale for a limited time, usually only a few weeks or months.

'Definitives' are the more 'ordinary' issues and may show things like flora and fauna, current heads of state, etc. Before postal administrations got greedy and swamped the market, some of these issues could run for many years. The Australian 'Kangaroo' series was in use continually from 1913 to 1950!

Once you have your collection in some semblance of order, there are a couple of other options to valuing them yourself; the best is to contact a reputable stamp dealer. There may be some charge for this, but shop around for the best deal.

Some supplies you may need are- flat tweezers (as suggested by MG), a cheap magnifying glass, perhaps a few cheap stockbooks- these are albums with glassine or flexible plastic strips that can store thousands of stamps on a temporary basis, and they can be picked up in a bargain shop for a couple of dollars. It is not advisable to use them long-term, as the cardboard can be acidic and spoil the stamp, but a few months should be OK.

Hope this gives you a bit of a start, and feel free to contact me for further help.

Cheers and good luck

Hehe, what RMG said.

But much more eloquently ozzz.

I endorse everything Ozzz and RMG said (I was going to tell you much the same but they beat me to it).

I think it was a disappointment to my mother that I didn't share her passion for stamps. I am sure she had visions of me taking over her collection one day. However, I used to help her with them so I do have an above average knowledge of this hobby.

Re Ozzz's comment - "Before postal administrations got greedy and swamped the market...".

This was one of the other reasons my mother eventually quit collecting. It just got too expensive and too difficult to keep up with them all. My mother used to collect used and mint stamps, as well as First Day Covers. First Day Covers are specially designed envelopes, containing a full set of special stamps, personalised with your name and address and cancelled by hand - very collectable.

Eventually she narrowed her collection down from collecting stamps from all over the world, to just collecting from specific countries, but even that got too much.

I also know that many collectors are not impressed with the switch from the old "lick and stick" type adhesive to stamps that are now more like stickers.

red, I forgot to mention about valuations. The prices you see in the catalogue doesn't necessarily reflect the true value. The price quoted is what you would pay if you bought a copy of that stamp from the dealer concerned. Most dealers would only pay you a fraction of it if you were selling. A friendly dealer may give you an auction estimate and that will be much closer to the true value. As with most things, they are only worth what someone is prepared to pay.

Thanks, this has been more helpful than anything that I have read so far. At my local library, (we have a very small library since it only services a population of 500) I took out 2 books on stamp collecting. They are volume 1&2, "Scotts Standard Postage Stamp Catalogue, 1970". I am going to ask the librarian here to order some different books for me. Any suggestions?
So far I have only looked at one envelope of stamps. The envelope was marked Austria, Greenland and Germany, some of the stamps marked from Germany I did find in the book. But as I said the stamps are just loose in the envelopes and I don't want to damage them. In that one envelope there were enough stamps to cover my entire kitchen table.
To give you a idea of what I am looking at, in the box that I got there are envelopes marked from; #1-Spain and mixed; #2-Germany; #3-France; #4Canada; #5-Spain; #6-Iran #7-Germany; #8-1910-1945; #9-mixed; #10-USA; #11-Germany; #12-Canada; #13-Canada; Then there is a cardboard book filled with stamps from Canada, plus a plastic card case (the one for a double deck) filled with stamps from Canada and there is a few layers of stamps loose in the bottom of the box (they probably fell out of some of the envelopes). As well as the envelope that I mentioned. Each envelope is a standard business envelope and most of them are packed full of stamps.
From the one envelope that I really had a good look at there appear to be used stamps, some that aren't and there appear to be sets (?).
I am finding it very interesting as I look through the books even though there is a lot of it I don't understand. For example what is "hinged"?
One of the reasons I want to sort the collection and try to see what it is worth is because 2 of my sons have been showing a interest in the stamps and I thought that since there were so many I could give them some.
Anyway I didn't mean to make it this long, and you have all been a great help, thanks.

red, carry on asking. I think it's a good way top teach kids a little bit about both geography and history as well as giving them a new interest. Without actually seeing the stamps it's impossible to give an opinion on them. Some very old stamps are almost worthless because of the number of them that are still out there. For example, some GB Queen Victoria from around 1860 can be bought for pocket money, but others would set you back the price of a small car.This is why you need the most up to date catalogue you can get your hands on. I'll trawl a few sites and see what I can come up with as far as identification is concerned, but Stanley Gibbons is generally regarded as THE authority.
'Hinged' stamps are those with the little tags on the back that people used to use to fix them in albums. They are not a good idea. They can damage the stamp and render it worthless. Don't try and remove them though unless you know what you are doing.

That would be great, and if my sons turn out to be serious about collecting I may purchase some books on the topic. My one son (he's 15) is interested and may be serious because he's collected coins since he was 9.
And I actually thought that "hinged" meant the condition of the little holes around the stamp. I'm not to sure if the other two are actually serious or not, but we'll see.
Since I am from a small community I need to wait until Monday or so when I go into Sudbury, I may be able to get a some stuff there. I am a bit anxious to begin looking at the stamps

This site, from New Zealand Post has some good tips for beginners. (Ignore the section headed 'Mounting Your Stamps').

The 'little holes' are called perforations, or 'perfs', and can change the value of an older stamp substantially. This is a more technical area, as are things like watermarks and phosphor lights, and you could safely ignore them for the time being. Having said that, perfs ARE important, and any that are short or fluffy ('pulled' perfs) can lower values.

Wikipedia also has a nice simple overview- check out the pictures of the various ways of mounting stamps. Personally, I use Hawid or Lighthouse mounts, but they are very expensive, and a lot of fiddly work, too.

This site looks OK as a valuation for some countries, but unfortunately does not show pictures of the stamp.

Also, reinforcing what RMG said- the values for the lower priced stamps are only notional. A common stamp may have a catalogue value of, say, 20c each, but you will NOT get that when you sell it- you would be more likely to get 20c per hundred copies.

A question- are any of the stamps still on envelopes or scraps of paper?

I took a look at those sites and they look interesting, I saved them to my favourites so that I can have a good look later when I have the time to read through them. Thanks.
I am not really looking to sell them off, I am actually thinking of keeping most of them. I also don't think that there are any stamp dealers (?) near me. I looked in my phone book as well as on-line because I was going to take the whole thing in and have someone show me how to sort them, as well as whatever else I need to know. The nearest dealer to me that I can find is a 5 1/2 hour drive away from me.
From what I can tell most of them are not attached to anything. There are a couple of loose ones in the box that have a piece of the envelope still on them. But the ones that I looked at in the one envelope were not on anything, and I can see-feel the glue on the backs. Some of them do have mark, (like a black squiggle) on them. So I am assuming that they were used then taken off of the envelope that they came on.
Also there are a few pieces of paper, possible of a envelope, that have just a stamp on it. Is this important?
Also if I ask my librarian to order me Stanley Gibbons will they be able to? will they know what I am talking about?

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Some of them do have mark, (like a black squiggle) on them. So I am assuming that they were used then taken off of the envelope that they came on.

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You assume correctly. The 'squiggle' can take many forms, from a small mark, to a date/place stamp, to a pen mark. This simply defaces the stamp to protect against re-use. The proper term is either 'postmark' or 'cancellation'. In a catalogue, it would be listed in the 'Used' column.

If a stamp still has gum on the back, and no postmark, it would be classified as 'Mint', or 'Unused'. You may come across abbreviations such as 'MH ('mint, hinged'), 'MUH' or MNH means 'Mint, unhinged' or 'mint, never hinged' (these two mean the same thing). 'U' stands for 'used'.

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Also there are a few pieces of paper, possible of a envelope, that have just a stamp on it. Is this important?

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Some people collect postmarks, as opposed to the actual stamp. It is not one of my areas of expertise, but have seen some nice collections like that, particularly of older material. If some of your stamps have full, clear postmarks, it is probably better to keep them on-paper.

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Also if I ask my librarian to order me Stanley Gibbons will they be able to? will they know what I am talking about?

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They should know what you mean- SG is the best-known stamp catalogue in the world, with the American 'Scotts' not far behind. The main hurdle would be cost- the 'Simplified Stamps of the World' runs to five heavy books at a cost of about UK45 pounds each. I am not sure what the exchange rate is between UK and Canada...
The SG site list 82 different catalogues. Somehow, I doubt that your library would order the lot! If they ask for your advice, just grovel and suggest the 'Simplified World'.

Don't know anything about stamps, but I do know libraries. I suspect your library has some sort of reciprocal arrangement with other libraries in the province, so your librarian can arrange for you to borrow them. Here in Alberta I could order four different catalogues to be sent to our little town - probably there are more but it looks like I need the exact name of the book (it's a picky system). "Stamps of the world : Stanley Gibbons simplified catalogue" is one of them. Anyway, talk to the librarian - I am sure that Sudbury has copies that could be gotten to you somehow.

Thanks, I will have that title looked up, and cross my fingers and hope that she can get it.
The library here will let me order up to 4 books through the inter-library loan system, but ya I do need the title or the author. I have in the past had her get me books from all over Ontario, but I'm not sure how far she is allowed to borrow from.
So I need to get a pair of tweezers, a magnifying glass and some sort of book to put the stamps in. Should the stamps be sorted by country or year, personally I think they would be better by country. Did I forget anything that I need to get started?

red, you've listed the basics that will at least get you started. As for sorting the stamps most people sort by year under each country, this is a reason for having a catalogue, it lists the stamps in order of issue. I don't know about the American catalogues, but SG has a picture of the basic stamp and then lists any others in that issue by increasing issue value, so Canadian stamps would be listed with, say, 5c then 10c then 15c etc. The book by the way is Stanley Gibbons Simplified Stamps of the World, the earlier versions came in two volumes and the latter ones are three volumes, not sure when it went from two to three but the 1995 edition was two vols.

Thanks, I will try to get that book ordered for me.