Stamp values

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Modern(ish) African postage stamps - what's their true value/price/cost?

Modern(ish) African postage stamps - what's their true value/price/cost? As I have been working my way through piles of modern(ish) African stamps, I have not been able to by-pass the thought that many of the stamps I'm now seeing and getting into my possession are likely way more harder to obtain than anything of European origin. Or when was the last time you saw more than single random postally used stamps from likes of Central African Republic (CAR), Chad, Mali or Mauretenia? For me recent months have been "once in a decade" kind of times treat, and I've been more than thrilled when putting all these stamps into my collection. ...(788 words, 3 images, 0 comments)

? Stamp Gems for May 2018

Without further talks it is time to kick the monthly stamp gems extravaganza ahead. As always hope you enjoy ;) ...(15 words, 27 images, 6 comments)

? Stamp Gems for April 2018

It's time to get the second month of project Stamp Gems rolling. During the initial month of March the gems database grew up to 87 items, and I hope to keep up the pace this month as well. I must say the progress I made in just few weeks was much faster (and more fun) than I anticipated. ...(522 words, 57 images, 13 comments)

? Stamp Gems for March 2018

Folks, with this post I'm launching a new project titled ?stamp gems? for SCB. Basically it is (and will be) a public record of the higher catalog value stamps in my world collection. How gems works is pretty simple: each month I will make a new post titled "Stamp gems for month/year", which will then grow to feature and display various 'supposedly better' stamps I have worked throughout that particular month. ...(585 words, 87 images, 18 comments)

Have you ever seriously considered selling or pawning your stamp collection?

Have you ever seriously considered selling or pawning your stamp collection? Sometimes life does not go as planned, and one might end up in situations that require pretty extreme actions in order to survive. A nasty reminder of such event is receipt of somewhat insane legal fee sitting on my desk. Long story short, I got involved in legal dispute (in non-stamp related matter) and I lost; that is pretty bad news in a country where the loosing party is expected to pay all expenses for everyone involved. A longer and hopefully more interesting story to share is that in order to survive those fees on timely manner I had to review and rethink my personal finances in somewhat brutal and serious manner, including also the options of selling or pawning my beloved stamp (and comic book) collections. ...(1034 words, 2 images, 10 comments)

Fifteen-thousand different worldwide postage stamps for 40€ - a deal too good to be true?

Fifteen-thousand different worldwide postage stamps for 40€ - a deal too good to be true? If you are not familiar with major auction house listings, the usual sales talk of worldwide collections/lots goes something like this: '{Spectacular BIG adjective} A to Z worldwide collection covering from {startyear} to {endyear}. {Some inaccurate way to describe that there can be anything from few hundred to tens of thousands of stamps} from all parts of the world housed in {some storage method}. Mostly of modest value, but a quick browse reveals there are {insert a list of baits here}. Fine to very fine condition {like always}. Estimate: some three to five-digit sum plus auction fee'. Stamp auction listings like these make worldwide collectors crazy because they rarely give away anything truly specific (which really does not make any sense in this era of online listings), but the vague description and high estimate lets you anticipate it will be worth the money. I confess that I too drool for lots like these, but because of the high cost never bid or buy. ...(964 words, 3 images, 6 comments)

Rare modern postage stamp - a difficult but not impossible combination

Rare modern postage stamp - a difficult but not impossible combination If you haven't been living inside a stamp cave for the past month, then you've likely read or heard at least some news about the recent Australian 30 Adelaide emergency provisional stamps selling for insane amounts. This is a prime example of a modern day stamp market getting red hot when an unexpected modern rarity surfaces. Of course this is just top of the iceberg and below I'll share three other less known modern day stamp rarities that 'almost made it' big time. ...(866 words, 3 images, 4 comments)

What do you consider a common postage stamp?

What do you consider a common postage stamp? During the summer months I had several talks with people who were considering on taking part to SCBs stamp exchange, but were holding back because they felt as if their offerings would be too common and they would not add to my collection. I tried to convince them that despite my collection of ~100K items sounds huge, it has by all means got more holes than Swiss cheese. ...(734 words, 4 images, 29 comments)

Is the cost of becoming a stamp collector too high for the kids of today?

Is the cost of becoming a stamp collector too high for the kids of today? A while back SCF discussions had a statement that stopped me. "The thing is, it took weeks of researching how to collect to even discover Steiner's pages. And I still had to invest $100 into a Scott catalogue, $100 into mounts (I refuse to use hinges), and then the cost of the stamps. The barrier of entry to the hobby was just so high that I can't imagine kids these days being willing to go down the route of building albums.". I acknowledge the author had written the statement from 'adult american perspective', but is it genuinely so? ...(855 words, 2 images, 26 comments)

Which stamps are worth money?

Which stamps are worth money? One of the most common ways non-collectors land this website is that they go Google and type a very simple question: "which stamps are worth money". With this article I'll try answer the question in manner that is hopefully helpful to both non-collectors as well as stamp collectors. ...(1117 words, 4 images, 7 comments)

Investing in postage stamps - further thoughts

Investing in postage stamps - further thoughts I just spent a whooping 3,000€ to buy myself new laptop. I agree its serious sum to put into something that will be usable for just 3-5 years. For some reason I cannot imagine myself spending anything similar to stamps though they are pretty guaranteed to keep their value better than any kind of consumer electronics. ...(386 words, 2 images, 27 comments)

Fairy tales for stamp collectors

Fairy tales for stamp collectors PostZegelBlog has an interesting article about how Dutch special catalog NVPH's latest edition cut catalog values by third for virtually all Netherlands stamps issued between 1946 and early 1990s 8O This got me thinking how the stamp collecting world would react if commonly used catalogs - Michel, Scott or Stanley Gibbons -did something similar in larger scope ...(618 words, 2 images, 19 comments)

Stamps, quality and grading: Quality of cancel / postmark

Stamps, quality and grading: Quality of cancel / postmark Most stamp catalogs do a somewhat decent job in displaying the various quality levels of cancelled stamps. However, IMO there are surprisingly large international variations to what is desirable / non-desirable. ...(479 words, 8 images, 39 comments)

Stamps, quality and grading: Quality of print

Stamps, quality and grading: Quality of print Not all stamps are born equal. There can be lots of minor quality flux that fits into printers guidelines of acceptable variation and printing conditions. In addition there are all sorts of errors, freaks and oddities (like printers waste) that ends up one way or to another to stamp collectors albums. ...(380 words, 5 images, 4 comments)

Stamps, quality and grading: The basics

Stamps, quality and grading: The basics Keeping eye for the quality is something I think many collectors do. I admit that I am in constant process of enhancing the quality of items in my collection. For the next couple of posts I'll be writing up some notes about quality in general as well as diving more in-depth into world of measuring quality (grading). Though stamps and collectors have been around for 160 years, this topic continues to be still under heavy debate (to my amazement). ...(332 words, 1 images, 4 comments)

Investing in postage stamps

Investing in postage stamps Like many stamp collectors, I don't collect stamps as investment. For me they are fascinating small pieces of paper that I love sorting and placing in my stock books and other stamp album pages. But I also acknowledge that stamps do have a financial side. On a lower end, it is very easy to finance part of the hobby expenses by selling unwanted (duplicate etc) issues. And on the higher end, stamps are investment items comparable to gold, jewelry and fine art. ...(1054 words, 6 images, 10 comments)

Collecting stamps on a budget

Collecting stamps on a budget As a worldwide stamp collector, I have few practical guidelines that keep me on my (somewhat limited and small) annual budget. ...(498 words, 1 images, 19 comments)

Setting a value for worldwide stamp collection

Setting a value for worldwide stamp collection I know I've written in the past a long post about the value of stamp collection. But since the topic is amongst most read (and also amongst most requested in private comments) it is IMHO worth a revisit. This piece tries to provide a very simple, fast and somewhat accurate way for non-philatelist to get a rough value estimate for average quality collection containing used worlwide stamps. ...(620 words, 1 images, 21 comments)

Which of these postage stamps went up in value?

Which of these postage stamps went up in value? Scott Stamp Catalogue has hit the nail with their current ad campaign running (at least) in Linns. IMO the simple question "Which of these stamps went up in value?" summarises a whole lot of the driving forces in stamp catalogue business. ...(394 words, 1 images, 2 comments)

How much is my stamp collection worth – straight talk about real world stamp values and prices

How much is my stamp collection worth – straight talk about real world stamp values and prices During the weekend I bumped into a couple of very interesting conversations about real values, prices and appraisal practices of stamps and stamp collections. I know most stamp collectors yours truly included are interested about the question 'how much are my stamps worth (in real life)', and below are few very different views on this topic. ...(1288 words, 4 images, 127 comments)

Q&A: Help I inherited a stamp collection. What should I do with it?

Q&A: Help I inherited a stamp collection. What should I do with it? Are you one of those fortunate guys/gals who inherited a stamp collection? The very first question you have to ask yourself is do you want to keep it, or get rid of it? But what then? I'll try to answer your questions on this topic below. ...(1423 words, 0 images, 185 comments)