Please help with these stamps that were passed down to me

Hi Alan

top two left are US  - the 5c Lincoln is most likely Scott #304 (I do not collect US anymore and can't remember if there are varieties of this). The 2 cent Washington was issued  from 1912 until 1920 (?) and there are a number of varieties  based on various factors.  Based on what i remember, neither of these are typically  high value.

The remaining stamps look like Republic of China (Chairman Mao)-  As most all are used, these may also not be of great value.  

now, an opinion-

If your mothers collection did not include a catalogue, it would be of great advantage to you to  acquire one, (unless there are a great deal of recent stamps, older catalogues can be found for a few dollars). There are online resources, but some background knowledge goes a long way to fight off frustration!

With respect to catalogues and the values listed- the values listed  are for well centered stamps with no flaws/damage (a number of the stamps shown appear to have some damage, and it looks like some are still on the paper of the envelope and if they were trimmed a bit too close to the perf, this would be a form of damage (and for used stamps, unless you have the entire cover (envelope), unless the cancellation is of interest, being "on paper" further reduces value, unless you have something quite uncommon/rare.  And with respect to Catalogue Value (CV) seldom do stamps ell for this amount, and if tyou were trying top sell to a dealer, they buy at a value that would allow them to resell at a profit.

It looks like your image may have been scanned- If so, you may get more responses  by just scanning a few stamps at a time so more detail can be seen!

Have fun going through your mom's collection.

Thanks, stainlessb and daniel for your comments.

My mothers' collection didn't include a catalogue but over the last week I've managed to acquire a set of Stanley Gibbons 2014 edition catalogues. These have been very helpful with helping me identify/learn about my stamps.

I also took the collection down to a stamp dealer/specialist in my area and was pleased to hear the stamps appear to be genuine, especially the famous monkey stamp! However I have decided not to sell these but to add onto the collection instead. I think I'm starting to get addicted to this whole stamp collecting thing.

Anyway, I have attached a few more photos of my China collection below, just for anyone who might be interested in having a look (I'm aware a lot of these are very common and not worth a lot).


Alan

Nice collection to have received, and good points/suggestions from TSF members! Brought back a lot of memories from the collection my Mom gave me -- Taiwan/Japan 1920s-1970s in stockbooks.

Don't know if your Mom is also Asian, but even the arrangement is similar. Like most in her generation, my Mom sorted stamps by topicals/themes as she received them. Later when she had time, she would reposition/combine the topicals together into another stockbook.

It's really up to you whether you want to continue to arrange thematically, or arrange chronologically (or catalog order) by country. I opted for the latter and completely re-arranged most of the collection my Mom gave me.

What struck me most was some of your stamps seem to be in clear protective tight-fitting pouches. Back in the early 1970s, my Mom taught me how to make "glassine" envelopes (actually made from translucent wax paper) and clear mounts (actually made from cellophone) from scratch. Neither of which were archival, but we didn't have access to stamp shops then. We would trim the cellophane and then fold over and tape, so the protective film was fairly tight-fitting. They looked exactly like the stamps in the clear pouches shown in your first pic! She told me that's how the collectors in her generation in that part of the country protected the more valuable stamps (mounts were unavailable, the best thing available was stockbooks).

If that's what you have, you will need to eventually carefully take those stamps out of those non-archival pouches, and store them properly. I ended up using a crafters' blade to carefully slice open the edges (careful not to scratch the stamp or accidentally catch a wavy tooth).

The monkey stamp looks genuine to me, congratulations. You have a number of stamps with modest premiums (although not as much as the monkey stamp, added up they will be more than the monkey stamp).

The People's Republic of China (PRC) Cultural Revolution stamps are clearly genuine postally used. They are fairly beat up, but that's typical of the genuine postally used stamps of that era. They won't fetch as much as the catalog says because of condition/demand, but I would definitely keep all the 1950s-1970s used stamps you have, regardless of condition. Early PRC used for many sets is dominated by CTOs. The bulk of my 1950s-1960s PRC is genuine postally used. I was given by some uncles in the late 1970s. To escape destruction during the Cultural Revolution, they hid the used stamps in miscellaneous very small boxes/packaging leftover from consumer items -- making it appear as if it was just some supplies of small household items. A lot of other families, had any collections/books/manuscripts/records... destroyed or confiscated during the Cultural Revolution. While genuine postally used during those 2 decades is not rare, some of the postally used sets are not common. Given that the used PRC collection is likely from mail your mother/relatives/friends received, it's a nice link to your mother. To this day, I still keep most of my Mom's and Uncles' collection separate from my main collection, as it brings back a lot of special memories.

You will need to fish out (separate) the PRC Regional Issues from the General Issues, as I see some here and there in your pics. The Regional Issues have additional text. The catalogs will teach you how to spot them.

Enjoy your stamps, and the adventures to follow!

k

Wow, thanks for sharing the scans. I've not seen most of those stamps before, so it was a real treat.

It's nice to see that your mother was an avid collector. A great many of the inherited collections I've seen are a childhood collection of damaged stamps in a battered beginner album. Which is fine, but often disappointing to the inheritor. There are some real beauties in this collection, regardless of monetary value.

Collectors frequently complain about the "back of the book" methods of the Scott Catalogue listings, where air post stamps and semi-postal stamps and whatnot are listed in separate sections after the bulk of a nation's stamps.  They would go apoplectic if looking at a Chinese catalogue!

My Yang PRC 1949-2009 catalogue is an example of this.  The first chapter belongs to "Commemorative Issues", going from 1949-1967.  Then there are four chapters which start off with a step backwards: "Special Issues" from 1951-1966, "Cultural Revolution Issues" from 1967-1970, "New Series with Number" from 1971-1973 and "New 'J' Commemorative Issues" from 1974-1991.  Then you go backwards again for the chapter "New 'T' Special Issues" which runs from 1974-1991.  Then a chapter for "1992-2009 Special Issues", followed by another brief step backwards for the "Z Series" from 2003-2008.  Backwards again, this time for the "PJZ Series" which at least has something of an intuitive feel for deserving a separate chapter since all of these are souvenir sheets issued for stamp exhibitions dating from 1995-1999.  Then finally you get the "Regular Issues" chapter for all of the definitives, some of which look just about as fancy as commemoratives.  And then after those stamps, a bunch of things that Scott would agree belongs at the back of the book - local issues, air mail, military post, postage due.

The intro to the catalogue explains the justification for such a listing methodology - it has to do with the tiny characters printed at the bottom of each stamp, which determines which of the chapters each stamp belongs to.

That's not to mention other Chinese catalogues I have, which include prices not only for mint & used but also CTO stamps, both with and without gum (CTO stamps with gum are in general more valuable than postally used copies, according to Chinese catalogues - a reverse of our pricing standards according to the Scott catalogues which give an unspecified "more" valuation for postally used East Block stamps in comparison to CTO copies).

Yeesh!

Ryan

Thank you for your feedback. I'm currently on the hunt for a Chinese stamp album (preferably one that doesn't require hinging). Something like the Davo stamp albums but they don't seem to have any available for China that's pre-1990. I'm not having much luck finding other alternatives online either. Any ideas?

I will look into joining the Dunedin Stamp and Postcard club

sewal977,

You'll have to make a decision when you purchase a pre-formatted album like Davo. Davo albums are nice, and relatively inexpensive compared to other name brands. However:

-- Davo albums only cover the major stamps, leaving out a lot of the minor varieties that are catalog listed. It's not a comprehensive album. For those of you familiar with SG catalogs, it's similar to the concept of SG Simplified world catalogue vs. SG country/regional catalogs. I've even encountered an occasional major catalog number stamp that is missing. When I warned one philatelic friend about this as he purchased a Davo album, he noticed that his Davo country album was actually missing a partial set that was listed in the catalogs as a major catalog number stamp. He was fortunate that the dealer accepted his return. If you plan on adding on extensively to your country collections in the long-term, this will pose a problem. I have several Davo hingeless albums, most of which I use to store my duplicates.

-- You will need to decide whether you want hingeless (mounts already in place) or albums that require you to purchase/cut/affix your own mounts. The hingeless albums are a significantly higher starting cost, but if you seek to get to 75%+ completion, hingeless albums will be cheaper in the long run and save you a lot of mount buying/cutting/affixing time. Then again, I know many collectors who like adding their own mounts -- matching their collection as it grows. Value your enjoyment, rather than getting fixated on long-term costs like me.

-- I prefer Lighthouse hingeless albums (I have about 8-10 different brand hingeless albums). Unfortunately, Lighthouse and Lindner tend to be on the expensive end if you buy the albums new. In reality, your final choice will often be based on the mount style you prefer. Almost all hingeless albums use clear mounts. But the style will vary quit a lot, so understand your mount preference. There are advantages/disadvantages to each type, feel free to ask specifics if this is the route you want to go. Examples (general, some exceptions for certain stamps): Lighthouse (top-loading, my preference, but I know a lot of collectors don't like because stamps can shift easily if you don't handle your albums with kid-gloves), Lindner (page-sized foils, either affixed to the paper album page or a separate foil page), Davo (top-loading), Scott (split-back), Schaubek (top-loading, split-back, need to check ahead of time for the country album you are getting), KABE (top-loading, pocketed foils... again check)...

-- Keep in mind the stamps you have are sometimes covered in different country albums (China/ROC, modern ROC, China/PRC, Regional Issues...), so it may not be as simple as just buying one album. The modern ROC and modern PRC stamps have a lot of stamp issues, and they will often be split into multiple volumes as well.

-- If print albums are the way you want to go, I would suggest you temporarily use your stockbook for sorting according to catalog order/country. Once you get a better idea, then first invest in one print album volume, see how it goes, and then decide whether you want to continue in that fashion for the other albums. Some beginning collectors get discouraged seeing all the empty spaces, while others like it because it helps set goals.

I'm sure other members will be able to give you even better advice/guidance.

Enjoy your foray into stamp collecting! My Mom is the one who got me into stamp collecting many decades ago , to try to keep a mischievous kid out of trouble. Little did she know...

Many times, the ability to keep a used stamp collections from that PRC era is often tied into either government position or the post office. The common person kept collectibles at their own personal risk. Severity of crackdowns varied regionally, but the risk was always there.

When my Uncles' gave me their collection in the 1970s, my Dad (he was the only one able to go, as visitor Visas were still highly restricted back then) kept them "as is" still hidden in those consumer product small boxes. I had wondered why he was buying these common everyday items, until he opened them up to show me what was packed inside.

Back then, I didn't have a Scott catalog. So my Uncles' were able to use their connections at the post office, look up some old PO records, and painstakingly hand-wrote about a dozen pages compiling the stamp issues of the 1940s-1960s from the various records that still remained at that post office. Given the number of complete postally-used sets they gave to me, I now wonder if maybe they also used their connections to "obtain" some used stamps... who knows?

Anyway, thanks for this thread. It's brought back a lot of long-forgotten memories. Combined with Linda's threads, and the fact that I'm in Asia visiting relatives I haven't seen in 20-30 years, it's been an emotional sniff-sniff month for me.

k

Thank you, it's great to be here. I feel very lucky to have received this collection. Just admiring and researching the stamps I have has been very therapeutic  . I'm glad I've found a new hobby!

This has been very helpful. I really appreciate it. 

I'm glad you enjoyed the images of stamps I've received, and thanks for sharing some of your stories too.

I hope you're enjoying your time in Asia visiting relatives. Oh and also the food there too! 

It appears you have a medium size collection of Mainland China. I too have quite a few Mainland China as I was a world collector for many years. I have a lot of duplicates if you are interested. I would suggest you get a semi recent copy of China catalog. You can find Fairly modern Scott cook volume 2A. Or you can go to Stamps2Go.com and see a lot of Mainland Chine for sale. Or you can go to scottcataloguepages.com/ and purchase just the China pages for a reasonable price.

Also keep in mind the Scott catalog is more of a suggestion of price. If you want to liquidate expect to be low balled, the dealer has to resell to make his investment worthwhile for him. There are web sites I can give you if you are interested. I am pleased to read you are thinking of becoming a collector. That is really great. Once you get into collecting you could also consider joining the American Philatelic Society. It is an interesting hobby and for me, time just flies, and I learn so much from cataloging stamps.

Keep in touch.

Nick

nick2302,

You're almost halfway toward being able to enter into sales, trades, etc. Keep posting and you'll get there soon enough.