Stamps may be nerdy, but they are a part of our history. Personally, I find the stamps from the 1800s and early 1900s to be quite interesting and beautiful pieces of art.
1800s - 1950s are probably my favourite stamps. Something about the colours and the printing just looks so much more elegant and appealing than modern ones.
@@carnifexzer0I am going through an accumulation of about 200 thousand specimens of stamp and souvenir sheets covers etc and plan on keeping very few things after 1960
I have a lot of old stamps that I’m wondering if you can point me in a direction. Im downsizing. My husband was born in 1942 and he began collecting as a child. I have a large box full Of albums etc. they need to go to a home Thanks
I'm sorry for your loss. What limited information I can share about selling a collection, I've put in my blog here: kensstampcollection.blogspot.com/2023/09/kens-advice-on-selling-stamp-collection.html, But you asked about getting them to a good home. In Massachusetts, there is a postal museum, the Spellman Museum of Postal History. If you contact them, they take donations which I'm sure will count as a charitable donation. If that's too far, there may be other stamp museums closer to you who would also be a good home.
So you said striking gold I thought you found really good stamps. You gave them back so they could give them to someone else. That’s bull you did the research. They gave them to you. You should have kept them with no guilt
I had the fun of the search, and I don't collect coins, so I was very happy with the result. I got so many good stamps in the process. No issue on my side.
Subscribed. Really nice and informative presentation. Going through a similar experience myself with a much larger collection with absolutely no foundational knowledge about stamp collecting. It is quite the learning curb to try and conquer.
I'm not very good at that, but what limited information I can share, I've put in my blog here: kensstampcollection.blogspot.com/2023/09/kens-advice-on-selling-stamp-collection.html
We can't clearly see what you are bringing out of the box, however I used to collect stamps right up until the bottom fell out of the market, along with beanie babies etc. Now I collect gold coins, because of their intrinsic value that can be tracked by the daily price fix.
Thanks for letting me know. I’ll pay more attention to that if I do anything similar in the future. I probably won’t ever sell, so investment value doesn’t bother me much. Gold coins are nice though
All major department stores had stamp departments at one time. The albums that I currently use I bought at a department store in the early 80's. My first album was an Ambassador, then a Citation album and currently have Minkus Supreme Global albums. Perhaps Walter got the My First Stamp Album for a niece or nephew to get them interested in stamps but it did not work out. My neighbor who had lived in her house for over 50 years was cleaning out to go live with her daughter and she gave me a big box filled with hundreds of envelopes from all around the world from where she used to work. She was not a collector but just liked the stamps. This was the second person that I had come across with a similar story so some people used to collect envelopes were not stamp collectors. Perhaps the box of envelopes were one of those people.
Ken, you are doing a brilliant job with your channel, I’m really enjoying your content, congrats on the 1k subscribers (7 months might be a record!!) 👏 That plastic odor is probably PVC plastic breaking down and you smelled the chloride. 🤔. It’s quite strong and awful!
Aww, thanks. I make what I'd want to see and I'm glad people are responding to it. I started the channel after you made a call for new stamp channels. Thank you for that push. Yeah, that PVC oder was horrible. Those are gone now. Yuck.
Great video a pleasure to see. My stamp collecting is also from 2 collectors. I didn't initially know this but it eventually became apparent and the first collection of most of the stamps documented lots which saved me much time. My conclusion is that they have been in my family for 3 generations. Stamps staring from the second adhesive postage stamp ever made on on. My stamps are most from the 1800's but a bit from the early 1900's. I am hooked now. So far I have found no stamp with a grill which disappointed me. I grew up watching my father collect stamps. He gave me his collection and my great aunties collection also.
Hi Ken, that's a great dive into a collection, with a personal touch - to paraphrase Maverick's "it's not the plane, it's the pilot" - "it's not the stamps, it's the collector".. So I was drawn into stamps by my late brother, at the age of about 8-9 and then it was just world collections for me and the fun of occupying real estate in the living room, while identifying and sorting the different countries. However, although my brother did have a couple of stock books of world - with perhaps mainly British and Pakistan issues (we were born and raised in Ole Blighty and would get the odd letter from extended family in Pakistan - and some made special effort, knowing about my brother's hobby), he loved his First Day Covers and built a pretty reasonable collection. I remember him being part of a British young philatelists club called "The Stamp Bug Club". I especially remember his interest in the Royal family and his special bound collection of the Royal Wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Sadly he passed away when 17, with a terminal illness but we still have his collection stored away. Part of my reason to continue into philately has been as a nod to him and a way to remember the good times.
Hi Ken, this was a very special and caring episode, and I enjoyed it very much! Thanks so much as always. I really like your analytical and mindful approach in evaluating and sorting a collection. Someone with an old collection having it go through your hands is very lucky. That old gold coin is absolutely beautiful! All said and done, I will watch again to pick up all the subtle information you gave along the way. The first time that I hear about "bank note stamps", something new to learn about. Collecting gene ... that is true. 🙂
I know you can buy mystery boxes from the Spellman Museum that are similar. And, I've come across a few boxes like this one. Keep an eye out, you 'll find something.
Happy to take a look. Send me a pic of the first two pages or so in email. I'm kenflowers at comcast dot net. Not to dash your hopes, but in general, most small collections like this will be worth $5-25. So many of us collected as kids, and got most of our stamps in bulk. Usually if there is something valuable in it, you'll see some evidence that the collector was notably serious--special albums, receipts, certifications, special mounting--that kind of thing. Happy to look, though.
That gold coin is worth more than a few hundred, that gold coin is probably worth 15-20k in that condition maybe more. If its graded and comes back MS68 or higher they could be looking at high 5 to low 6 figures
Thank you Ken. I am a new subscriber to your channel. I really like the way you presented your unboxing and I especially liked a prior video on the early Benjamin/Washington stamp breakdown. I started collecting when I was young after my uncle gave me his book and have since adopted forlorn books from friends who know I love stamps. One collection was purchased after they realized their SIL would 'dispose' of her collection which is painstakingly curated. When the pandemic hit, my interest was revived and I hit a couple auctions with interest. Now, I have a GB Penny Black and the first US Stamp. I am in the process of removing stamps from old albums that have really bad foxing since the word archival didn't appear in the 30's and 40's. The stamp conditions have foxing as well, but I can at least save them from further damage. I enjoy fancy cancels too. Do you have educational videos on that? Keep up the great work!
Wow, what a great start and you have the heart for those stamps. I don't have a video on fancy cancels, but I've started to get a few of them in collections I've acquired.
Your approach to analyzing collections is right in line with mine. I've had several friends give me their family collections because I view them as a reaction of the collector's personality and history. Another great video.
Great video Ken - loved your approach and care for these items. During the pandemic my local shop was inundated with estate accumulations and I was lucky enough to obtain several hundred pounds of box lots over a couple of years, all filled with stuff like this. It was all fun to go through and very interesting thinking about the original collectors and how they obtained stamps. As a worldwide collector I often find delightful stamps in every lot because there are a ton of scarce "common" stamps. I also enjoy soaking kiloware and often found a ton of good material that way.
I love scarce "common" stamps, but I'm not willing to pay a premium to buy them individually. That's one of the great joys of these collections. Every time I get some common stamp that I don't have, I'm overjoyed.
my dad left me a large collection of stamps that are currently sitting in boxes, any advice on what to do with them, how to find a legitimate honest person to help us do something with it in the south florida area would be appreciated
Well, my first advice is to start collecting. But, hmm, good question. I'm really not sure. Most dealers are trustworthy, but it's hard to know how to pick a good one. You could try going to multiple dealers and seeing if any commonalities show themselves. Or, you could look up the local stamp club and pay them a visit. Or donate them to a beginning collector and give them great joy.
i'm personally am not interested neither is anyone else in the family, the collection is considerable and somewhat valuable he collected for over 40 years unfortunately i don't know what I'm looking at. but thanks for your advice @@KensStampCollection
