US postal service stamp collecting

[PowerPlant]

I recently inherited a small collection of postage stamps, but I don’t know much about stamps and I am aware that there are some stamp collectors here, so I was hoping someone could shed some light on what I have. Ebay is standardly difficult to go by in determining real value because prices range from next to nothing to hundreds, if not thousands of dollars. What is the catch? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance!
I have more stamps from other countries, but this is the American page in the album:
 

[Mike 1017]

Stamp Collecting, Stamp Catalog, Online Ordering, US & Worldwide Stamps at Mystic Stamp Company.

[PowerPlant]

I appreciate the link, but not being into stamps as such, and knowing practically nothing about them, it is a little difficult and time consuming to filter through and find out what exactly I have, especially since the prices again seem to vary a great deal. So I was hoping someone in the knowhow might have concrete info regarding the stamps I have. Thanks!

[JollySipper]

@Tom Geiger would definitely be able to help you! Maybe he'll see this post...... or you could send a PM, which will alert his email......

[Mike 1017]

Matija

My dad left me a huge rubber made container of stamps. The stamp dealer told me that only the oldest and full sheets are the ones that bring any type of money. US stamps are were and are printed in the millions. I spent a month going through some of his stuff I found nothing significant. Hate to say it but those stamps are worth maybe face value.

Good luck

Mike

 

[espo]

Remember getting the block of four stamps with the serial number for the sheet of stamps in the tear off portion. I was told that they would be the most valuable to a collector at the time. 

[redscampi]

My dad was a big stamp collector and he gave us boys some of them to mess around with. I got into it a little when I was younger. What I know about stamps is that rarity and condition are huge in determining value. U.S. stamps that are canceled are generally not worth anything unless they are rare. Now days even having a hinge installed on the back that disturbs the gum can devalue an otherwise pristine example. Full sheets and what they used to call plate blocks in mint condition have some value. I can tell you that you should enjoy the stamps in the photo for what they are -  a slice of history, or pass them on to a kid to perhaps get them interested. Unfortunately there is no reason to think that any of those in the photo are worth much at all. Generally, you can buy thousands of canceled stamps for just a few bucks. We sifted through them for hours as kids. 

Edited April 1, 2023 by redscampi
spellin'

[Tom Geiger]

One of my favorite subjects!   

As people have said here, modern day stamps were produced in such large numbers that they are worth very little today.  From the first US stamps issued in 1847 until the US depression in the 1920s, stamps weren't collected in large numbers so those that survive command some value. People in the late 1930s noticed this and it started a stamp collecting frenzy where people were saving full sheets of every new stamp. 

That led to a huge amount of mint stamps that exist to this day.  I regularly buy large lots of stamps for postage at 50-60% of face value.  I use about $200 a month in postage for my eBay stamp business, so the savings on postage really help!   The average stamps you would buy for your collection would be purchased for a little bit above face value.

The good news is that you can collect a lot of history at reasonable prices.  When I was in the hobby in the 1960s and1970s, some US stamps had been driven up by speculators.  Sometime in the late 20th century the bottom fell out of that market.  As a collector coming back to the hobby about 8 years ago I was able to buy everything I ever wanted as a kid!  Kinda the same thing as buying kits you had back then!  

Powerplant, the stamps you show here are used stamps worth a few cents each.  If you want to send me scans of what you have, I'm happy to help.  Let me know if it's all used stamps like these,  if there are unused singles, blocks or sheets.  I especially collect "covers" which are stamps used on envelopes.  Never take a stamp off an envelope, the entire will be worth more than the loose stamp.

[PowerPlant]

On 4/3/2023 at 3:27 AM, Tom Geiger said:

One of my favorite subjects!   

It has been a busy couple months and I have completely forgotten about this thread! Tom, sending you a PM.