Is there any value to very old stamp collections?

[pnwmom]

My mother gave me her father's several large albums of pages and pages of stamps.

Do people even collect stamps anymore?

[msongs]

1. few are valuable, for most its just a pleasant hobby nt

[ret5hd]

2. i'd definitely do some research...

don’t wanna be that person that sees your stamp collection that you tossed out on Antiques Roadshow.

[CrispyQ]

3. That might be a treasure! Google philatelists.

I knew a man who made a living selling & trading stamps. That was back in the 90s but I'm sure there are still collectors.

[rubbersole]

6. I thought philatelists...

...were those guys who have a windowless van with a box of kittens by an elementary school when they get arrested for loitering. I must be thinking about something else. 🤔

I jest. I've saved an album of stamps for fifty years. Researching their value is pretty time consuming. But it's fun. Beats Laverne and Shirley reruns.

[JoseBalow]

8. I like Laverne and Shirley reruns

[ificandream]

15. Me too!

[c-rational]

4. My friend's father was a philatelist. It's how he made a living. I would search for local dealers and check.

[JoseBalow]

9. Was he an ornithologist, philatelist, philanthropist?

(3:03)

[Permanut]

5. Not a collector here..

but ever since seeing the movie "Charade" I check any old ones I run across.

[malthaussen]

13. Loved the flick, but they were wrong about the stamps...

... for dramatic value. But the fact that they had been licked and put on an envelope would have reduced their value significantly. If they'd been cancelled (ie, mailed), it would have been worse, but stamps should be "full gum" and unused to bring the best price.

-- Mal

[eppur_se_muova]

7. Apparently, they do:

https://www.invaluable.com/search?upcoming=false&query=stamp%2520collection&keyword=stamp%2520collection

[bif]

10. My wife's uncle had a huge collection of American stamps

They were actually worth LESS than face value so he ended up using them for postage.

[Nittersing]

11. Ha!! It would not have occurred to me to *use* them! nt

[malthaussen]

12. Depends on the stamps.

If it's just a random collection of circulating stamps from a few decades ago, probably not worth much unless he got lucky. If it is a serious collection of valuable stamps, then could be worth a bloody fortune.

You'd have to take it to a professional to see if the things are worth more than their face value. And yes, there are still plenty of people who collect stamps, and some of them make a pretty good living at it.

-- Mal

[pnwmom]

16. Thanks. Just glancing at it, there might be some unusual ones, I don't know.

For example, a sheet of 100 years of Engineering stamps, 1852-1952.

But I only glanced at a few pages so I have no idea what's in there.

[malthaussen]

14. If you like mysteries, read "The Scarlet Ruse" sometime.

14th in the Travis McGee series by John D. MacDonald, and one of the best IMO. It revolves around stamp collecting.

-- Mal

[rainin]

17. I inherited a HUGE stamp collection. I've had it over 25 years and haven't done a thing with it

I keep saying...someday. I wish I could take it somewhere and let someone else evaluate it for me, but they'd probably charge a lot to look through a collection this large. And my one experience with selling my grandmother's silver, I was taken advantage of. I was told it was worth very little and I believed them. Learned later, I was lied to. Kinda killed my confidence.