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Last week I pulled a couple of boxes of stamps down from the shelf and started looking through them. This is a collection I worked on as a kid, with most stamps coming from my father's and uncle's collections. I picked up a copy of StampManage and entered in a few stamps from album pages. The stamps are all used (postmarked), hinged, but in nice shape.

I'm trying to get an idea whether what I have is commonplace stuff or worth something. I'm attaching a list of some stamps I was able to identify. If anyone here can take a quick look at the list and let me know what they think I'd very much appreciate it.

And I found several stamps that were not in the catalog, including a Bulgarian "postage due" stamp from 1933, Bulgarian "parcel post" stamps from 1941-44, Bulgarian "official stamps" from 1942-44, and a bunch of Liberian stamps from 1947-53, including triangle- and diamond-shapes.

Thanks in advance...



Country Scott Cond. Cost Value Qty Denom. Description Hinge
Bulgaria 1485 Used-VF 1 1s Elephant Hinged
Bulgaria 1486 Used-VF 1 2s Tiger Hinged
Bulgaria 1517 Used-VF 1 1s Children with Building Blocks Hinged
Bulgaria 1518 Used-VF 1 2s Bunny & teddy bear with book Hinged
Bulgaria 1519 Used-VF 1 3s Children as astronauts Hinged
Bulgaria 1522 Used-VF 1 2s Gherman S.Titov & Vostok 2 Hinged
Bulgaria 1528 Used-VF 1 2s Metodi Shatorov Hinged
Bulgaria 1535 Used-VF 1 1s Deer's head drinking cup Hinged
Bulgaria 1536 Used-VF 1 2s Amazon's head jug Hinged
Bulgaria 1537 Used-VF 1 3s Ram's head cup Hinged
Bulgaria 1579 1 1s Nikolas Kofardjiev Hinged
Bulgaria 1588 1 1s Angora Hinged
Bulgaria 1589 1 2s Siamese Hinged
Bulgaria 1590 1 3s Abyssinian Hinged
Bulgaria 1591 1 5s Black European Hinged
Bulgaria 1592 1 13s Persian Hinged
Bulgaria 1593 1 20s Striped domestic Hinged
Bulgaria 1599 1 1s Chick & incubator Hinged
Bulgaria 1601 1 2s Lamb & sheep farm Hinged
Bulgaria 1617 1 1s Winter Olympics emblem & skiers Hinged
Bulgaria 1618 1 2s Winter Olympics emblem & ski jumper Hinged
Bulgaria 1619 1 3s Winter Olympics emblem & biathlon Hinged
Bulgaria 1620 1 5s Winter Olympics emblem & Ice hockey Hinged
Bulgaria 1621 1 13s Winter Olympics emblem & IFigure skating couple Hinged
Bulgaria 1630 1 1s Gagarin, Tereshkova, Leonov Hinged
Bulgaria 1689 1 1s Cinereous vulture Hinged
Bulgaria 1690 1 2s Crowned crane Hinged
Bulgaria 1691 1 3s Zebra Hinged
Bulgaria 1692 1 5s Cheetah Hinged
Bulgaria 1693 1 13s Indian python Hinged
Bulgaria 1694 1 20s African crocodile Hinged
Bulgaria 1833 1 1s Khan Asparuch & Bulgars crossing the Danube, 679 Hinged
Bulgaria 1834 1 2s Khan Krum & defeat of Emperor Nicephorus, 811 Hinged
Bulgaria 1835 1 3s Conversion of Prince Boris to Christianity, 865 Hinged
Bulgaria 1836 1 5s Tsar Simeon & battle of Akhelo, 917 Hinged

"Page 1 of 2
Printed Tuesday, February 5, 2013 at 20:22 on XLS"

All Stamps

Country Scott Cond. Cost Value Qty Denom. Description Hinge
Bulgaria 1837 1 8s Tsar Samuel defeating the Byzantines, 976 Hinged
Bulgaria 2048 1 1s Olympic emblems, Bronze medal, Canoeing Hinged
Bulgaria C47 1 16 l Winged letter Hinged
Bulgaria C48 1 19 l Wings, posthorn Hinged
Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 42 1 20c Silver Jubilee Issue Hinged
Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 47 1 5c Dhow on Lake Victoria Hinged
Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 66 1 1c Kavirondo Cranes Hinged
Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 69 1 10c Lake Naivasha Hinged
Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 72 1 15c Mt. Kilimanjaro Hinged
Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika 74 1 20c Kavirondo Cranes Hinged
Leeward Islands 47 1 ½p George V Hinged
Leeward Islands 48 1 1p George V Hinged
Leeward Islands 110 1 6p George VI Hinged
Leeward Islands 122 1 1½p George VI Hinged
Liberia 186 1 15c Crocodile Hinged
Liberia 368 1 5c Windmill and Dutch Flag Hinged
Liberia 369 1 5c German flag and Brandenburg Gate Hinged
Liberia 370 1 5c Swedish flag, palace and crowns Hinged

I think we need LOTS of PICTURES really

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Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.

We can easily advise on the value of what you have if pictures are loaded.

Please go to www.photobucket.com and set up an account

Without seeing the Bulgaria, I can tell you that virtually every stamp you have will by from Kiddies packet materials, and at best may be worth one cent each. Have they been cancelled, but still have gum? This would make them cancelled to order, and while some of them are attractive, the market is effectively non existent - no demand.

These are the sort of things that turned up in "100 different Bulgaria for 20 cents" packets, which were very popular in KMart and other chain stores in the '60's through to the '80's. They were not produced to be used on the mail - they were produced for junior collectors, in their millions, for Eastern Bloc countries to obtain hard currency..

The i, 2 and 3 stotinki stamps were probably never used on any mail, except as perhaps "make up" values, with 1s in reality being considerably less (converted) than i US cent. I am afraid this is the sort of stuff you have ( taken from one page of my Bulgaria collection) and it is worthless.



Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

And, sorry, I just noticed this:



These stamps will not be found in the main listings. They are what is known as "back of the book" and appear after the "normal" postage stamps, as they were special purpose stamps, and not normal postage stamps. Unfortunately, they almost certainly have a similar value to what you did find in the main listings.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Sorry about that, here are some scans. Please let me know if these are adequate resolution and if so I can scan the rest.

A couple of 1966 Bulgaria:


1933 Bulgaria "postage due"


1941-44 Bulgaria "parcel post" stamps


1942-44 Bulgaria "official stamps"


1953 Liberia stamps


Thanks!!

Thanks Norm, the stamps I have are almost the same as what you had in your photo.

I have already explained the Bulgaria in the two posts above yours. The Liberia are listed in Gibbons Catalogue, and yours appear to be also cancelled to order. Near zero value.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

I probably have all the ones you listed, but scanning individual pages from a stockbook on a flatbed scanner risks damaging the spine of the book so I don't do it too often. I just picked out a page where I recognised some of the stamps from your description, scanned that, and now the book, along with the stamps, is safely back on my shelf.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Don't be too discouraged. We all had to start somewhere and if nothing else you are getting experience in using the catalogues and seeing what is around. Also don't under-rate the links with your father and uncle. These are valuable in themselves.

Use this collection to find your feet then find an area that interests you and go for it.

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I'm John. I collect Italian, particularly the Mussolini years.

And to add to the above, the KUTs (Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika) that you list are part of of a fascinating set(s). Not worth much, except for the errors, but they start in 1935 with George V and go right through to 1954 with George VI in a massive mix of perforations, retouches and "errors".

Thank you all for the guidance, it is a lot to digest. Most of the collection is loose stamps on paper, the oldest would be around 1972, and I've found some that go back to the 40's. I think I'm going to spend some time going through the pile and removing any nicer stamps from their paper backing, and getting things organized and cataloged.

Do the organizing and catalogueing first - then remove from paper

Firstly you will at this stage probably not know which are the "nicer" stamps

Secondly you will save time by not having to soak the rubbish

Thirdly you may destroy a good postmark or marking

Fourthly ( although perhaps unlikely here ) some stamps can be destroyed by water

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When a man comes to me for advice, I find out the kind of advice he wants, and I give it to him

Probably not even as "make up" values, because under the great communist workers paradise, inflation officially didn't exist, so no changes in rates.

And don't tell me they were for use on odd-weight parcels, because the workers wouldn't have been able to afford to post a cabbage to Aunty Emiliya

Zdravei, Badabing

There's a serious point behind my light-hearted rant above: even if your stamps are worth two-thirds of what ever the Bulgarian idiom for "jack" is, don't lose heart.

Stamps aren't just about money - they are little living pieces of history. Have a close look at some of the events and people depicted - you'll find a few "Glorious Revolutions" and "Lenin's 92nd Birthdays" in there, so you'll learn about the society they lived in. Look at the sort of industries they depict as well - lots of farming and a few big oilfields in Bulgaria, not to mention some grim looking 1950s concrete apartment buildings with views of the Second District Peoples Sewage Treatment Works, you'll find these topics come up on the stamps from time to time.

If you can learn to read the Cyrillic alphabet, you'll get even more out of it. Some of their letters are the same as ours; some are the same but have a different meaning - their C is our S, their P is our R - so those pesky little stamps with CCCP actually say SSSR (which is USSR in English). Then they have a few letters like mirror images of ours, there's a backward N which is an I and a backward R which is a YA. And then there are few like Greek lambdas and deltas. Absolutely fascinatiing (or boring as hell - you decide...). But if you find that Squigly Digly was actually Saint Mark who built a cathedral at the top of a mountain in the 14th Century which was then burnt to the ground by the Turks a few hundred years later, it'll be worth it. Trust me, it will! Won't it?

You'll find plenty of pretty kittens and orchids and elephants as well. "But they don't have elephants running around in Bulgaria, do they?". No, of course not, (well, not since that one escaped from the travelling circus in central Plovdiv in 1972 - uncle Mihail talked about it for years!) - but good way for the Soviet Bloc countries to get their hands on "hard" currency was to produce big shiny stamps that were bought by the children of the "Imperialist Running Dogs" with their pocket money. In the 1960s and 1970s we ALL bought packets of stamps from these wierd and wonderful places (which also tells you a little about OUR social history I guess!).

There's hours of fun to be had in researching these things, and also plenty of knowledge to store away for those quiz shows.

We haven't had a Stampboards Winner who won a million dollars on a TV gameshow by knowing that General Zahariev (or whoever) commanded the Bulgarian Arny in 1944 (or whenever), but you just might be the first, you never know....

Did I say, I can get quite passionate about stamps?

Pozdravi
Gavin

Re your avatar... at what age do you escape dying young?

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With kind regards, Jim

Thanks, I'll focus on sorting first... I guess by country, then by date. Just curious, is there any rule of thumb for identifying a "good" postmark? Specific dates or locations, etc.?

Got a chance to take some more pictures and scans. The collection looks to have a couple of thousand stamps that area already off paper, maybe 10 times that much that are still on paper.

Couple of interesting pieces...

Lots of loose stamps...

Some scans of stamps or other items I thought looked interesting.

Odds & Ends...


Mozambique


Liberia


Lebanon



TUK


Luxembourg


Japan?


Be curious to know what you folks think of these. Assuming none of these are very valuable, if you need something here to fill a blank spot in your collection just let me know and I'll get it to you.

Again, there is nothing in your scans that will not turn up in most general world collections. I like the Mozambique, but then I have a soft spot for Mozambique (I already have these).

The important question to me, at present, is where do you personally wish to go with all this? You will get lots of advice as to how to do a), b) or c) but it is most important that you decide what your goal is up front, as you are doing your initial research. Maybe I am trying to rush you...but this is important. If you intend to sell, further advice will be totally different than if you intend to keep what you have and collect.

As a very simple example, and not intended to be binding, if you intend to collect, I would recommend that you purchase some Scott Catalogues, not more than 5 years old (you don't need this years version, and will get earlier sets at a considerable dlscount) , and some Stockbooks or Stock pages to house your stuff, especially that mass of "stuff in a box".

And you do have a lot of work ahead of you. My advice here would be, take your time and have fun, and slow down if you start to get bored - walk away for a day, or a week if you must, and return refreshed. Stamp collecting is a hobby, not a heart attack.

But for reselling, any "investment" in Stockbooks/pages or even Catalogues (just borrow some from your Library) may and probably will, cost you more than the resale value of your material. Just whack the lot up on eBay as a job lot, and get what you can, without spending to much time and effort - how much do you value your time?

So, badabing give your future directions some thought before investing too much time and effort in something you may not want to continue. You may change your mind 6 months from now (don't we all? - take my ex wife, please - just take her), but you will have reasoned the whole thing out in advance, and used your judgement to make a considered decision.

There is, of course, the trap. Start studying these little beasties, and you, like many of us, discover that there is no escape from stamps, become obsessed, and never want to let go of any of them. But trust me, it's a fun obsession. And apart from our drinking habits, we are mostly otherwise normal.

Norm

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Geelong, VFA Premiers 1878, 1879, 1800, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, AFL Premiers 1925, 1931, 1937, 1951, 1952, 1963, 2007, 2009, 2011, .

Badabing, if they look interesting to you as you say above, then think about the hours of enjoyment you may find in working through a collection like this.

It may not be worth a lot but it's easy to spend a lot of money to occupy our time in other ways.

While the stamps you have shown may not be valuable to others they seem clean and a good basis for a nice collection.

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Collecting Tasman Empire Airways Limited

Thanks all. I'm leaning toward just packaging up the lot and selling on eBay. Given I have three of those big Harris binders, any buyer will probably pay more in shipping than they do for the lot! I already have an extensive collection on baseball cards and coins, and the more I get into this stamp collection the more I think I just do not have the time to take on another hobby.

Thanks to all for the advice. And again, if any of you saw some stamps in what I scanned that you need to fill out part of your collection, just say the word and I'll send them to you postpaid.

Looks like it can make a nice job lot for someone on eBay. I bought a few of those myself when I started getting into stamps again a few weeks ago, and I find it rather enjoyable and interesting rummaging through what a serious stamp collector most probably would find quite trite. I guess it is possible to get a bit cynical after a while, reserving one's interest to the real rarities. For now, the childlike joy of discovering what is out there is quite captivating, and I am sure your collection can give the same kind of joy to someone out there.

I'd have bought yours off you too if it hadn't been for the fact that I think I am covered for at least the next month or so with sorting what I already have. Once I have organised everything to my satisfaction, done a bit of stamp scanning and sold what I don't want to keep, that is when I'll consider getting some more job lots.

Thanks for the good feedback. I went ahead and listed my collection, we'll see if anyone wants it. Unfortunately the darn shipping cost is really expensive, even domestic, hopefully that won't keep someone from buying it. I started bidding at $42 for the whole lot, at this point I'm more about saving storage space than making any money.

Wish I'd seen this before you listed the stamps. I have an extensive baseball card collection, well over 250,000 cards. If the eBay listing doesn't work out, perhaps you'd be up for swapping stamps for some cards. If that sounds appealing, message me and let me know what you're looking for in return (year, player, inserts, base, etc.).
Thanks,
Erik

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"Me fail English? That's unpossible."
—Sir Ralph Wiggum