Website for value indication of stamps

Hello,

are there any good websites or phone apps that give good rough valuations of Stamps?

I have a older collection with Stamps in several albums from around 1870 to the 1990‘s and just came by it again today.

I know the market for stamps crashed pretty hard but there are still some gems around so was curious to check.

anyone can give advice

thank you and best regards,

Paul

Here some random images of my collection

apuking

Hello,

 

are there any good websites or phone apps that give good rough valuations of Stamps?

 

I have a older collection with Stamps in several albums from around 1870 to the 1990‘s and just came by it again today.

I know the market for stamps crashed pretty hard but there are still some gems around so was curious to check.

anyone can give advice

 

thank you and best regards,

 

Paul

StampWorld? Pretty sure there are better sites out there, but that's the one I know of. 🤷‍♂️

I spy with my little eye a football stamp! 🧐⚽

There is a problem with catalogue values, and it's that nobody can sell stamps without a big discount compared to them. 

From what I've seen, catalogues didn't lower the prices when the market crashed; they just didn't raise them afterwards. A few years ago I saw a late 1990s Canadian stamp catalogue in a used bookstore. The prices were the same as they were at that time — somewhere around 2018–2019.

Only rarities have maintained their value, but even then, given the impact of inflation, their value has somewhat decreased over time. Many of the European states pre-unification, such as those that became Germany and Italy, are surprisingly easy to get, except some rarities. The same goes for Australian stamps before the postal system was unified in 1910, almost a decade after the formation of the Commonwealth. For some reason, other countries are a lot more difficult, such as the Canadian pence issues (pre-1859). I only have one or two of them.

Low value stamps are now mostly sold in lots. Stamps that used to be worth, say, $20–$50 can still be sold individually, but I'm not surprised any longer when they go for a fifth to a tenth of their catalogue value.

What I do personally is to use eBay via picclick to check the value of any stamp that might be worth more.

One should have in mind that catalogue prices are for postage stamps of good condition sold by a stamp dealer, which means catalogue prices are incl. taxes and business overhead.

If anyone wants to start a collection of let's say mint postage stamps, it's possible to get an almost complete collection of the last 50 years for less than face value at some auction houses. Same thing goes for used postage stamps when only criteria is undamaged, clean copies.

Value increases if you're going for something more special, like SON (Socked On (the) Nose) used postage stamps where it's possible to read both date and name of the post office (and used within correct time frame).

+1

Above comments re: the value of stamps being all over the map (but mostly low from dated catalogues- unless rare & highly sought after). On my last coin show (December 2024) I was on the look out for a few key Canadian commemorative stamps from pre-WW2.  

I was shocked at the prices the sellers were asking (perhaps they're trying to recoup their investment?) but online, the same stamps would be about ½ the price they had them listed for. 

You might also post some of your nice stamps (that you think are worth something more than FV) & questions on this US-based Community stamp forum. Don't know how active it is but there it is.

Good luck & enjoy!

Thank you all for the good advice.

Im well aware of conditions of items and also of book values which might be the price a premium dealer is asking for a pristine condition stamp.

Values Im just interested to get a rough idea if a stamp is worth 0,02€ or if it might be worth 10+€

The collection consists of:

1 book which is just sparsely filled but seems to contain only pre 1920's stamps, some might be as early as the 1860's or so.

Bought this book around 15 years ago at a car boot sale.

2 books I got from my Grandfathers collection, seems to be only Swiss and 95% are unused. Date range seems to be 1930's to 1960's or 70's.

5 books from my own collection, pretty sure all with no value. But I will still check 😀

+ a bag of Stamps individual and unused ones on single sheets I still need to check.

I will have a look at stampworld and see if that is something for me.

Best regards,

Paul

apuking

Values Im just interested to get a rough idea if a stamp is worth 0,02€ or if it might be worth 10+€

Well, the five images you have shown has South American stamps in the first image and Russian Empire stamps in the second image. Very common and you need to be a specialized nerd to know what's interesting when it comes to perforation and printing errors. Some of the stamps are kaputt (missing corners etc.), so I wouldn't hold my breath on these ones.

The next two images are of West Germany stamps, mint from the late 1950s to the late 1960s and used from the 1990s, most very common stuff. The mint composer small sheet is Michel Block 2 (€28), there is a complete Brothers Grimm fairy tales Michel 322-325 (€5), the highest nominal 40 pfennige is always the most expensive in a complete set. The used stamps needs to be flawless SON to have a value of perhaps max. €1, the others are kiloware. Perhaps a topical collector is willing to give a few euro cents more?

The last image is of used US stamps, except the first one, the football (soccer) stamp, which is Czech. Nothing special here due to the bulk being cancelled with wavy line machine postmark. Also kiloware, unless there are some with nominals in dollars, they could find customers.

I've collected stamps since the 1950's and have been discouraged by very little interest from younger folks. 

My own specialty is King George VI Commonwealth variations. Values have dropped significantly, though perhaps not as much as the overall market. 

I really don't know what the future brings, other than it seems to be a declining market.

Just curious is something like this of interest when there is also a historical background to it?

and one more question, something like this is not a stamp?

apuking

 

Just curious is something like this of interest when there is also a historical background to it?

 

and one more question, something like this is not a stamp?

The cover (envelope of a letter) is a First Flight Cover for the postal route Paris, France - Johannesburg, South Africa with stop in Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. One of the stamps is damaged.

The “non-stamp” is called a cinderella stamp ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella_stamp ) and was issued to raise funds for the 1937 International Exposition in Paris, France. 

Here some of the I believe somewhat better stamps that I found in the older album.

apuking

Here some of the I believe somewhat better stamps that I found in the older album.

 

 

I suppose the quality of all the stamps are used (*).

The orange 10 cent. Papal State (Michel 15 or 22 x) is valued at either €900 or €2.50. Needs a specialist to decide.

Sardinia 80 C (Michel 14 a, orange or 14 b, brown orange) is valued at €30 or €180.

What seems to be a blueish green 4 Cr. from Tuscany (Michel 6 x or y) has a listed value of either €5,000 or €6,000, but - at this price needs to have perfect margins, which this copy doesn't have, since the left and lower margins are cut short (into the motif). The stamp is glued on paper with a minor damage to the upper margin. Fakes are known to exist, needs a specialist to decide.

The Samoa stamps can be expensive, especially the 5 shillings (two to three figures). There are four different print runs in three different types + facsimiles (Neudruck), the latter being priced at €0.50 a piece.

Before mentioned ones were the best and some more that are maybe worth mentioning but some of them have poor quality.

The rest in the album is of very low value and very used stamps as to what i saw.

apuking

Before mentioned ones were the best and some more that are maybe worth mentioning but some of them have poor quality.

 

The rest in the album is of very low value and very used stamps as to what i saw.

Most of these stamps are damaged with poor readable postmarks. As I see it the only one that could be interesting, for it's postmark as well, is the overprinted Gibraltar stamp (Michel 3), valued at €110. If the watermark is upside down the price is “Liebhaber” - not noted, very rare.

Can you turn the cover right horizontal and enlarge the stamps (min. 300 dpi)?

You mean like this?

thank you by the way for the great expertise and help

apuking

You mean like this?

 

thank you by the way for the great expertise and help

No, I mean the only cover that is shown in image no. 9.

You're welcome.

Sorry I totally misunderstood.

hope this helps

apuking

Sorry I totally misunderstood.

hope this helps

Very nice cover, but unfortunately, I think it's a front only. Am I right that there is no backside to this cover?

Anyway, this is a registered cover sent from Constantinople (Istanbul) in Turkey to France, and some of the empires of that period had their own post offices there, like for example Germany. It's impossible to read the year of the postmarks, but the postage stamps were issued 1905.

indeed it was cut out and its the front side only

apuking

indeed it was cut out and its the front side only

Some collectors cut down covers in size to fit their storage boxes, in this case not the biggest shame. The front must have some very rare stamps or marks that makes it hard to find. Otherwise noone is interested to give money for a front only, since the backside of a registered cover normally has a postmark of the receiving post office and perhaps even some other handling postmarks.

pennyless

apuking

Here some of the I believe somewhat better stamps that I found in the older album.

 

 

I suppose the quality of all the stamps are used (*).

 

The orange 10 cent. Papal State (Michel 15 or 22 x) is valued at either €900 or €2.50. Needs a specialist to decide.

 

Sardinia 80 C (Michel 14 a, orange or 14 b, brown orange) is valued at €30 or €180.

 

What seems to be a blueish green 4 Cr. from Tuscany (Michel 6 x or y) has a listed value of either €5,000 or €6,000, but - at this price needs to have perfect margins, which this copy doesn't have, since the left and lower margins are cut short (into the motif). The stamp is glued on paper with a minor damage to the upper margin. Fakes are known to exist, needs a specialist to decide.

 

The Samoa stamps can be expensive, especially the 5 shillings (two to three figures). There are four different print runs in three different types + facsimiles (Neudruck), the latter being priced at €0.50 a piece.

The more common version of the Papal state 10 c stamp should be orange and the more valuable one red, so yours looks like a more common version at a first glance (but you should compare the colour with other stamps of the same type on E-bay, I'm not a specialist in this field).

Regarding the catalogue prices of stamps, I guess the problem is that Michel and similar catalogues do not give the real price, but rather an index of rarity (this practice can be quite confusing of course). That is, a price of let's say 5000 € in Michel catalogue doesn't mean the stamp really is worth 5000 €, only that it is more valuable/rarer than the one valued at 50€ (these prices are also called “Michel Euro,” as opposed to a real value in €). That would be one of the reasons why stamp catalogue prices haven't changed according to the real market situation, at least in the case of Michel.

Went through another album with mostly 1920-1959 stamps

this is the only one of that album that might have a little value

Unfortunately, it seems to be quite common, though cancelled ones, such as yours, are worth more than the mint version. In my old Scott catalogue (2008, but prices probably didn't change since, as we discussed above), a mint stamp goes for US $0.20 ($0.75 never hinged) and a used one for $1.25.

Yours has a very nice, almost complete cancellation, which is a plus. The stamp was issued 27 May 1922, a month and 5 days after the day of issue.

A note on the cover sent from a German post office in Turkey to France: the date of the cancellation is 13 March 1917 (13 . 3 . 17).