Found a bunch of old stamps in the attic today

[cam9457]

My parents are in the midst of a divorce and I was up in the attic trying to rescue some of my stuff. I got a few boxes out from my childhood and took them home. I found a lot of neat old stuff but the thing that interested me the most was these old stamps that I found at the bottom of one of the boxes in an envelope. I know absolutely nothing about stamps other than I need to slap one on a letter before I mail it. Can anyone tell me if any of these are worth anything? I just thought they were neat and thought I would share

 

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[cam9457]

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[Mackaydon]

From my experience of collecting stamps as a kid, most seem to be regular and commemorative stamps (40s, 50s and 60s). The 12 cent at the bottom of that last pic on the first series of pics is from the early 1920's and worth about $1.00. Just my two cents without looking at a catalogue.
Don.......

 

[matt980]

HMm.. as far as i know, all stamps issued after the 1930's are printed in large numbers, so they wont be worth much. As for stamps earlier that that, it probably depends on the demand.

 

[Evolution]

If you've got any in there of a plane flying upsidedown, you might have something. Otherwise my knowledge of stamps is limited.

 

[Nick A]

I know stamps. Nothing of value there, but I agree they are interesting. That must be why I have so many!

 

[dnewbury2]

 

[toolman61]

If they wouldn't of already been postmarked u would have a few 100 maybe but as is they are just an interesting converastion peices. I used to have well over 1000 dated back to the late 1800's but they too had been postmarked and I sold them for about 400.00 in the early 90's. HH Tom

 

[prolab69]

Heres some I found doing some demo work in an old house, I know nothing about stamps either.

 

[prolab69]

heres some i found in a wall doing demo work a while back, I know nothing about stamps either

 

[cheese]

Those are very old, and nice ones prolab! Those are clipped from postal stationery. Ideally, they would be part of an entire envelope instead of clipped out, but nice anyway. They all appear to date from around the civil war to the late 1800s. The Mckinley ones are from postcards. The green regular stamps are from the 1930s.

 

[packfan_1982]

yeah I have one of those... Pic below.

 

[Mackaydon]

These items are called Postal Stationery (PS). PS includes the stated value of the 'stamp' preprinted onto an envelope, post card, letter card, aeorgramme or other media.
Most of the material you have is called 'cut squares' of postal stationery. One of the best sites I've found for both US 'cut square' and post cards is:

http://store02.prostores.com/servlet/stationery/StoreFront

You may wish to take your time in getting familiar with this site since at least one 'cut square' sells for $5,000--and maybe higher. (look at "U-299", for example).
Good luck in finding a real winner in that great collection of yours.
Don........

 

[WilliamBoyd]

My grandmother started saving US stamps in the 1950's.

When I tried to sell them, two dealers told me that no unused US stamp
made after 1931 was worth more than face value, and to use them to mail
letters.

Of course, one has to use a lot of 3¢ and 4¢ stamps to pay for a letter now.

 

[Mackaydon]

Willie;
If you still have those stamps you may wish to take them to a local stamp club meeting and get another opinion; the dealer is biased, to say the least. As an alternative, you may wish to give the stamps away at that club and enjoy experiencing the reaction of the kids.
Don.......

 

[cam9457]

Thank you for all the info everybody! I was really curious since I know nothing about stamps but I knew that people collect them. I got all kinds of interesting stuff out of the attic, old model trains, baseball football basketball and hockey cards from the 60's-mid 90's, a bible from the 1800's, old video camera and really old polaroid camera, old Hess trucks still in their boxes and a small jewelry thing loaded with about a dozen cufflink and tie clip pairs and rings and stuff. I had forgoten about all this stuff so seeing it all again was pretty cool, have to get rid of a lot of it though. Thanks again