By: Dr. Jerry Bergman
Montpelier, Ohio
A stamp collector friend recently received a call from a woman in Bluffton, Ohio, who explained that when she was cleaning out her attic she found her grandfather’s stamp collection.
She was going to put it in the trash until her neighbor suggested she first call someone knowledgeable about stamps.
My friend drove to her house and estimated the collection was worth several hundred thousand dollars! She had Scott #1 and #2, mint copies of the first two U.S. postage stamps, issued in 1847.
They are a 5¢ Benjamin Franklin (Scott #1) and a 10¢ George Washington (Scott #2), stamp valued at $20,500. She now has enough money to do many of the things she had always dreamed about.
These stories are uncommon in the stamp collecting community, but some collectors do run across some extremely valuable stamps. I have been collecting for most of my life and have purchased several large collections.
The most valuable stamp I obtained was worth under $20.00. Before you clean out your attic, call someone who knows stamps. Or you could call the Toledo stamp club. Online Hipstamp.com is an excellent place to determine a stamp’s value.
Or, you could check eBay. Stamps are not organized according to the Scott #. This you first will need to know something about stamps to obtain a Scott catalog number.
A Guide to a Stamp’s Value
Uncanceled stamps which were never used for postage are the most valuable. Stamps that have a stamp hinge or remnant, the value is half. If canceled, depending on the stamp, the value is around 10 percent the mint price.
Thus. a mint stamp worth $100.00, if hinged, is worth $50.00, and if used, it is worth $10.00. Generally, stamps that are torn or damaged are not worth anything. Because there are hundreds of millions of different stamps, most people specialize. I collect stamps mostly from countries involved in WWII.
Over 99.99 percent of all stamps are worth under a few dollars. A few may bring a fortune. I also bid in auctions and generally come out ahead. I may pay $4.00 for a stamp worth $20.00, but a few times I have paid twice the stamp’s value.
The History of Postage Stamps
The world’s first postage stamp, the British Penny Black, featured the reigning monarch, Queen Victoria wearing her crown. Soon after, most nations issued postage stamps, often printed by the American Bank Note Company.
Before postage stamps, the postage was paid by the recipient when the letter was delivered. Then carriers had to collect the money owed from every addressee.
They sometimes had to return to the addressee to collect the postage or send mail back to the sender if the letter was rejected. This system was replaced by prepaid stamps the sender bought at the post office.
My Involvement
My brother collected stamps for several years. When he went to college, he gave me his collection. Back then, the main source of stamps was stores that sold nothing but stamps and coins.
In Royal Oak, Michigan, where I lived, there were at one time three stamp stores. Many of my friends also collected stamps and we traded extras that we had for other stamps that we needed. This all changed with the internet.
Now, when I am looking for a particular stamp, my searches often involve over 100 countries. This has often forced the price down due to the worldwide competition. When pricing, dealers often look at what other dealers price a stamp at and will often put their stamps online for a lower price.
When I am looking for a particular stamp, I sort the stamp listing by price and, all factors being equal, I usually buy the lowest priced stamp.
Why Collect Stamps
One can learn a great deal from collecting stamps. When I was younger, I decided to specialize and learned a great deal about geography, especially the changing borders of European nations.
Many German stamps represent countries they conquered in war, such as Poland, which the Nazi’s called the General Government. Countries Germany conquered were called Protectorates, a less offensive term than than conquered, which was the actual state of affairs.
WWII German stamps had pictures of Hitler on scores of their stamps, most not being worth much because Germany printed millions of copies of each stamp.
Russia had scores of stamps featuring Karl Marx and Lenin. They also released many stamps honoring Ukraine and eminent Ukrainian poets, writers, scientists and statesmen.
One of the most common pictures on worldwide stamps is Charles Darwin! Many of these Darwin stamps also show the now discredited images of various claimed missing links!
Of note is that the United States has never printed a single stamp with Darwin’s picture on it, whereas communist countries have printed several.
It is also clear that the United States has influenced the world. Scores of world stamps including pictures of Abreham Lincon, Martin Luther King, and stamps with different races on them designed to condemn racism.
By far the most popular images on worldwide postage stamps depict sports, then animals, and thirdly, flowers. One thing they teach us is that people are the same wherever you go in the world.
The U.S. is unique in one way. Only deceased persons are allowed to have their picture on postage stamps. In contrast, many countries prominently feature their current head of state, king or other leaders on their postage stamps.
In America, deceased individuals can appear on stamps no earlier than three years after their death. One exception is that former presidents are guaranteed a memorial stamp one year after their death. The “dead enough” rule does not apply to fictional characters such as Mickey Mouse.
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Dr. Bergman is a multi-award-winning professor and author. Has 9 degrees and has taught at both the graduate and undergraduate level for over 40 years. His over 2,100 publications are in both scholarly and popular journals. Dr. Bergman’s work has been translated into 15 languages. He has spoken over 2,000 times to college, university and church groups in America, Canada, Europe, the South Sea Islands, and Africa. He lives in Montpelier and is available to present in churches and schools. Jerry can be reached at JerryBergman30@yahoo.com