Old Postage Stamps

Just a quick post to tell you I have gone a bit crazy in the Royal Mail shop. Been on a bit of a spending spree.

I love the latest issue ‘London 2010 Festival of Stamps’. Rather than buying a first day cover this time I have bought…

The King’s Stamps Prestige Stamp Book

The King’s Stamps Miniature Sheet

Accession of King George V Miniature Sheet

I was quite disappointed that I missed out on the mammals issue so to make up for that I bought…

Mammals Stamp Set

And while searching I came across the…

Europe Retail Stamp Book

Worldwide Retail Stamp Book

So I decided to ad these to the basket and I bought those too. Thought I may as well spread the £1.45 delivery charge over as many stamps as I could!

My sister is moving house and getting married next month so that must mean a new first day cover is due… one with a new name and address on. My plan of the postage stamp collection recording the family history is really working.

I will post pics of the merchandise when it is received and I will keep you updated on future purchases.

Edit: I just after posting this post I picked up my Old Postage Stamp book/catalogue and started going through to pick out all the castle stamps.

I guess this is my wish list. I haven’t been through them all yet but will hopefully post the list in its entirety shortly.

Until next time

Technorati Tags: buying old postage stamps, Buying Stamps, Old Postage Stamps, Postage Stamp Collecting, Royal Mail Shop

I put my gloves on a grabbed my tweezers. Most of it went quite smoothly. However, some of the old postage stamps were stuck to the sleeve. With these ones I had a decision to make about what to do.

At first I wanted to leave them in the sleeve. It seemed like the easy option. I haven’t damaged them after all…they were like that when I got them. I instantly knew that was the wrong decision. Like anything in life I knew that I had to take action.

I gave some of the First Day Covers a hard tug to get them out. The old postage stamps on these were obviously damaged.

The damage appears to be on the silhouette of the queen. Obviously this disappointed me but think I took the right decision. At least I think so.

They were obviously damaged in the sleeve. There was no way they could be removed without part of the silhouette remaining attached to the sleeve. I believe that I have help saved these ones even if now they are not in the best of conditions.

I ordered the First Day Covers on the top of the bed once I had all of them out of the album. The first thing that struck me was how colourful they were. This is something that you don’t really appreciate when they are stored away in the sleeve of the album. These old postage stamps in these albums of 30 to 40 years old but are still so vibrant…still full of life…still how my Grandad left them.

With all of the old postage stamps out on the bed it really is an amazing sight. I left them on the bed over night to make sure that they received a good airing.

I have taken photos of each one and recorded a video. I will be posting the videos on my You Tube channel and on this site. After recording the first video I decided to cover up the addresses on the First Day Covers. You can’t be too careful of identity theft!

Then came the more difficult task of putting them back into the sleeves. I couldn’t believe the sleeve sizes against the size of some of the First Day Covers. They were official Royal Mail First Day Covers and official Royal Mail First Day Cover albums.

Why was it such as struggle to fit them in?!

I was very careful not to damage the Old Postage Stamps. I made sure I took my time. Luckily I am a patient person and I was quite happy knowing I was doing it properly.

I even was able ‘fix’ some of the damaged ones. Well… not fix as such, perhaps a better word would be ‘improved’.

Some of the Old Postage Stamps had become slightly folded in the sleeves and I was able to put them back in flat. I was very proud of this.
 
There are 4 first day covers to go through. I will then move on to the other albums once the 4 have been completed. I will post the videos soon.

Technorati Tags: First Day Covers, Old Postage Stamp, Old Postage Stamps, Postage Stamp Albums, Royal Mail First Day Covers

I have been doing a bit of research into the history of old postage stamps and wanted to share what I have found so far. I am going to look at this from a British history viewpoint as that is where the majority of my stamps originate. This is not in anyway a claim to be the complete history but I think it covers the main points.

There has been a postal service around, in variety of forms, for hundreds of years but the first postage stamp wasn’t first used until 1840.

Incidentally if you are interested in postal history I urge you to read about the postal service that Genghis Khan introduced to the Mongolian Empire. His postal routes stretched his entire Empire and that Empire reached about 5,000 miles. Impressive stuff…

Back the British old postages stamps…

So the fist stamps were introduced in 1840. Apparently it was to help solve the financial issues of the post office. Well that doesn’t seem to have been particularly successful as our post offices are still making losses to this day and the government is always seeking ways to privatise an element of it.

The first postage stamp was the ‘Penny Black’ probably the most well known stamp around the world. At the time this was worth one old British penny, i.e. before Britain went metric.

The stamp was very simple in nature with a portrait of Queen Victoria and the words ‘Postage’ and ‘One Penny’. Nowhere did it say Britain and there only a few instances the British old postage stamps have actually used the word British or Britain.

The stamp was black and this caused a problem. The colour of the cancellation marks were also black which meant it was difficult to see it on the stamp and the cunning individual may be able to reuse. (Even to this day it appears that the post office struggle with cancellation marks and often miss them completely!)

Well the black stamp changed colour to red in 1841 and was appropriately called Penny Reds.

Over the years of the Victorian reign in British Old Postage Stamps became successful very quickly and stamps for more denominations appeared.

The wording on the stamps changed from ‘Postage’ to ‘Postage and Inland Revenue’ to ‘Postage & Revenue’ to ‘Postage Revenue’.

When Queen Victoria died and Edward the VII came to the thrown, the stamps had to be changed to show his portrait and soon after they were changed again to George VI (The farther of Queen Elizabeth II).

It was in 1940 that a century of old postage stamps was celebrated with six stamps of George VI and Queen Victoria both appearing on them side by side.

The war then brought about a further change to the old postage stamps. Hard times meant there was less ink around to be used for the stamps. Less ink meant that paler stamps were issued.

When Queen Elizabeth II came to power in 1952 the stamps were changed again. It was during her reign in 1967 the first Machins were issued. My Grandad has a lot of Machins in his collection.

From the 1950s onwards creativity reigned in British stamps as more commemorative stamps were issued and we moved away from stamps that just featured the portrait the monarch.

While the stamps now may not have the portrait of the Queen on, they will show a silhouette of her in the corner.

Old Postage Stamps have had a fascinating history and it is not surprising that it led to the rise of the stamp collector. I want to learn about the history of stamps to help me in my pursuit of learning about my Grandad’s passion and his collection.

I would like to hear about the history of stamps from other countries so please post your comments.

So now I will move to researching the history of the stamp collector…

Technorati Tags: history of stamps, Old Postage Stamps, old postage stamps history

This is my new stamp album. I bought it from the Royal Mail and I deliberately chose something completely different to my Grandad’s. I wanted it to be unique to me and something quite modern.

Now I have it I much prefer his albums. At least my Nan likes it!

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Technorati Tags: Old postage stamps. old postage stamps album, Postage Stamp Collecting

If you are new to old postage stamps you may be unsure of where to buy them. Don’t worry; there are lots of different places so at least something should suit you.

If you are looking of the latest editions then you can buy them from your postal provider, in my case, the Royal Mail themselves. This is where I have bought my First Day Covers.

All you need to do is make one purchase with your debit card, they will remember the details which makes it dead simple if you want to buy more. Mine is set up so I only purchase what I want but you can also get a subscription based service which will ensure that you will always get sent the latest set.

I was talking to my mate about old postage stamps and he said that his father used to buy bags of say 1000 unsorted Old Postage Stamps. He would take them home and sort through them himself. He bought these from stamp shops which aren’t really around these days.

There may not be many stamp shops but there are often local dealers of old postage stamps. They often offer free valuation services too.

But why restrict yourself to local old postage stamps dealers? Search the internet for them as there are loads around who offer a mail order service.

There are sometimes stamp fairs that you can attend. I have not been yet but they supposed to be a great day out. If you need a specific Old Postage Stamp that isn’t too rare then chances are that you will find one here. Again search for local ones on the internet.

You also have old postage stamps auctions. There are 2 types, you have the public auctions where you can go along and bid against other collectors and you have postal auctions where you have a closed bidding system. Both have their advantages and disadvantages.

A public style auction is more fun as there is usually a buzz in the room. The problem with that is you often can get caught up in the buzz and bid more than your ideal amount. This wouldn’t happen in the postal auction.

You also get a chance to see the old postage stamps in front of you which should give you more confidence when bidding. There is also a real chance of you picking up a bargain at the public auction because you know what the other bids are in the room. With a closed auction you usually bid the maximum you want to pay.

I have a preference for public auctions over postal auctions. If you do decide to go along to a public auction then I would advise you not to bid on your first few visits. When you do decided that you are ready to bid set yourself a maximum that you won’t go over.

A new place to buy old postage stamps over recent years is the internet. I have been looking at Ebay recently and there are thousands on there.

You don’t get to see the stamps first hand but photos often do just as good a job. You can also look at the feedback to see how good the seller is. Often you can agree with the seller to pick up in person if you want to reduce the risk involved.

When you are looking at sites like Ebay and the price of the old postage stamps look reasonable, remember to check out the price of the postage! This is where a lot of people sometimes get caught out.

Technorati Tags: buying old postage stamps, Old Postage Stamps, Value Of Old Postage Stamps, where to buy postage stamps

My Grandad kept his old postage stamps in dedicated stamp albums in some drawers of a spare bedroom. When they came into my possession I did something similar. I kept them in the albums but put them into the drawers of my bed.

I have since done some investigating into how it is best to store old postage stamps. The last thing I want to do is let his stamp collection deteriorate and lose their vibrancy and value.

I will also be adding to the collection and I want to make sure that the stamps that I add are preserved for the next generation.

Handling stamps – well it was obvious to me that you should not be handling the old postage stamps with your hands. Rather you should use tweezers. Not tweezers that you use in the bathroom, but specialist tweezers that are used for Old Postage Stamps. These tweezers have blunt ends.

I haven’t actually handled any of the stamps yet. I have ordered some first day covers (more on that in a later post) but you don’t have to touch those stamps on an individual basis.

Obviously when you are holding old postage stamps you should always take care not to rush and do so in a dry environment.

If you are mounting onto hinges ensure that you practice first. The hinges that you use should be of high quality and only apply as little moisture as possible to the part of the old postage stamps that the hinge attaches to.

If you are using protective mounts then again try to use those of high quality.

Now when you buy old postage stamps you may want to ‘house’ them for a period of time before inserting them into their final album. This is ok and you should use a stockbook for this task.

A stockbook can hold many stamps and some collectors often hold their old postage stamps permanently. When looking for a stockbock look for one that is specific for the purpose. Don’t overfill it and get it out from time to time to turn the pages to get some air to it. This way you get to look at the stamps at the same time as preserving them.

For a permanent home you need to get a dedicated stamp album. My Grandad has some beautiful old postage stamps albums. The first thing that I will be collecting is first day covers and I have order a stamp album from the royal mail. (I will take a picture of that when it arrives). As it was for first day covers I had to make sure that I checked the dimensions to be sure that they would fit in ok.

They wouldn’t fit in my Grandad’s spare album. I think the dimensions must have changed over the years.

Something new that I have learnt is that you should hold your old postage stamp albums in an upright position. I’m not sure about the exact reasons why I but I am guessing it is about have less weight on the stamps.

This is not how mine are currently stored so I will have to do something about that. I have also found out that it is important to get your stamps out from time to time and move them about a bit.

My Old Postage Stamps have been stored away for the last 20 years so that is something that I will need to do quite urgently. That is a daunting task as there are so many of them and I don’t want to spoil them. I guess that I have to start somewhere and by doing that would be a good chance to get some videos done. I will keep you posted on how that goes.

You don’t have to keep all your old postage stamps in dedicated albums if they don’t fit. It may be hard for some miniatures and special editions to fit. That is ok, just store them in boxes to make sure they are not damaged. When you store them away make sure that it is away from the light, you chosen storage place it not too hot or too cold and the level of humidity is low.

Check your collection on regular basis to ensure that they are still in the best condition. If there is any sign of something going wrong then do something about it immediately.

Technorati Tags: Old Postage Stamps, old postage stamps storing, storing old postage stamps, storing stamps

Part of my Grandad’s Old Postage Stamps collection. This book is from about 1949.

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Technorati Tags: British, Collecting, Collection, Collonial, Old, Oldpostagestamps, Postage, Stamp, Stamps, Value

This is how I catalogued my Grandad’s Old Postage Stamps. I marked them off in British Stamps Values 2009. Duration : 0:3:29

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Old Postage Stamps checklist from1980. My Grandad used this stanley gibbons catalogue to for his old postage stamp collection.

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My book about old postage stamps has arrived from Amazon and both me and my girlfriend have been through my Grandad’s old postage stamp collection and we have marked off each of his stamps.

This was a fun exercise because it gave me a chance to go through his collection stamp by stamp.

So the book that I have is the British Stamp Market Values 2009. The reason that I chose that one over the Stanley Gibbons book was because of the reviews on Amazon. The reviews tended to say that the British Stamp Market Values gave a more realistic Value Of Old Postage Stamps.

I’ve actually done a quick video about the book which I have posted on You Tube and hope to link it to this blog post (hope it workeIt took me and my girlfriend a few evening to complete the cataloguing. It was really interesting. Not all the stamps were in the book but most of them were.

A whole collection about kings and queens wasn’t in there. I think that it must have been a special edition. I will have to do some more investigating into those. The book that I bought was for British Old Postage Stamps so obviously his stamps from abroad were not in the book.

There were some really interesting Old Postage Stamps in the book and I will go into some of these in more detail in further posts.

I marked off each of the stamps in the book by circling them with my pen. This will become a record of where the old postage stamp collection was at the point that I inherited it (plus the others that I that I couldn’t find).

I also found 2 other books in the my Grandad’s collection. One similar to mine where he must’ve marked off his old postage stamps. This on was called ‘Collect British Stamps’ and it was published by Stanley Gibbons. It was from 1980, the year I was born.

The other book looks like a special book. It is the ‘price list of British Colonial Stamps and Foreign Sets’ from J.E. Lee. The book actually doesn’t look as old as the Stanley Gibbons one but when I looked at the ‘newest’ old postage stamps in there it was dated at 1948. This probably means that this book was around from approximately 1949. It is really good condition.

I have made further videos about these 2 books which I have posted on You Tube. I will do my best to link them to my old postage stamps blog so they so automatically but if not I will post the links here.

Please can you let me know if you would like me to post photos or videos of my Grandad’s old postage stamp collection on this site?

Technorati Tags: Old Postage Stamps, Old postage stamps book, Postage Stamp Collecting