Stamp Grade: The Importance to Value

If you are getting serious about stamp collecting in terms of making this a serious investment then you have to know that the most important thing to other collectors is a stamp’s grade and condition.

The grade of a stamp is all about the actual stamp. How it is centered between the perforations or between margins of the sheet for items that don’t have perforations. This not only means horizontal centering, but vertical centering as well. It also refers to the condition of the gum on the back of the stamp for mint stamps, or the effect of the cancellation on the stamp for ones that have been used.

Evaluating a stamp's grade is something that takes a little experience and a lot of looking at stamps. With enough looking at the same stamp, but of various grades, it starts to become apparent when a stamp is of a high grade and another of the same type of stamp is not.

Stamp grades are fairly standardized across the industry and range from superb to poor and if you are going to become a serious collector it is important when buying a stamp to know what grade of a stamp you are getting. The better the grade, the better your collection. To see this, all you have to do is go to any stamp catalog and look at the difference between the price of a superb-grade stamp and the price of a lesser grade one.

Finding the Value of a Stamp Without Using a Catalog – Part II

From our previous blog we gave you tips on how to start figuring out how to describe your stamp so you can search online stamp auctions to see how much people might be willing to pay for what you have. Once you have determined the relative age of the stamp, next, you need to know if it is a definitive stamp, which is your generally run-of-the-mill, day-to-day, workhorse stamp. These are printed in big repetitive sheets that repeat the stamp over and over again. Is it a commemorative stamp? Commemorative stamps are generally more than twice the size of ordinary stamps and usually printed to commemorate special events.

Now you need to decide if it is used or unused (also sometimes called "mint". For the most part these will have different values. Used stamps generally have a cancellation on them or were at one time stuck on a letter, card, or package. Mint stamps will still have some of the original gum on the back.

Even with all this information, you still need other information to narrow down your search. The denomination of the stamp is important as is what is depicted on the stamp. Many stamps from the 19th Century have either George Washington or Benjamin Franklin on them.
OK, with this information you are ready to search and see what some people are willing to pay for your stamp. You might want to search for "19th Century, unused, George Washington" or maybe "Elvis, 29 cent, commemorative stamp". In the matter of minutes, you can then easily see what some people are willing to pay for your stamp!

Finding the Value of a Stamp Without Using a Catalog – Part I

Regardless of how important catalogs are in getting an idea of what the value of some stamp is in your collection, let's face it. Finding the stamp in a catalog can be a challenge, especially if you haven't used them a lot or are just a casual stamp collector who can't be bothered with pawing through pages and pages of seemingly similar looking stamps. Catalogs, also only present the potential value, not what its actual value might be in the market place.

One easy way to find a stamp's potential value is to look at some online auctions and see what real people are buying your stamp for. To do this, you should know a few things about your stamp and then use that information to find it on an auction website like eBay under its recently completed stamp auctions.

There are thousands of stamps for sale every day on these online auction sites, so you have to know a few things about your stamp before you begin. First, is it engraved? If so, this means it is probably from the 19th century. Engraved stamps generally have a series of lines and dots of solid color like you see on a dollar bill. Is it non-engraved? If so, that means it looks more like a picture in a magazine and is often is in full color. This means it is a 20th century stamp.

In our next blog, we will give you more tips on how to set up a good search to see what your stamp is worth.

How Much Are My Stamps Worth?: Where to Start

People who collect stamps for fun eventually want to know how much their collection is worth. Most people just assume that stamp catalogs will tell them what their collection’s value is, but in reality what you see there is probably not the real answer. Sure, catalogs are a good place to start, but just like anything else, the real value of a collection is what someone is willing to pay for it at the end of the day.

Two popular stamp catalogs are the Scott Standardized Catalog of Stamps and the Stanley Gibbons Stamp catalog. Both can be purchased as books. But for hobby collectors who don't want to invest any money in this, sometimes their local libraries will have them or can get them through interlibrary loans. That way, you can check them out for free and see what the current value is, at least at the printing time of the catalog.

If you are a little more ambitious or your curiosity gets the best of you and you are willing to spend a small amount of money, the Stanley Gibbons Catalog can also be accessed on line at www.allworldstamps.com. To look here, you need to be a subscriber and although it is not as complete as the print volumes for some reason, it is a lot easier to find your stamps and see what they are worth. If you are a real collector or just want to oogle cool stamps but don’t want to invest too much, many good stamp catalogs can be bought on eBay for a nominal price as well.