Penny Red Queary

[P360NUT]

I have been left thousands and thousands of stamps that have been stored in my grandmothers loft for decades and included my Grandfathers Uncles collection so spanning approximately 140/150 years!!
I've found many that are Victorian including at least 10 /15 penny reds
and in a diffrent section of the roof that the stamp collection was in was this..
 


its addressed to my grandfathers uncle

I quick look on ebay has left me totally confused. some are 99p and some are worth hundreds.
I have no idea what to look for

I think I need to book some time with an expert when I've had a good chance to sort through what I have.
but thought I would share

[talesofthesevenseas]

If the letters are in them, letters can be highly collectable also. But personally, I feel that if there are letters, the genealogical value can be priceless.

[Ipcress]

Several different areas that philatelics collect - the stamps themselves, the cancellation, the covers.
Some are interested in the post office, some on the date ( stamps and cancellations can be scarcer on certain key dates or when there was a strike )
Then you have the varying plates of the Penny Red - you need to take a magnifying glass and look in the left and right margins.

Good stamps are obviously the Penny Blacks and other Victorian ones but then Edward VII, George's V and VI also have stamps which are highly sort after, usually from 1/- and upwards and generally in unused condition, although some people collect the war period issues and cancels.

If you take a photo of some i can give you a rough guide. Then tell me the county and i'll let you know the best auction house to visit.

[P360NUT]

The contents of that envelope included....









The seals completely  baffled me.

Will add a few photos of the stamp collection so you can see what I'm up against.

[P360NUT]

Its going to take me ages but I will sort through them, into era's and country's, used & unused.
I'm on the East coast of England Norfolk. Diss & Acle have sale rooms I believe. but want 2 know what I have as I suspect he will say "leave them with me so i can have a sort" 


EVERY Envelope and Album is full to the brim


Page of Reds




thousands of unused uncirculated



75% UK stamps but also a massive amount of world wide stamps.

[Ipcress]

Blimey !! These need going through by someone who loves stamps. Obviously a good collection and just from what i can see there's value there.
Obviously a member of a club which he bought from, maybe Stanley Gibbons.

[P360NUT]

Knowing my grandad he didn't pay for a single one lol
he used to wake up in the night so see if he had lost any sleep!!!

but he was an AVID collector and everyone he knew including the postmaster would save stamps for him
He taught me the basics... and he did leave me a Stanley Gibbons catalog dated 1977 for my reference!  

[greenacres]

Going through someones collection can be overwhelming. Especially if your not familiar with or interested in the collection yourself. I've had that experience.

[P360NUT]

Over whelming indeed. I was interested as a boy in the 80's and helped him collect them knowing one day they would be mine...
But I just never knew how many and how unsorted they would be..
Let alone how complicated it is.. I just spend the past 2 hours reading the Stanley gibbons catalog & have still learned NOTHING   

[KC]

What a wonderful collection!!!!

[Ipcress]

Over whelming indeed. I was interested as a boy in the 80's and helped him collect them knowing one day they would be mine...
But I just never knew how many and how unsorted they would be..
Let alone how complicated it is.. I just spend the past 2 hours reading the Stanley gibbons catalog & have still learned NOTHING   

Values can be a 20th of what they are listed in there

You should group by sovereign, then try and put any matching sets together ( those Postal Union for example )

Is that red volume full ?

[P360NUT]

The red volume isn't full but many pages are.
I think in his last few years he decided to put what he thought to be rare into this book.
Unfortunately dementia helped & he just put stamps in at random towards the end :/

I do remember asking him when I was young if he had any penny blacks and I THINK I remember him saying "no but I have a penny blue"!!
I'm yet to find this & cant be certain, my memory isn't that great as it was over 20 years ago we had that discussion.