First Day Covers and First Day Issues 1946-1958
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UtahCoin
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Hi,
I was going through my dad's stuff and found hundreds of FDC's, First Flights, First Day of Issue and other postal type stuff all from 1946 through about 1958. Is there anything to look for that might be worth anything?
Thanks,
Wes
Utahcoin
I was going through my dad's stuff and found hundreds of FDC's, First Flights, First Day of Issue and other postal type stuff all from 1946 through about 1958. Is there anything to look for that might be worth anything?
Thanks,
Wes
Utahcoin
I used to be somebody, now I'm just a coin collector.
Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
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on a Boy Scout FDC. Also got a bunch on her Duck Stamps (those you bought to go hunting water fowl).
Set up an appraisal with a stamp dealer and when we took them in she just shook her head, went through
them in about ten seconds (no not really, probably 2 minutes) and gave us the news. Nice thing is she
felt so bad for us that she didn't charge!
bob
PS: Mom in law also had blocks and sheets all from the 30's forward. Licked them and just used them.
Recipient of the coveted "You Suck" award, April 2009 for cherrypicking a 1833 CBHD LM-5, and April 2022 for a 1835 LM-12, and again in Aug 2012 for picking off a 1952 FS-902.
In the same boat. Just nice to look at & reminisce, it seems. ........... ;-(
Look for any with hand painted or hand drawn cachets. These have value.
I think this was one of the heydays for FDC's, so there are many of these in existence.
Most of the values of this area are the 3c, 4c and 5c postage rate..... I can tell you that some are valuable as the post offices are long gone and that postmark will not be able to be found anymore. But that will take work for you and the average stamp collector does not like doing the reference searching.... Please make sure the cancel on the covers are a circular and not a slogan....If you have genuine letters that have gone through the mail on the exact day of issue, those do have some value, however you have to do all the research to find out when the stamps were issued and it will not take 5 minutes. The dealer you went to knows what is wanted and what stamps are ok for him to simply soak off for used stamp stock.... I did this many many times as to find high values of a set in the 1960s postmarked on the bottom left hand corner was rare as they mostly went on parcels. as you can see there are a lot of facets to the covers. Some stamps may have an odd perforations... I come from Australia and over there we have a saying.... When a customer comes into a shop ( like i had ) and asks me what my stamps are worth, i clearly say " they are simply worth what someone is willing to pay for them. " if you think you are going to be able to sell them to buy a mercedes benz with all the added luxuries, those days are long gone as the hobby is slowly dieing. They were in the late 70's to early 80's when used stamps were an investment. In fact i bought a sheet of stamps each week and placed them in date order...when i saw they were going up in value, i sold them quickly to make my profit...i was not greedy like most and hung onto them...This changed when the post office simply reissued time after time after time as the stamps in those days were better than having money in the bank. The post office saw this and ruined the market by making too many and the supply overode the demand.... I personally used to earn close to 100% on my money spent in under 6 months in buying stamps.... Nowadays as youngsters only want mobile phones, computer, laptops, video games, the days of philately are long gone.... If you take the mint ones to a dealer, he/she will possibly pay you 50% of you are lucky. That is the rate in Australia as i cannot speak for the USA and most of the time we refuse them as there is so many being offered in Australia.....Then the dealers try to sell them on for 75% so there is some meat on the bone for the next person or simply use them on their own packages and get 100% of the face value..If a person with a company that has a big mailout buys them, they may pay a bit more..... or if you know someone that does e bay, they will possibly pay you 60 - 80% of the face value just to make up for the fees they pay to e bay and pay pal.... Just remember if you refuse the offers, you have a lot of letters to write. I have supplied many many e bay sellers with mint stamps over my years and has been very very profitable.. At the post office you will notice that the package is placed on the scales and the person behind the counter will then place a pre printed sticker with the value of the shipping on the package.... If you notice , high value stamps of present day are not getting used so to find them in genuine used condition on the bottom left hand corner of the stamp with a circular cancel is so rare. I say this as if you can get an envelope and omagine where the stamp would go...TOP RIGHT CORNER!! Then to cancel it the stamp will have to postmark on the bottom left corner of the stamp. You can be 99% sure that stamps with postmarks in that spot have gone through the mail. But there again, where are the kids that collect stamps these days??? THEY ARE NOWHERE TO BE FOUND!!...That is why i do not wait for the best price. As long as i can turn my stuff over and make more than the bank will pay in interest, i am ahead. I think the bank pays 1% on savings nowaday. I know i have gone on a bit but i wanted it to be clear to you.... Stamp investing in general is long gone. If you are after items like the plate 77 penny red issued in 1840 from GB, the cape of good hope triangle, a mint 4d 1/2d violet die 11 KGV from australia, the inverted swan from West Australia , these are investments and really can only be found in big auctions like stanley gibbons. That violet KGV issue was issued for collectors packs and mostly got cancelled to order....That means they have the postmark on them but the glue is still on the back....To my knowledge, a few sheets slipped by and each stamp is close to $5000 each ( IF THERE ARE BUYERS NOWADAYS ),,,Maybe more now as that was in 2009 when i sold my only one i had seen in my life.... I actually bought that stamp in 1975 when i left school for $800.00. I was 17 then. As you can see a lot of knowledge is needed here in philatelics and i have been doing it for over 50 years... I cannot tell you what to do or not to do but if you have about 30 years to commit to studying stamps and the rarities out there, then i say hold on... if you dont have that length of time available, sell them and enjoy the profits if any or simply use them. The covers can only be classed as used stamps as that is how most dealers get their stock to fill their books by soaking the stamps off of them. Please be aware of that.