What Should I do with hinged stamps?

Question

I was left have a book of stamps that is very old. I looked up the prices and some of them are worth alot of money.One is worth $20,000 they are all from 1847? to 1930's but,they are hinged to the book and stained when removed. What should I do?

Answer 1

I hate to rain on your parade, but many ordinary stamps have look-alikes that are worth a lot of money - chances are overwhelming that you have the ordinary ones, but take them to a stamp club meeting or stamp dealer to be sure. Both dealers and clubs can be found at www.stamps.org . If you have stamps that REALLY are worth thousands, then you should have them professionally cleaned of the stains. Some information about preservation can be found at http://www.stamps.org/CARE/Pcpm.htm

The previous suggestion about www.virtualstampclub.com is also a good one. You have to register to post questions on the message board, but it is free, and nobody ever said you had to tell the truth about your age, etc, if you feel the questions are intrusive.

Good luck - I hope you really have a $20,000 stamp, but better be REALLY sure before you book that world cruise.

Answer 2

DON'T TRY TO REMOVE THEM. They are probably stuck there because of the humidity, or in the old days they used hinges that were not that good.
The value of stamps are very subjective and are based on condition. A stamp that is missing a piece, even though it's worth a zillion dollars in the book is worthless to a collector.
Keep the stamps in the book and take them to an expert to remove or to give you the real value. Try the link below. God luck. I hope they are of value to you!

Answer 3

As the previous answerer said, if they are damaged, the value may be significantly lower. Here's another link to help you figure out what to do.

Answer 4

i take them for free