38 year old Stamps

[DanZac]

Mrs Danzac ordered something off e bay the other day which arrived today with a random selection of stamps on it. A quick Google shows that the stamps used were issued in 1985, so they've been sat in someone's desk or treasure collection for 38 years.

They're not worth much (I guess stamp collecting isn't much of a thing anymore), so I guess the sellers just bought up a job lot of old stamps and is using them up. What's that all about then?

 

[pedrobedro]

I thought stamps were not valid if they don't have the bar code on them nowadays ?

 

[Bobupndown]

Sent my niece a birthday card and used a stamp I'd had in my wallet for a while, no barcode. They didn't deliver it but left a card saying item to be collected. Cost my brother £1.50

 

[DanZac]

I thought stamps were not valid if they don't have the bar code on them nowadays ?

The post office website says special ones and ones with pretty pictures on are OK to use. Normal stamps (just a picture of the King or Queen) have had to have a bar code since Jan 23 to be valid.

 

[Robotstar5]

I've got 2 big cardboard boxes full of stamps, silks and first day covers that my dad bought in the 70's thinking they would be an inheritance to pass on to his kids, they're probably not even worth the face value these days

 

[Kayos]

I used to get the sets of special stamps as a set when I was a kid

My dad sold them all a number of years ago, they were worth quite a lot

 

[Kerelise]

I had several elderly relatives who collected stamps when I was a kid; so I had family pressure to collect as well. 20 years later, I had dozens of albums with thousands upon thousands of stamps. Put them on eBay, again, many years later, one volume at a time (each had about 2-3,000 stamps, and not the rubbish from Ajman states type thing...). A couple sold for £5 - £10 each. Maybe some individual stamps had value; but who has the patience to find them? So yes, stamps are pretty much worthless I reckon..... First day covers worth even less....!

 

[marlinspike]

The market is pretty poor for stamps these days, based on what I see on shows like The Yorkshire Auction House. We have a stamp album from passed on relatives and having looked on Ebay etc even individual ones you think are quite unusual aren't worth much.

 

[Nick67GT]

I started collecting stamps when I was about 8 years old (mid-1960s) and on the advice of my Dad, concentrated on British Empire variants.

Eventually lost interest during my mid-teens but he would regularly send me his latest ‘finds’ or recent UK issues.

One thing I did learn, was that the stamps which are worth the most are generally the higher denominations, or those from the early years in very good or mint condition. Also helped with my geography ant the time, although most of the British Empire doesn’t even exist anymore and have been granted their independence, so any knowledge about them is of limited use.

Mine are currently in the attic and have been there for at least 35 years since we moved to this house. Children / Grandchildren are not interested so I’ll probably get round to donating them to a charity.

 

[droopsnoot]

When I still worked in an office, one of the things I did was open the post. Not long before I left (which I think was 2011, sometime around then) we received something from a customer and it had "Charles and Diana" wedding stamps on it.

I also have a load of stamp albums and first day covers that my Dad collected. There's a local place that has a lot of these things, I don't know whether to take them to him to see if he wants to buy them. I'll either have to go through them all to make sure there's nothing special, or just hope that if there is, he'll be genuine enough to tell me.

 

[graffian]

I started collecting stamps when I was about 8 years old (mid-1960s) and on the advice of my Dad, concentrated on British Empire variants.

That was what my dad suggested when he gave me his stamp album, I was that sort of age.
But I had to wait to stick stamps in until he got the big red Stanley Gibbons book about stamps, to make sure I put them in in the right order!
But before that happened the old boy in the coin/stamp shop near the station gave me a big bag of pretty triangular maygar
stamps as a swap for one of the Hitler stamps; the Hitler stamps my dad floated off the envelopes, then tidied them up by trimming the rough edges with scissors;-)
Wonder if I ever got round to sticking any stamps in?