Postage Stamp Chat Board & Stamp Bulletin Board Forum
 

Aside from the welcome thread, this is my first post. Over the last week I've been lurking and devouring all of the KGV 1d forum threads here, and learnt a lot in the process. I'm still very much in over my head, and wanted to ask a few questions.

Before I do, I'll keep the back-story short:

My Dad was at the dump one day in the mid-60s and found a garbage bag of stamps inside a chest on the open-face. He already collected so he took them home, put them in the shed to sort out, and there they sat until last month.

The bag (except for one lonely 2d) are all KGV 1d reds, most of which are cancelled in 1915 (a few in 1914, but none after 1915).

There's around 1500-2000 of them from what I can see, and almost all of them are still on envelope corners addressed to a single business in Newcastle.

Aside from whoever first tore them from their envelopes, I'm the first person to sort through them, so I'm hoping for a few nice ones.

The reason I've ended up with them, is Dad has turned 70 and overnight changed from a lifetime hoarder into a liquidator, and thinks that they are practically worthless.

He listed 50 random stamps with a small, awful photo on eBay, and got around $5 which made him even surer that they don't have any value at all.

After I got suitably angry he agreed to let me sell them and give him 20% of the profit, which he assured me would be nil.

So I've been doing a lot of research, as my collecting is limited to books, coins and banknotes, and I know that you just can't pick up a guide or learn how to accurately grade anything in a week.

I was still very surprised at just how many things to look for on these stamps, so I visited my local library and looked through the handful of books they had. The only one that had serious information about them - one whole page - was a spiral-bound Michael Eastick 3rd edition guide.

So now I can spot watermarks, perforation differences and the three dies. Aside from that I'm completely lost, so if there's a specific book on the 1d reds that I can order I'm happy to do so.

I've sorted them (feel free to laugh at me) in alphabetical order, and separated the numeral cancels, perforations, as well as ones I can't read the cancel of and the many stuck-together stamps. Here's a photo:



Now I don't have any allusions of sitting on a goldmine or a fortune in stamps, but I'm sure they aren't worthless. After I work out exactly what's there, I'm planning on slowly eBaying them off individually at a low starting price to see what happens. I already have an eBay store, so 5 stamps every week isn't much extra work for me.

What I'd like to know, is what is worth knowing and identifying about these stamps, and what I shouldn't waste my time on? Specifically:

• Colour shades - Looking at the insane amount of shades, should I completely ignore them? Or are the shades in 1913-1915 not worth identifing? I'm a painter by trade and have many (many) colour books and know how to differientaite between shades, so that part won't be a problem, I just don't want to invest the time in doing it if there's little point.
  
• OS Perfs - I'd be right in saying that the OS perfs would be better off removed from the paper? Or would the value be better if there was a rare cancel on them? I have a number of what I've read are private perfs (a fair few "& Co" ones), are they less common or less valuable than plain OS? I also have one curious "OS NSW" which I can't find anything about either.
  
• There's quite a few stuck together (see the photo), what's the best way to free these, if not just water? I was thinking I'd soak them, lay them on baking paper and place under a phone book so they'd dry flat and not stick to anything. If there's a better way, I'm all ears.
  
• Ordinary (non "special" variants) - Are worth leaving on the paper and preserving the post office cancel? I've found an historical list of post offices and plan on going through and noting which ones no longer exist, as I've seen people selling them and mentioning closed/renamed dates etc.
  
• Numeral Cancels - There's around 50 or so of these, which I'm assuming are NSW, as all but around 10 stamps out of the bag are from another state. Would I be correct in leaving these on the paper, even if the cancel is completely on the stamp?
  
• Rough paper - Is there an easy way to feel the difference between rough and smooth paper? I've seen a comparison on here, but it almost looks like one is normal and the other is tin-shed.

The big question; am I just wasting my time? Would I just be better off selling them in bulk lots, with good photos so that collectors can identify things for themselves? I'm a bit apprehensive of this, but I don't want to spend the time doing all of this to only sell 1 in 100 that I list.

Thanks for both making it through all of that, and any help you can offer I realise that although I've read a fair bit about these stamps, I've no doubt used some bad terminology.

Hi Chris welcome to StampBoards lots of help here. You will most likely get some of SB experts to help you with this lot, town cancels will be a great place to begin, keep them on paper and tidy them up so to avoid creases and accidental damage. Looks like fun WOW!

Micky

Well knowing near nothing about 1d reds and offering them in fuzzy scans on ebay, is the blind leading the blind it truly is.

Buy one of these ACSC below - 400 pages of info, and you will learn something.

They cost $99 - a pittance for 400 pages of detailed info - about half of it on 1d reds!

As I have typed 1000 times - "Knowledge Is Power".

Find one HALF decent thing among them all, and the book is paid for.




These days even getting a cigar box of 1d reds on piece is quite unusual.

I bought 2 boxes of them earlier this month. I do not like KGV Reds, have never understood them, and these days to even pick a Die 2 is a major effort squint, so simply do not bother.

The guy had died so cannot ask how much he had checked them, which makes it harder. There were quite a few soaked or peeled off, so probably around 1000, but have zero interest in counting them.

Everyone claims their Reds are 'unchecked', which after 100 years is pretty silly.

All I can do is say they are unlooked at by me, and those that know me pretty much know THAT is true.

In the few hours needed to peer at these, I'd have lotted and mailed 10 other easy to handle lots, so that is where the best and most productive use of dealer time is.

An unusually high % seems to have WA cds postmarks I thought, when taking these few pix.

Someone here bought them same day, and an hour ago he ordered the ACSC KGV catalogue above.

SMART man.

Glen those pics will always make us drool a little, feels good inside to see such wonderful finds on SB no matter how small or large especially for me.

Chris take note of any advice from Admin, the path is much clearer trust me

Micky is hiding in the corner

Thanks for the fast replies. I did say that they were unchecked, but as you say, they've only been unchecked for the last 50 years, I can't say what happened to them before that.

Is there a better place to buy that book from than the publisher's website?

Well Glen Stephens would say www.glenstephens.com/order.html but he is rather biased.

I have sent 'that bloke' an email.

Also if anybody can offer any other advice about my original post I'd be much obliged.

If you could show a scan of the numeral postmarks it would be easier to value them as some are very scarce,

David B.

Thanks David, I managed to scan the first lot before my scanner decided to call it a day It works sporadically (an old OpticBook 3600 book scanner) and it's at the stage where the lamp only warms up every other time. Most of the others are duplicates in any case.

Edit: I had a direct link to a large file, I scanned at 600dpi, but as that's against the rules I've shrank it to comply. Sorry if it's now too small to make out details.

Chris .. none of the above is how we do things HERE.

HERE we add pix into the thread i.e. this one - fast and easy to do -

http://www.stampboards.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=284

Chris

731 GUNDY
738 QUIPOLLY
879 ADAMSTOWN
1393 STEWARTS' BROOK
1489 WOOLOMIN
1998 GIRVAN

David B.

50 stamps in a lot got $5. Even selling them off 50 at a time, 2,000 stamps at $5 a pop would be $200. I wouldn't call that "no value". Sure there's a bit of work involved, but how hard is it to stick stamps on a Hagner and take a scan? Money doesn't grow on trees, you need to put some effort in to garner the laurels.

If he thinks they "don't have any value", you should have offered to take the "rubbish" off his hands for free. You're being a good son by offering 20% of the profits.

There's so many printing flaws and scratches and ink blobs and other things involved with these stamps. I bang my head against the wall with these things trying to spot what makes an otherwise 10cent stamp worth $100.

_________________
Collecting Mongolia; Thailand; Indo-China; Mourning Covers; OHMS.
My online 'store': http://stampsfromaethelwulf.blogspot.com/

As to some of the questions in the OP, no, don't soak anything yet.

Don't soak the OS perfs as that is part of the proof that they are real OS perfs and not fakes if any turn out to be worth more than a dollar. (PS - for a dollar each I would buy them as I'm trying to reconstruct the die positions).

With the stamps still on piece, there will be much greater value if they have a clear, clean, whole strike of the cancel rather than soaked off.

With the ones that are stuck, a soak may end up the last resort, but often they can be loosened unless they really have been wet and formed a "ball of stamps".

For even rarer shades and varieties, you would need a professional UV lamp to check them.

Even though your a painter and have plenty of references to "shades", you will send yourself nuts long before you finish working out every shade in the pile trying to compare them to any "normal" named colours.

You may find that the "bulk way" may bring a more immediate return of $150-$250 depending on "if those that want them see them and go to war".

If you do take some time to examine them more closely then you may find one or two worth $50 each. But if that takes you 10 hrs of pain and eyestrain, is it worth it for someone who doesn't collect them?

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

I know that I live in Victoria,
BUT
I have never even heard of these places
If you wanted to sell the lot, I know of a man who just might buy them
No, not me. I cannot understand these things either,
but here is one hint.
If all the dates are around 1915, then they wont be later printings or watermarks or such.
second hint, keep everything you can on the paper . You cannot put it back.
Third hint, back then little research had gone into these, so even if gone through, much could have been missed as still "unknown."
Regards, and good hunting.
$99 or so would be well spent.

There all NSW Philly.
All near enough around Newcastle.

_________________
Greg - Looking for Goulburn Australia Cancels and Grangemouth Scotland Cancels and Covers
Member of the S.T.A.M.P Club for Slightly Twisted And Mad Philatelists - Motto: "Bring back the lick!"

Thanks to everybody for taking the time to reply.

David Benson: Thanks for the cancels info, I'd found a resource on those but wasn't completely sure I had NSW cancels, so that's good to know. One (not sure if it was one you had in the list) closed in 1916, one year later, which is quite cool.

aethelwulf: Luckily I have the time, even so, I'm fairly daunted by how difficult identification will be from what everybody is telling me, but I'll give it a go.

Allanswood: Thank you for all of that specific info! Another pearl of wisdom from Dad is that I could easily see the watermark if I soak it in water (or shellite), which I'm glad I didn't do. One of my small LED torches shows the watermarks perfectly as noted elsewhere here on the forums.

As for the shades, I think I'll forget about that for now and worry about sorting through for flaws.

The bulk way would haunt me, as I'd always wonder if there was something really good in the lot. I've had two people here make very decent offers for the lot if I don't sort through them, but after sleepign on it, I figure I'm taking the same gamble they are, but without spending any money (aside from the book).

Thanks again for all your help, and I may just end up collecting myself considering I have a pretty good starter in these 1d's.

BINGO.

_________________
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Click HERE to see superb, RARE and unusual stamps, at FIXED low nett prices, high rez photos, and NO buyer fees etc!

ChrisGray

A few belated comments. Having no dates after 1915 makes things a lot simpler:-

1. There will only be single watermarks;
2. There will be no Die 3;
3. There will be no rough paper;
4. There will be no rare shades. The best will be worth up to $20 & even with your colour matching skills, they will be difficult to identify without the appropriate & expensive UV lamp.
5. I agree 100% about leaving them on paper. However you could try to separate those stuck together. This is sometimes possible to do so that individual stamps remain attached to their own pieces of paper.
6. Most of the best flaws, like the rust flaws, occurred well after 1915. If there is any pure gold there, it will be in single line perfs. There's info. here somewhere that will help you identify them. Any S.L.P. stamp in reasonable condition with a major left plate flaw is worth four figures. A Die 2 is catalogued at $4000 & an inverted watermark is $20000.
Any 1d red issued before Aug. 7, 1914, must be S.L.P. They can be found with dates going into early 1915.

Good Luck.

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mobbor

Welcome back, mobbor...

Long time no hear. Hope you had an enjoyable time abroad.

Chris if you have a double up on a 1918, 1919 or 1920 one line cancel, I and another member would be interested


Cheers
Michael

mobbor: Thanks for the info, the simpler they may be to sort is double edged when you consider I'm missing out on most of the good stuff. I've since bought a UV lamp (there's another thread about that) so that's one box ticked.

Micky: I'll keep you posted.

Have fun Chris
If you have the patience and develop an interest it can be worth it.

I am someone who can vouch for the value of buying the KGV ACSC catalogue.
We inherited bundles of stamps including KGV and I knew nothing about stamps.

I bought the KGV book and thought, well , the easiest thing for me to do is look at watermarks.
I found a reversed CofA watermark on a KGV 1d green. Sold it for around $1200, Cheering

On the other side of the coin I recently gave away a pile of mixed world stamps I wasn't interested in researching. I really couldn't muster up the interest or enthusiasm.

I am now listening to reports from the recipient, of the wonderful things he's found. All because he put in the time, had an interest in those type of stamps and had the correct catalogues.

_________________

Collecting - Stamps, poster stamps and covers that feature Kangaroos.
Wanted: Illustrated Tourist cover of "Waratah Park", Sydney, NSW. Australia

ChrisGray........It is allways a good idea to listen what your Dad has to say!



But....NOT this time........

This time take the good advice from the members here!

Have fun and learn!

Peter

Thanks Clemo

Good to see you've taken up the challenge yourself, Chris. Don't forget you can always get assistance on the "Aust. KGV......help from the experts thread."

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mobbor