A quick self-check before you reach out.

Look at the era.

This is the single biggest filter. As a rough rule, stamps printed before about 1930 can carry real value. Stamps from the 1930s onward were produced and saved by the millions, which is why packets of “1,000 different worldwide” are sold today for a few dollars. There are exceptions, but if your collection is mostly post-1930, it is likely not valuable to collectors. .

You can usually tell the era without a catalog by looking at the stamps themselves:

• •One color per stamp = older.Pre-1930 stamps were almost always engraved in a single ink — black, red-brown, blue, green, deep carmine. If nearly every stamp on the page is monochrome, you’re probably in the right era.
• •Bright multi-color photo-style stamps = modern. Full-color photographic stamps — sunsets, sports figures, flowers, anything that looks like a miniature postcard — almost always post-date 1935 and are common.
• •The gum is a giveaway. Older stamps have wet gum— you had to lick the back, or moisten it with a sponge. If you peel a corner and the back of the stamp is shiny, dry, and lifts cleanly without moisture, that’s a modern self-adhesive stamp (post-1990 or so), and almost never has resale value.
• •The album tells on itself.Look at the album’s cover, title page, or the dates printed on each page header. An album published in 1965 was filled with stamps available up to1965 — and most of what’s in it is from that era. Albums from the 1920s or earlier are a much better sign than albums from the 1970s.
• •Cancellation marks have dates.The smudgy postmark on used stamps almost always has a year somewhere in the circle. Squint, and you’ll see it.

Check the condition.

Even a great-era collection loses most of its value if the material has been mistreated. A quick eyeball pass:

• •Water damage — wavy paper, brown tide-lines, stuck-together pages.
• •Mold or mildew— black spots, a musty smell. We can’t accept moldy material; it spreads.
• •Foxing — small reddish-brown freckle-like spots from age and humidity.
• •Brittle paper — pages that crack or crumble when turned.
• •Tape or glue — anything stuck to the front or back of a stamp with sticky tape, household glue, or rubber cement is a problem. Hinges (small paper rectangles used to mount stamps) are normal and fine.

Dry and intact, even if disorganized, is fine. Wet, moldy, or crumbling — please don’t ship.

Notice where they’re from.

Some regions are dense with collectible material; others were essentially mass-printed for the tourist trade. As a starting frame:

• •Generally collectible: classic United States, pre-1900 Great Britain, the German states (Baden, Bavaria, Saxony, etc.) before unification, French colonies, classic British Empire, pre-WWII Eastern Europe, early Japan and China.
• •Generally not, by themselves:mid-20th century commemoratives from the small Persian Gulf states, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Eastern Bloc propaganda issues, and large “topical” sets (animals, sports, space, ships) printed for collectors rather than postage. Beautiful — but plentiful.

If your collection includes a meaningful chunk of the first list, that’s a good sign.

Spot the things that almost never have value.

These categories rarely move the needle, even in nice condition. If your collection is mostly made up of these, it’s probably not worth shipping:

• •Modern US commemoratives (1960 onward) in mint sheets or full panes — printed in tens of millions, common as pennies.
• •First-day covers from the 1970s and later. Beautiful, but produced en masse for collectors.
• •“Worldwide packets” — bagged or boxed lots of hundreds of stamps from many countries, typically sold at toy stores in the 1970s and 80s.
• •Self-adhesive (peel-and-stick) postage of any kind. These are still legal postage in many cases — use them, don’t collect them.
• •Subscription-service issues from places like the United Nations, Vatican souvenir sheets, or direct-mail “world’s most beautiful stamps” programs.

Still unsure? Send a couple of photos.

If you’ve walked through the steps above and you’re still not sure — or if you’re holding something that doesn’t quite fit any category — please err on the side of reaching out. A few clear photos of the album’s cover, a sample page or two, and any single stamps that catch your eye is plenty for us to give you a quick read. Better an extra email than a valuable piece of history thrown out.