OT:First Day Issues, stamp collectors?

redtom

Well-known Member
My aunt left two shoe boxes full of first day issues envelopes to my boy. Problem is 75% of them have her name on the envelope with a return address label she affixed when she sent it in, to have it mailed back. The rest do not have her name on them. I know stamp collecting is not a money maker but do these with her name have any value? What if we blacked out her name? Could the stamp corner be torn off and collected? When I collected as a kid in the 60's that how it was done, a cancelled stamp with the envelope paper still attached. There was literally a wheel barrow of these but my brother divided them and I think we got the biggest portion with her name on them.
 
I know nothing about stamp collecting, but I'd definitely research more about that before doing "anything" to them. Might be worth more with her name/address than without. ...Maybe not. You can always take it off later, but is a little difficult to put it back again.
 
Tearing the stamp off would defeat the purpose because the value of first issues is almost always the "cover", in other words, the envelope, with cancellation. Scott publishes a "first day cover" or FDC issue separate of their stamp catalog issue and I think much less expensive than the regular catalog, it may be available electronically these days. The bad news is the market for stamps in general is at an all time low and FDC's are even lower, it's not your Aunts address that will hurt the value as much as the lack of commenerative art work or related historical art work on the envelope, those special envelopes were the valuable ones though were still only talking a buck or two each unless super rare, there have not been many rare first issues in the last 80 years or so.
 
Lock them in a lock box and forget them. May be worth something in the future. We have about. 40 years of my late father's collection. Specialize in commemoratives and full sheets with the printing numbers on them. Just sitting in the safe. He quit when it became too expensive for his meager means.
 
My Dad has many of those first day issues in his collection and it would best if you leave them alone. They have more value now, because they are intact.
 

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