Stamps' Values as Historical Documents Rather Than as "Currency"

[jakebiblio1962]

Hi Folks, I'm new to the group and relatively new to stamp collecting (the last 6 months).  I enjoy reading your posts and I hope I'm welcome here.  I wanted to ask something which has been a subject of some debate in the past (and which I posted mistakenly on another forum):

I understand the mine field we walk in, but responding to the subject of selling "illegal" stamps, aren't a high percentage of foreign stamps "illegal", as it were? I recently purchased an album with (among many others) a large volume of Azerbajan stamps from Russian occupation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These are a great example of stamps which are considered "illegal" to own by the country they originated from but are completely valid as historical artifacts or documents of history. So, as long as they are not being sold to someone in Azerbajan, things are fine and there is nothing to worry about; perhaps I am an American selling this collection to someone in the UK. IF, however, the anonymous buyer is an Azerbajani who wants the stamps for himself (or, worse yet, wants to sell the stamps in Azerbajan), am I now a felonious criminal? This also brings up the whole issue of Internet law and IP (a big topic here at our law school) which, to say the least, is unsettled regarding the World Wide Web and, as seen here, brings to light many issues regarding International law itself.  What are we absolutely forbidden to sell?  I just want to sell enough to feed my stamp collecting addiction! :O).  Anyway, I'm curious as to people's responses.

Jake Biblio

[keleofa]

Jake - Welcome!

Older (historical?) stamps normally are exempt from certain bans.  For example, Nazi era stamps are OK to be sold in France even though there is a ban on swaztikas.  Cuban stamps prior to the embargo are OK in the USA but directly importing them from Cuba may not be.

I can't speak for specifics for other countries, though.

Most of the time you're fine selling older stamps.  Stamp collectors around the world are usually super-friendly but sometimes their governments not so much.

Good luck!

Matt

[jimbo]

Jake,

First, welcome to The Stamp Board!  We all hope you will enjoy your experience here.

Regarding your question,  there are a number of rules which have restricted stamp sales over the years.  Now, I am going to give what I believe is practical advice (but not necessarily correct advice - I'm not a lawyer).  There are still some restrictions on the books in various countries for reasons of political acceptability and currency manipulations.  As a practical matter, I don't think that a stamp collector attempting to sell collectible items on eBay is likely to encounter any real legal trouble for such sales.  That said, here are a few more thoughts on the subject.

Counterfeit stamps intended to defraud the postal authority are going to be a problem everywhere.  Best not to have anything to do with them, even as a collector.  Some people do but they've studied the legal liability a lot.  Some classical forgeries are probably OK but again you need to be careful.

A bigger problem has always been eBay's attempts to legislate morality in this real world.  I think they have even become less prickly than they once were.  The only item which is still observed fairly rigorously is the prohibition against selling Nazi material in anything exposed to Germany.  Replica material should always be identified.  Other than this, I don't think you'll find any real problem.

Of course, sending material to troubled areas should always cause one to have second thoughts.  Sending your Chechnya stamps to Russia is likely to get them confiscated but no one is going to indict you or issue a warrant.  You always run the risk of losing your material to seizure (or theft or loss). 

I'm sure someone with more experience will correct this advice but most collectors don't need to worry about the issue.

jimbo      Just my ½¢

[jakebiblio1962]

Thanks Jimbo,

That paints things in a clearer light, as older posts from a previous Stamp Chat Board had muddied the issue with Thou Shalt Nots versus I Can Sell To Whoever the Hell I Want To and You Suck posts, which pretty much devolved into namecalling.  Nice to see some rational thought.  By the way, I'm currently researching where to find the best World Stamp Album set.  I have a U. S. album which I've started (Mystic and not half-bad) but I want to begin branching out, as I have a fair number of World Stamps now and like everyone one I have an insatiable and irrational desire to collect every stamp in the world ever made - Ha!  So far Minkus looks like the best, but it ain't cheap.  Any other good Album makers?  Thanks.

Jake

[jakebiblio1962]

Matt,

What I wrote to Jimbo, ditto to you.  Much appreciated.  I am branching from U.S. collecting into World Stamps, and it is like being thrown into the deep end of the pool after wading in the shallows.  But I love it!

Jake

[jimbo]

Jake,

Steiner's Stamp Albums Web is a good source of material for putting together an album.  You have to print it up but it is fairly flexible in that you can print only the pages you want.  They are complete consistently with the Scott International albums.  You have to pay a modest fee but it gives you access to the whole works.  It doesn't have Scott numbers so you still need a catalog but it doesn't have to be the latest edition.  There are other sources, e.g. StampWorld.com - the most complete stamp catalogue on the internet , for stamp identification which can update your catalog information to the later stamps,

jimbo

[antonius-ra]

Jake,  I would not recommend Minkus besause of one huge drawback they have.  I would suppose that you use Scott catalogs as they are the norm for people living in the U.S. ?  Minkus has a totally different numbering system which will cause you are world of grief in your collecting pursuits.  It is difficult enough collecting the world even semi seriously and using Minkus albums will make it many times more difficult.  As far as printed albums go, Scott internationals are a good choice unless you plan to go deep into collecting.  They do not provide spaces for all the major number issues.  More expensive and scarcer stamps will not have a space provided causing you to put them off to the side which will start to give your pages a cluttered look.  Probably the best alternative these days is printing your own pages using Bill Steiners (stampalbums.com) page formats.  He has nearly the whole world up to the most recent issues available for printing on what ever type pages you choose.  It is by far the cheapest way to go and gives a very nice presentation of your collection. On the other hand if you decide that you want to go full hog into collecting, spending most of your time and money in the pursuit, I would recommend Scott Specialty pages.  They provide spaces for all major number issues listed in the Scott catalogs and are the choice of most serious world wide collectors.  However they are expensive and buying them new can set you back a large sum.   You first need to figure out how serious you intend to be in your collecting and also to what year you want to stop with particular countries.  1940 is a good year to stop for sevreral reasons, one of which is that you can do it using only one catalog:  Scotts Classic Specialized.  1950 is a good date also because it contains all the WWII issues that are usually quite interesting.

After taking back up collecting 26 years ago I decided to get totally immersed in to it.  I decided on the Scott Specialty albums and have not regretted it.  I found that I could buy used Scott Specialty albums with a great many of the stamps already in place for less money than the new pages cost.  It took a long time to find most all the countries but I finally obtainedt around 90% of them mostly buying used albums.

My collection can be seen online and I believe it shows more stamps from more different countries than any other web site on the internet.

Have a look and it will probably give you an idea of where you want to go with your collecting.

[jakebiblio1962]

Thanks!  Between Steiner's and Stampworld.com, I've learned two new things today.  Will definitely check both out.

[jakebiblio1962]

Thanks for the wealth of information, Antonius, and I'm anxious to see your collection.  I had never heard of Steiners, but it sounds like it's worth checking out.  I know the complete Scott international set can run as high as $3000, so that's out of my league, at least this year.  But I can afford to wait a bit.  Cheers!

Jake

[jakebiblio1962]

Keleofa, funny you should mention Cuba.  I have some beautiful Cuban stamps from the early 20th century (wellll before Castro), and I was considering selling a few of them to help pay for my "habit" (buying more stamps), but I noticed eBay has no Cuba category, and when I use "Cuba" as a keyword under Stamps, I get only 62 Results, many of them only indirectly related to either Cuba or stamps.  Makes me think twice about selling them a) in case I'm doing something wrong, and b) these stamps might have a FAR higher value than I think.  Should be legal, though, as long as I don't sell to someone in Cuba.  I guess I get why the Cuba "category" is not there, but why so few Cuban stamps?

Jake

[keleofa]

Jake - The powers that be at eBay don't want us to trade in Cuban stamps.  They pull auctions, although som get through. 

Matt

[redwoodrandy8]

Ebay (paypal) maintains an embargo list of countries that the U.S. govt. embargoes. Right now be careful with Cuba, North Korea and Sudan.  Other countries such as Syria, Iran, Burma and Libya have in the past been on the embargo list but appear ok today.

[jakebiblio1962]

Thanks, Keleofa, although that really stinks, since we're talking about stamps from the Golden Age of Cuba and before, all well before Castro.  I have seen Cuban stamps on reputable auction sites, like sandalfayre.com, and they go for a pretty penny, so maybe for that particular group of stamps, this would be the way to go.

[jakebiblio1962]

Thanks, Randy.  As i said to Keleofa, I don't know what the big deal is, since these stamps predate Castro by over 50 years, and any monies hardly benefit Cuba.  But it is what it is.  Maybe, like I said, I'll try a stamp auction site like Sandafayre (a UK site) that has sold Cuban stamps.  Thanks.

Matt