Greetings all, I'm a new member, and a collector for 50 years.
I recently bought a nice used Scott Germany album, from first stamps issued through 1949. I finally have a fitting home for the stamps I have acquired in 50 years of collecting. I have learned some about early German stamps, especially those from the inflation years through WWII being printed from original plates in later years, and the scam of canceling both reprints and original "remainders" to appear postally used to defraud collectors. I prefer to mount postally used stamps in my collection, but have not yet developed the expertise to determine a stamps history, beyond noticing a cancelation date PRIOR to a stamps issue date, or having a cancelled stamp with full, unimpaired gum. Are there any options besides having a stamp "Authenticated" (which costs far more than the stamps catalog value) to give a reasonable means of deciding that a stamp was actually used for postage, and not created to get an extra dollar above the stamps unused catalog value? I'm not so ,much interested in the "value" of my collection, but I don't want to have an album filled with hundreds of faked "used" stamps that merely look like stamps that passed through the mail. I'm very willing to learn, and share what I learn with others. I'd rather sit with a few knowledgable people over a cup of coffee and take our best "educated guess" than pay an expert 50 bucks each to tell me that my stamps are truly used for postage, or faked by some guy that acquired a postal handstamp and turned out a few hundred "used" stamps.
Thank you very much Ted. This is just the kind of response I had hoped I might get. I'm willing to learn, I just don't know where to look! Now I have 3 places to start.
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