POSTAGE STAMPS IN THE 1900’S Articles | Stamps

By: J.Morgan

When people are thinking about beginning the hobby, or those who have already began the hobby of postage stamp collecting, it always helps to know as much as possible.  This is not a problem for the majority of stamp collectors who adore the hobby, as they wish to learn as much as possible about it.  If you really wish to keep abreast with all knowledge about stamp collecting, then you will find it important to know about stamps in the 1900s.

Being knowledgeable about the production of stamps in the 1900s is important when you take the decision to undertake the hobby of collecting them.  An increased knowledge of your hobby always helps.  Stamps were being produced in the form of a booklet for the first time in the 1900s in the United States.

Listed below are some useful facts relating to stamps in the 1900s:

•    1900s    -    Stamps were issued in the form of a booklet in the United States;

•    1904    -    New Zealand became the first country to use meters for paying postage;

•    1908    -    The first coil stamps were made in New Zealand and sold in rolls;

•    1918    -    Special stamps were used for airmail at a cost of 24 cents;

•    1920s    -    People began to realize that certain stamps were in fact valuable.

Stamps began to increase in value during the 1900s.  The reason for this is because those stamps from the late 1800s were still being found in good condition.  People held on to the stamps when they were found because of this reason.  Stamp collectors discovered that it was rather simple to locate stamps that were in reasonably good condition; however, locating sets of two, three or more was much rarer.

If blocks of stamps that were in good condition were found by collectors, it was considered to be extremely valuable and the collectors would keep the stamps in their possession for as long as possible.

However, a strange happening occurred in the 1930s.  Due to people becoming aware of the value of stamps, American collectors began to stockpile their stamps in mint condition thinking that they would be worth money one day in the future.  However, because so many people were doing the same thing, the stamps of the 1930s were not worth anything.  In actual fact, those surplus stamps from the 1930s that are still in mint condition, remain even to this day, at almost face value.

This is the reality that you can never be 100% certain as to the value of postage stamps in the future.  Many stamps from the 1900s would grow to be worth a reasonable amount today, as many collectors will already know.  Stamps that were in production in the United States throughout the 1900s would take on many shapes and designs, just as we know them to be today.