It seems the same situation is true for comic books. Although some comic books can fetch incredible amounts of money, the number of collectors seems to be shrinking. I have some old comic books, but I doubt any of them are worth anything.
As for stamps: My mother was a big collector and has given me her collection of Canadian stamps, German stamps and Greek stamps. I can recall her showing me these little plastic boxes from Bradasol cough candies that were filled with just one colour of a particular stamp that was replicated in several different colours (I suppose different values). I'm not sure what she did with those boxes of stamps (perhaps disposed of them) because what I have are just albums with one stamp of each.
My Mom spent hours soaking the stamps off envelopes and sorting them. I'm not that dedicated. I still rip the stamps off mail that I receive, but just store them with paper still backing most, in envelopes. Perhaps it is not worth my time to even keep them?
Wow... you mom sounds like she was pretty dedicated @happyme! I'd keep saving the newer stamps you get in the mail since they have actually become much scarcer now that so few people use stamps to send mail. Whether they become worth anything remains to be seen... but if you decided to get rid of them, at least they would still make a nice contribution to a local Boy Scout troop-- as I recall, they still can earn merit badges for stamp collecting.
Stamps are very similar to comic books, as far as collectibles go. My ex was a comic book collector, and some of her "near mint" Silver Age books we're quite valuable, but most were just printed paper. In stamps, 99% will never be worth more than a penny... even if they are old. It's that 1% that makes things interesting.
Thank-you for the advice. How things unfold is anyone's guess.
I looked through some stamp-collecting books years ago and it would take a very long time to research all of my Mom's collection. It takes someone like you who knows what to look for to quickly find the treasures.