Vatican City Stamp Collection 1929 set plus 1959 - 1980's CV Circa £1000 • £57.50 (2024)

FAQs

Are Vatican City stamps worth anything? ›

The most valuable Vatican stamp is Effigy of Pope Pius XI - 1934 Overprint. Again, the stamp dates back to 1929, and in 1934 there was a trial overprint, changing the value from 1.25 ₤ to 1.30 ₤.

Inside the Vatican Museums there is a Post Office of the Poste Vaticane and a Vatican Philatelic and Numismatic Office. The Philatelic Office instead sells collectors' stamps and coins issued and coined by Vatican City State.

All unused postage stamps issued after 1930 are essentially worth face value. That is, they are worth the denomination displayed on the stamp. If they are used, they have no retail or resale value.

Stamps issued: 1929-PRESENT

It issued its first stamps on August 1, 1929. Today, the Vatican enjoys a reputation for producing handsome and attractive stamp issues in limited quantities (even today, the average production run for most issues is only between 300,000 and 500,000 stamps).

Valued by some as high as €2 billion, Nero's bathtub is one of the most precious works in the Vatican Museums. Stretching a whopping 25ft in diameter, it's made of a deep red/purple porphyry marble. This stone was quarried from a single source in Egypt and no other deposits of it have ever been found.

British Guiana 1 Cent Magenta, British Guiana, 1856 ($9.4 Million) This stamp was produced as an emergency solution when a stamp shipment from London was delayed. There's only one British Guiana 1 Cent Magenta postage stamp in existence - making it the rarest stamp in the world.

The British Guiana 1c Magenta is the holy grail of stamp collecting. Issued in 1856 in British Guiana (now Guyana), this stamp holds the title of the world's rarest stamp. With only one known copy in existence, it has gained legendary status among collectors for its extreme scarcity and astronomical value.

British Guiana - World's Rarest Stamp.

– Despite the fact that Vatican City is its own independent country, you can't get a Vatican passport stamp. In some of the world's other tiny city-states you can pay a small fee at the post office and get your passport stamped just for fun – but Vatican City doesn't offer that service.

In truth, the majority of stamps are actually worth very little because they are issued in huge quantities. However, if you are lucky enough to own a collection of rare stamps which are in good condition it might be a very valuable asset.

Are 40 year old stamps worth anything? ›

Stamps issued after 1930 have their prices directly on them. Although a stamp printed in the 30s may seem old, they're still worth face value. This means despite its age if the stamp says 5 cents on it then it's still worth 5 cents today. Stamps issued before 1930 are the stamps you should be looking to sell.

Selling To A Collector

Selling directly to another stamp collector may provide you with the highest sale price for your stamps. You'll bypass dealer and auction mark-ups. To get the most out of your stamps, you can “piece out” the collection over time to several stamp collectors. The key word here is “time”.

The Institute for the Works of Religion (Italian: Istituto per le Opere di Religione; Latin: Institutum pro Operibus Religionis; abbreviated IOR), commonly known as the Vatican Bank, is a financial institution that is situated inside Vatican City and run by a Board of Superintendence, which reports to a Commission of ...

The Holy See is the organization that owns the Vatican, i.e. the smallest independent city-state in the world. They print their own passports, have their own media, and even maintain their own mail service, all for a population numbering no more than 1,000 people.

Also known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, the Vatican Bank is a private bank located in Vatican City founded by Pope Pius XII in 1942. 7 Over the decades, the bank has been at the center of numerous scandals and accusations of mismanagement, money laundering, and fraud.

When you compare Vatican City with Russia, the world's largest country, the difference is staggering – Vatican City would fit inside Russia more than 38,833,341 times. But you can't get a Vatican passport stamp.

Note that you cannot use Italian stamps at the Vatican and vice versa – they're different countries!

British Guiana 1c Magenta, 1856

The British Guiana 1c Magenta is the most valuable rare stamp in the world. In 1856, The British Guiana (now the independent nation of Guyana) post office issued the initial run of 1c magenta stamps for use in newspaper circulation.