Philatelic donations

We need and love stamps

You can help us fulfill our mission with your generous donations! To find out what items we accept, what we don’t accept, how to donate, what we do with your donations, and our want lists, please read on.

Items we accept

  • Stamps
  • Covers, including
    • First Day Covers
    • Golden Replicas
  • Postcards
  • Supplies, including
    • Tools
      • Hinges
      • Tongs
      • Photo corners
      • Magnifiers
      • Etc.
    • Albums
    • Album pages
    • Binders
    • Sheet protectors
  • Literature not already in our holdings, including
    • Name sale auction catalogs

In these conditions

  • Mint, used, canceled
  • U.S. and foreign
  • On- and off-paper
  • Soakable and non-soakable
  • Stamps in albums
  • Covers in binders
  • Loose stamps and covers

We do not accept the following

  • Damaged items X
  • Moldy items X
  • Non-philatelic items X

Our want lists

  • Kid-friendly topicals such as animals, space, DC and Marvel characters, the Simpsons, Star Wars, Disney, and Legos.
  • Colorful stamps from countries such as Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Hungary, and Romania
  • Click here for a detailed Stamp Discovery education program want list that includes Scott numbers
  • High-value items for our sales department helps keep us funded

How your donation helps us

Your donations of stamps, covers, and philatelic material can help us fulfill our mission. Here’s how:

Youth education:

Many stamps are used by the Stamp Discovery education program in lesson plans, treasure chests, field trips, and workshops.

Preservation and reference:

Some collection elements and postal history material may become a part of our archival holdings. Philatelic literature (books, journals, collecting and auction catalogs) may help complete our library holdings.

Sales:

stamps, philately, post office-1735013.jpg

Select stamps, supplies, and surplus literature may be sold to raise operating funds. We organize and make sales at the Foundation, on the Internet, through auction houses and at ARIPEX each year.

Collections and albums may be disassembled as needed.

How to donate

  1. Print out and fill out this form. The form asks for quantity of items being donated; if you are donating a large quantity of items, you can either estimate the number of items you’re donating, or leave it blank and we will estimate that number for you. Be sure to sign the Deed of Gift on the back side.
  2. Mail your donation to us at our street address, 920 N. 1st Ave, Tucson, AZ, 85719. You will need to pay the postage, but you can count it as part of your donation when you file your taxes.
  3. You will receive a receipt back in the mail that you can use for your taxes. The turn-around time depends on the volume of donations we are receiving at the time. Please call us at 520-623-6652 x100 if you do not have your receipt within two months.

It is the responsibility of the donor to establish the fair market value of the donation. Remember that IRS regulations require that to deduct any non-cash donation with a value over $5,000, the donor must have an appraisal made by a qualified appraiser and attach IRS Form 8283.  The appraiser can assist in completing the form and must sign the Declaration of Appraiser section. The Postal History Foundation, as donee, must sign the form in acknowledgement of receipt of the described donation.

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