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My grandfather left me his stamp collection when he died in 1972. I haven't done any thing with it except to sell a few stamps to a trusted friend for a few hundred dollars. It was a very small portion of the total collection and very specialized. I know nothing about this. My grandfather had fought in WW 1 and it was a lifelong collection, FWIW. It is collected in several large books, and there are several hundred unorganized stamps that he acquired from various sources, including some from some type of company that provided groups of stamps, although those are certainly not a large part of the collection.
I'm not interestde in stamp collection. What should I do, and how, should I dispose of this for my and a buyer's mutual benefit?
Any and all suggestions appreciated.
You need to get the whole collection appraised by some one familiar with the subject,then you need to sell it all to an enthusiast..
Maybe a stamp forum would be more helpful
The early 70's the post office had a large program pushing collecting. Every magazine you opened offered a large bag of assorted stamps for a dollar. My grandma signed me up for first day of issues. Found them in my box of stamps a few years back.
Many cities have a meeting place for stamp collectors, ask at a coin dealer they kind of go hand in hand.
Any stamp dealer will offer you only pennies on the dollar for it, because the time involved in sorting and cataloging, and the difficulty finding customers for the specific things in it.
I would suggest going to EBay, and looking through their offers of stamps, and try to learn something about how stamps are classified, what kinds of lots are offered, etc. The, go through the collection and see what kinds of small lots you can make up.
Then describe them accurately, photograph them, and offer them on EBay.
Most public libraries will have a fairly recent edition of Scott's Standard Postage Stamp Catalog, which will describe and price ever stamp every issued. It's in about 6 hefty volumes. Every stamp has a catalog number, which is used to describe a specific issue, and they can often differ from each other in ways that a layman cannot detect.
I should warn you that there is a very good chance that the collection is mostly "junk"---i.e., stamps that are very common, for which there is very little demand. Stamp collecting has been popular for a very long time, and even a lot of 19th century stamp are worth very little.
There are a lot of collector who collect what is called "postal stationery"---which is any paper that has stamps on it, mostly envelopes. Old stamps should never removed from their envelopes, because the postal stationery is often worth more than the stamp. This particularly applies to military articles, for which there are many collectors.
If you see a few things in the collection that look similar to the kinds of lots offered on EBay, photograph it and put it on EBay and see what kind of response it gets. If you start getting decent bids, it would be worth your while to find a knowledgeable person to help you sort it out and pay him a share of the price you realize. If you don't get any good offers for such items, then you might as well just dump it into the hands of a dealer and take what you can get. Or save it as a family heirloom, maybe somewhere down the family tree someone will either appreciate it of make some money off it.
I collected when I was in grade school and quit around 1970. jtur88 is right, you have to go back a long time to find stamps that are rare, and I mean a LONG TIME! Especially with cancelled stamps! I only collected American stamps, and the reason why my collection will only be passed on to my relatives as a family heirloom is that I used stamp hinges on the back. When the hinges would come loose I would hinge them again. Consequently the backs would have more film on them.
Still, all in all, I enjoyed collecting. I had a lot of "blocks of four", first day issues, and other stamp related oddball items, but like in any collectible hobby condition is oh so important, particularly with stamps. Jtur88 makes a good point on photographs. I don't sell online, but having those pictures are the way to go. If you can find a seasoned collector/dealer you could work with on a consignment basis, that would be your best bet. Good luck!
jtur88: Thanks for the insight and suggestions. I am going to try it. A friend bought part of a category for several hundred dollars. I think there are good and not-so-good stamps.
Many people are under the impression that old stamps from late 1800's or early 1900's are worth money. Just the opposite. Most have a value equal to the minimum or slightly above the minimum value in the Scott's catalog. Will will find that some of these older stamps also come have many variations. Color, perferations or design. A person not familiar with these variations my think the have a winner only to later find out it's only worth 20cents.
You could ask your trusted friend for his opion. If there are any stamps clubs in your area you sould bring some sample pages from the many albums for some evaluation.
It's a hard choice to make. I've been collecting on and off for about 50 years. I have seen people who were in a simlar situation. After reviewing there collections most of the stamps were "fillers". Worthless
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