Hyello

netrubicon

Hyello,

Im a coin collector. I started late in life. Im 35. Im a painting contractor. Last year I did work for an older gentleman. He had a lot of cool antiques in his house. (I buy and sell antique furniture once in a while.) He also had some wheat pennies he wanted to sell and a stamp collection. Knowing nothing about stamps I bought his collection for 800.00. Not a money issue at the time. He said he was offered 500.00 for the stamp collection in the mid 70s but didnt sell it. So, either he was lying or I figure based on inflation I paid about what it should be worth.
At this point I would like to either sell the collection, as this will be a huge undertaking to re-organize or rebuild it and have the better stamps
graded. Problem is, collection is in 4 books,unorganized, and contains about 40 manilla envelopes with stamps I know nothing about. Misc sheets, some not complete and a lot of foreign. Where to start?

laceupboots

I would check the PSE link at the top of the page for ballpark figures on some of the US stamps that obviouly look old. I would seperate the foreign stamps from the US stamps. What do you have a lot of? Do you have any soveiner sheets? I would be interested in those as well as any Russian stamps before the Iron Curtain fell. PM me if you do.

dougwtx

It depends on how much time you want to spend. You could obtain the Scott catalogs and get cat values. The values in Scott are for very fine specimens. If the stamp is not very fine, then the value would be decreased. A rough estimate is take a 1/3 of cat for US and that would give you an estimate of maybe what you can sell for. For foreign, take a 1/10 of cat. If there are higher values, then percentages are not as low. The PSE price guide is for graded stamps; just like the PCGS price guide is for PCGS graded coins. You could also take it to a couple of stamp dealers. Experienced dealers or collectors can give you a rough estimate just by browsing through the collection. Don't get upset at dealers if they offer you a very small amount. It all depends on the market and there a many countries that do not sell well.

Could you post a pic of what you think are some of the better items?

netrubicon

Hi,

Thanks for the replies. I will post some photos later. If you have anything you want to see let me know. Most of the collection is late 1800s to mid 50s. Mostly cancelled stuff, which I hear aint worth a lot. Lots of questions maybe you guys can help me with. I do know there are some nice
stamps in there. I have a couple price guides. Talk to you guys later after 6 est. Thank you. Alan