Inherited over 1,000,000 Stamps...help

JDinMissouri

Hello, I have inherited stamps my father in-law died
a few years ago and my mother in-law gave them to me,
I know you probably hear that alot... I know nothing
about stamps, this is my dilema there are over
1,000,000 stamps in the collection most are just
commons scattered around.
But my father-in-law was very particular he has the
US stamps he deemed valuble in wax envelopes marked
with the post office book numbers for the stamps from
#10-#1691 the july 1776 stamps he stopped collecting
in the late 70's.
Heres just one example # 139 the Jefferson 10c he has
4 of them in the wax packet, and looking up the prices
they seem to be quit valuable... he also has a large
collection of old Japanese stamps in the wax packages
he has 2 of each stamp one an original and one a
counterfeit so you can see the difference..the prices
on the wax packs are from the early 1970's with very
large prices on the package, I sent a few pics to a
collector in Japan he immediatly told me they are very
rare he wanted to buy them and could be on a plane in
1 hour and be here in 1 day... I told him to slow down
I have to think about it.... this is very overwhelming
for me any help or advice would be appreciated... here
are a few pics...as you can see in the pics the pile
behind the japanese stamps are all japanese stamps
many with even higher prices than the ones shown...
thanks "JD"

dougwtx

I would take them to a few stamp dealers to see what they think. If you are not in a hurry to dispose of, then I would wait for a major stamp show if one comes near you. They should be able to provide you "street" value and/or cat value.

As for the Japanese stamps, your best bet is to find an Asian specialist. For the US Sc#139s, its hard to identify those properly from the provided pic as many of these issues have secret marks. Two are damaged though and considered space-fillers. All are over-graded by today's standards. The XF-90 would go f-vf maybe, but with the nibbed perfs, its not a good specimen. The bottom two also have somewhat heavy postmarks. Many factors come into play with stamps and I'm just mentioning the most obvious. A dealer will probably look at it under a glass, put it in watermark fluid; looking for other faults.

I'm not trying to knock down your father-in-law's collection; just trying to give you some info as to what you might expect from dealers. It has been very common where one thinks their relatives left them a valuable collection, only to find out its not worth much; so don't be disappointed if several dealers give you a low number. If multiple dealers offer to buy in the 10s of thousand, you know you have a valuable collection and might be best to have a major auction company sell if thats what you are looking to do.

ad4400

I would echo some of Dougwtz thoughts. I also have been deailing with a rather substantial (volume-wise) inheritance. Included where a number of stamps from New Zealand, and in the course of my research I found a retailer in New Zealand, who's retail price for the stamps I had was well over $1K NZD. I did the math to convert to USD and still figure that the retail value was close to $1K. I understood selling to a dealer I would only realize a fraction of that, but when I went to a major show in DC this Spring I still had in my head that I could sell them for several $100. I sought out a dealer who speacialized in New Zealand/Austrilia stamps under the theory that he would have the best/most liquid market and in theory would pay better that others.

I was offered $60. I passed. Was he trying to get over on me? Were the stamps really worth that little? Who knows and I'm back to the research.

dougwtx

As a general rule of thumb, its normal to expect an offer of 1/3 Scott for US and maybe 1/10 for foreign. Dealers have to make a profit, but its also common to see collectors selling at the percentages also. One of the BST stamp groups that I frequent often starts foreign at a 1/10 of cat and thats a sell price.

There are always exceptions especially if you have sought after or esoteric material; and if the dealer has someone he can readily sell to; otherwise it just sits in his stock forever.

StampAlarm

Sounds like you got some good advice. If there is no need to rush, enjoy them like DougTx and ad4400. Stamps are just really fun to collect and there is quite a bit of interest returning to the hobby.


Jerry

ozzie101

ad4400:

Here are some comments about prices of NZ material in Australia:

1. Full Face Queens will go for good prices depending on the quality.

2. Specialist type material will also be readily saleable

3. NZ stamps in club circuit books here (books that go from stamp club member to member) will be cheap, and I mean cheap. For example, most anything modern you can pick up for 5 or 10 cents regardless of the Scott cat value. The bird definitives (Scott 769, 770, 770A, and 835) usually can be picked up anywhere from 5 to 25 cents each even though the last one cats for US$5. Most of the time you can NOT even sell used stuff for a penny each!

4. Mint postage goes for about 60 to 65% of face value.


That being said, some of the recent mint material and FDC's are scare and command better prices than the crapola from the mid 60's up.

The Len Jury and ACS catalogues are nice to look at, but the prices are so far from reality that they are meaningless. Another good example, the 1935 Silver Jubilee issue on FDC is listed at NZ$165 in the 206 ACS catalogue. I bought a pristine one for A$20 or less than 15% of cat. ........

coynclecter

I dont know a lot about stamps but Ive sold a lot of coins and paper money.

If you are not sure what to do here is how to avoid getting ripped. First off, don't sell outright to anyone because you dont know what they are worth. Contact a major stamp auction company. If the collection has real value they will send out a rep. Have them choose the ones they will sell for you. Negotiate a break in the fee if you expect 25K or more. Do not accept their offer, insist on auction at a major show/sale. If they won't deal with you then you have an idea what you have, second class merchandise (Ebay).

Next, take the ones they don't want and group them in lots and place them on Ebay. Take real good photos. Most likely also many are good for postage and many are good for nothing.

Good luck

neilithic

If you want to find the value of the New Zealand stamps the best local website is www.lenjury.co.nz. Len Jury publish the best New Zealand stamp catalogue and have the whole catalogue online so you can hunt down all the stamps you've been given. They also run auctions monthly and lots usually sell for a good price...a lot better than the $60 you got offered.

ad4400

I was offered $60 for the following NZ stamps:

O76-86
130 138
185 - 198
199 - 201
203 - 216
229 - 237
239 - 241

All are MHN. Not sure if I'll ever find the source again that gave me the highest of values, but based on Ebay searches and stamps up for sale on the American Philatelic Society web site, the certainly retail for a bit more than $60. Although I'd still be interested if folks thought that would be the best I could do selling to a dealer.

StampAlarm

How much more than $60?



Jerry

ad4400

The total of what people were seeking/actualing selling them came to around $350. In each case these were very roughly about 1/2 of catalogue.