Inherited box of stamps - now what?
AlteredTone
Posts: 304
in Stamps Forum
My grandfather was a collector of coins, paper money and stamps. I inherited his collection last year. I have been on these CU forums for over a year now, learning more about the paper money and coins.
It is time for me to start learning about the stamps. I must admit this is the area that I come to with the least amounf of knowledge. Other than looking for upside down airplanes, I don't know anything about stamps.
Can someone give me an idea of how to figure out what I have? There is a large box full of albums. Many sheets of unused stamps, with face values of 1/2 cent, 4 cents, 6 cents, etc. From what date information I could find, there seems to be stuff from the 1940's through the 1960's, but I haven't looked at them too much. Some stamps that apppear to have been used, or have stampings across them. All kinds of stuff.
From my brief scanning of eBay, where I could find similar items, there didn't seem to be a lot of value to these.
I don't want to keep these - I plan to sell them. Anyone know of a buyer in the Houston, TX area that wouldn't try to "rip" me?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
It is time for me to start learning about the stamps. I must admit this is the area that I come to with the least amounf of knowledge. Other than looking for upside down airplanes, I don't know anything about stamps.
Can someone give me an idea of how to figure out what I have? There is a large box full of albums. Many sheets of unused stamps, with face values of 1/2 cent, 4 cents, 6 cents, etc. From what date information I could find, there seems to be stuff from the 1940's through the 1960's, but I haven't looked at them too much. Some stamps that apppear to have been used, or have stampings across them. All kinds of stuff.
From my brief scanning of eBay, where I could find similar items, there didn't seem to be a lot of value to these.
I don't want to keep these - I plan to sell them. Anyone know of a buyer in the Houston, TX area that wouldn't try to "rip" me?
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
0
Comments
SHP
They're on Memorial. I live out between Brenham and La Grange.
Who knows what's in the boxes and albums. Taking them to a dealer
may make you feel like you are getting ripped off...especially when the
unused stamps only bring a penny for every 5C of fv! But, that's
the way it goes with stamps.
In this hobby when it comes to 'just' stamps it lives and dies by extreme
high quality or extreme rarity. Other than that, the 'payscale' can diminish
quite rapidly.
Someone will need to look at what you have to tell you.
Jerry
Just digging around on the site, I found this stamp. Says it's for sale for $200.
I have in my vast pile a sheet of 50 stamps that look identical to this one. No way that little sheet is worth $10,000, is it???
Am I sitting on a gold mine here, or just smoking crack? Here is a scan of what I have...
Looks similar to me...
The value of some stamps can be based on the perforations. I actually have a perforation gauge somewhere.
While 2 stamps may look alike, the perforations can be different, thus making one more difficult to locate/more valuable.
<< <i>OK, I took a look at that link, and looked at the box of stuff I have.
Just digging around on the site, I found this stamp. Says it's for sale for $200.
I have in my vast pile a sheet of 50 stamps that look identical to this one. No way that little sheet is worth $10,000, is it???
Am I sitting on a gold mine here, or just smoking crack? Here is a scan of what I have...
Looks similar to me...
Key word is "Looks" identical or similar.
The stamp you are comparing to has been Certified and Graded. [approx cost: $25.00 for the grading] Perfectly centered examples do sell for more than commonly available examples.
I cannot in good conscience recommend you send the entire sheet in at $25/stamp hoping to catch high grades, but if you are convinced it is "identical" than do so and sell the high grade examples to Mr Dumaine, there in Houston at a nice profit?
In my experience, 1%, +/- of common stamps, will grade out at high levels. Some issues well below 1%. Stamp Grading involves a number of factors including careful measurements of the margins, down to 1/2 of 1/10th mm, so what you are calling identical to the measured and graded example in reality, isn't really an apples to apples comparison.
Managing Director - Rare Stamp Department
Heritage Auctions
> Am I sitting on a gold mine here
No. Sorry. You're not sitting on a gold mine. The sheet isn't rare. Any PSE 95 is a high grade stamp. It's questionable as to whether any one stamp in your sheet could go that high. Take a look at the edueku comments in the thread of earlier this morning re PSE cert vs encapsulated.
BTW, as Jerry noted, SHP in Texas is a trustworthy reputable dealer.
KJ
yes it's close to that price. Look at the centering of the stamps on your sheet. The stamps on
the 1st two rows are too tight at the top. Things start to look a little better on the 3rd row about
half way in. Fourth row may have something. Last row too tight on the bottom.
To better check the centering, look at the sheet upside down.
Jerry
Let's just ask the coin guys
Auction with no bids at $15
eBay store listing at $28.95
A block of 50 would probably sell for a lot less than the full pane on eBay - maybe not even enough to cover eBay fees. I receive a lot of mail from dealers who are using older 3c commemorative stamps for postage, which means they're only worth 3c each ($1.50 for the block of 50) to those dealers.