Help With My Grandfather's Serious Collection?

Hello,

I know very little about stamp collecting, but I have viewed my grandfather's collection a little growing up. He passed a few years back and his collection was something that none of us knew much about. We didn't know the extent of his collection either (except that he continued to collect until his death). Now comes the time where it must be sold. I have 4 full boxes of stamps. They are very neatly organized. He has a few binders with full sheets, a few binders and small boxes with packets, and a binder with his rare collection that is seemingly arranged by the Scott #. He had a price guide from 2005 in one of the boxes and when comparing to his collection I found that he had a lot of really rare stamps. Some were used, but a lot seemed like they were in very good condition. Each stamp is neatly placed in its own little cellophane? case. I have a few questions.

1.) What would be the best course to sell a collection such as this? Auction or private dealers?

2.) Is there anything in particular I should look to see if he has?

3.) Would it be worth it to get any of these graded or better off to just sell them as they are?

I may add some things later, but right now I can't think of anything else. I am adding pictures of a few pages or stamps that I found to be of some value. All comments and expertise are welcome and very much appreciated. Thanks, Brett

If you view these pics and they are upside down or sideways just check back in a little while. I altered them on photobucket and sometimes it take a little while to catch up on forums.

Definitely not a beginners collection. This should be sold through auction if you want the best return. If you want to dump it quickly in 1 lot then a dealer but be prepared to surrender some value since a dealer needs to make a profit from it.

I don't think I'd pay for any grading.

On points 1 and 3, I agree with Stallzer. Based just on what is seen here, and assuming no faults in the higher end items, you have many thousands of dollars in retail value here.

An auction house like Kelleher, Regency or Schuyler Rumsey likely will yield the most money but you will not see it for 6 months as they need to catalog, organize an auction, hold the auction and collect from buyers. A dealer like Mystic or Century or others will pay you next week if you want, but will pay you less because of the time needed to sell items one by one and the cost of advertising and other overhead.

2) The Washington-Franklin heads need careful evaluation by someone experienced with the issue. Some have very high value, but the difference between a rarity and a $0.25 stamp is subtle.

very nice collection-- the used 1$ trans miss, and unused 50c to 2$ colombian stamps caught my eye. At first I thought you had a well-centered unused scott 313 (this would have been your most expensive stamp!)-- unfortunately looking at perforations it looks like a scott 480, not 313, despite the fact that it is sitting next to a set of 300-311. Oh well. Zeps are nice, but look off-centered and middle one has a stain?

Brett, it is a very nice collection.. but don't get your hopes up it will pay for a new car or a year of college tuition… unlikely. But-- further examination of the stamps for gum, thins, tears, missing perfs etc will guide value. There may be something rare in here. Post a high res scan of a stamp you think is very valuable, and we can evaluate for you.

Oh, and I really like that scott 327, 10c louisiana purchase issue stamp! looks well centered-- If never-hinged and fault free, that may be worth 400-500 bones!

A decent auctioneer will also have a good idea of how to break up and lot the collection so that you (and they) maximise the value. And I suspect the commission you pay will be less than you'd "lose" on selling direct to a dealer.

Thanks for the comments so far. The Scott 480 is definitely a little disappointing, I figured the same thing based on where it was located, but yes it looks like it has 480 perforations. The Columbian Exposition, trans miss., 1869 pictorial, Louisiana purchase expo, few Hawaii ones, any of the stamps in the second to last picture; all were something I thought might be worth something. There are a lot that I am unsure about as there are multiple variations, grills, errors, etc. Unsure whether its 92-101 or 102-11, that type of thing.

I do see the stain mentioned on the middle Zeppelin, didn't notice that before either. I think someone may have offered around $2k for the zepps which I think my family thought was low. I know 90% of these stamps in this huge collection are worth less than face value, but I'm still hoping there may be something rare. There are a lot of packets in wax paper envelopes. Some are graded. Some my grandfather spent between $100-500. There is just so much to look at it gets a little bit overwhelming. I am probably going to go through it little by little and post stuff I find interesting or am confused about. Once again, thanks for all the help, I really appreciate it.

Oops - that $2K offer was generous; you should have taken it. The 65c and $2.60 values are F-VF and definitely not XF, and as noted the $1.30 has a fault. Similar sets are widely available for $1500 or less at retail. Examples:

http://www.hgitner.com/pdf/us_c13-1...10-24-16.pdf

Both an auction and a dealer sale almost certainly will yield less than $2K.

A common error of people in your position is over-valuing and holding out for a too-high price that never materializes. Be realistic. You have nice stamps that support good prices, but all of them are widely available in the market from other sources. If you price over-market, people will buy somewhere else.

Thanks for the comment. I will definitely keep that in mind and pass it along to the rest of my family.

Another thing I didn't mention is that my grandfather also had 2 full boxes of envelopes with cardboard in them. I figured he was just saving the envelopes because of the stamps until I read a little article about first day covers. He has many of these ranging from the 20's up. Anything in here I should be looking for (besides Zeppelins?)

Lots of nice stamps and should be able to get a few thousand dollars for sure. Lots of things affect the price and if you haven't been around stamps much they can be hard to figure out. Highest values are for stamps with 4 evenly sized large margins and perfect appearance, perfect gum with no hinge mark or even a fingerprint. The same stamp off center can be a small fraction of the price. Both Mint and Used stamps sell well though.

Good luck. I know Kelleher regularly runs auctions of collections like this. The maximum return would be by selling each stamp individually but that takes a lot of work and knowledge.

Nice collection. Now send all of it off to Kelleher auctions, sit back and relax. They will pay for shipping and insurance so give them a call. The collection will be sold in the late winter to spring session. Be patient it will all sell and the check will arrive. Packing will be the biggest chore. They do charge a hefty 18% so you might consider a 15% auction house but that is about it.

The Zepps are not worth near what you think. Were they hinged on the back? The $2000 offer was a no go deal offered by an unknowledgeable "collector/investor."

First Day Covers from the '20s are nice items. Take a quick look for any from Dec. 1920, Pilgrim Tercentenary Issue.

So I guess Kelleher auctions is the consensus. I will give them a call tomorrow. stampcrow, I will give the box a look through a little later and see if I can locate what you mentioned.

I was digging through a box of receipts and I found the receipt for that #480. On the plus side it was graded VF+, he paid $260, and the cat value was around $400. Oh if only it was a 317 :/

$2000 is more than current retail for a very fine set with pritine NH gum. With the stain on the $1.30 and the centering on the $2.60, retail would be well below $1500, and you are looking at getting wholesale, not retail. Perhaps the person making the offer was planning on paying with a rubber check.

But the whole collection is definitely worth enough for an auction house to deal with.

You could also try Harmer-Schau. Someone will be there this weekend (west coast time).

Also prepare yourself for an auction house turning down the opportunity to sell it. The bigger names usually want pristine pieces and there are some condition issues (3¢ Louisiana purchase plate single), not to mention that some of the key values are missing. The $2 Omaha, $3,$4, &$5 Columbians ? Can you provide a good scan of the 1902-1903 $5 Marshall stamp? Might be the cream of the crop.

480, not perf 12