Help Out A Newbie?

I posted this in the introduction subforum, but thought I'd post it here as well, in hopes of getting some eyes to read it...hope it's ok!

Hi all! I'm not actually a stamp collector, but I am in need of some assistance. My brother is a small town lawyer, and he commissioned me for a job to help him out. One of the clients he is a guardian of has a big stamp collection it seems, and he gave me a big manila envelope filled with a TON of stamps in various smaller sleeves and envelopes. He wanted me to try to research and compile a value of all of them for him while he was on vacation(and I'm on spring break from teaching).

I'm kind of overwhelmed at the sheer amount and variety of stamps here...pretty much all of them are in mint condition it seems, and some look older and some look more recent. My question is: what resources are out there to try and find a value on these...I've browsed the internet trying to find stamp sites that I use, but most have their value lists in terms of years of the stamps, which I can't ascertain on quite a few of these.

so, I decided to go to the source and find a forum where someone might be willing to help out. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome. If you live in the US, your local library most likely has a full set or two of stamp catalogs to check out and that should get you on your way to identifying the stamps.

You are welcome to post images here and ask questions as well.

thanks! I guess I'll spend some time today,and this weekend at the library down the street...hopefully that will help.

I'm pretty astounded at the sheer variety of stamps here....every envelope seems to have a different stamp or sheet of stamps, and there are probably at LEAST 75 different smaller envelopes inside the big manila. This is gonna be an involved project.

I find the stamps interesting so far tho, so maybe I'll get interested in collecting through doing this!

Hi there.
You'll probably need more than just time today. Sounds like a huge project. Get a case of beer (or you favourite libation) and enjoy. Would be surprised if they didn't suck you in. Seductive little devils (in a good way)
Good luck!

Yanch - a seasoned collector or dealer can assess (not necessarily appraise) a quite large lot in a hour or two. In other words - tell you whether you have junk or joy. I just separated a 3 stock book volume US auction lot that I bought into pretty good and more or less worthless in a day. That means I can now focus on the 30 or 40 better items to see what they might be worth. And here you have to look at centering, condition, catalogue value and so on.

My suggestion, find a stamp club and ask someone to have a look at it for you.

No offense Yanch, but your scenario sounds a little too bizarre.

Give this scenario to your brother and let me know his response:

I'm a stamp collector but I have a friend who is being sued in civil court. So, I've asked my brother, a student with no legal background, to handle the case for my friend. My brother is on spring break this week and I figure it will be an easy way for him to earn $150 or $200 per hour.

Are there any attorneys in your brother's firm who could look at the case and give my bother some free advice about what to do?


KirkS

thanks for all the advice! I looked up stamp clubs in this area and found one that is meeting tomorrow evening. I'm going to email them and see if I can drop by and show them what I have. I'm going to take a look at these stamps tomorrow while referencing a 2010 Scott Standard Postage Stamp catalogue that I got from the library. The 2011 one I wasn't able to check out of the library...is it a big deal that I'll be looking at a 2010 copy instead of 2011? Do stamp values fluctuate much from year to year? I'd rather do this at home(where I can drink a beer or 2-good idea!) than sit in the library.

Oh, and as for the fact that I'm doing this....I'm pretty sure it's not for a case or anything. My brother is just the guardian for a guy and he wants to get a general idea of how much it's all worth.

Earning a commission, sitting at home with a few beers,
and getting a free valuation over the internet.
Now that's my kind of job.
Any vacancies ?

Two ways to look at it and hopefully either would only be to benefit the person who is being guarded. You can consider catalog values and even insurance appraisal evaluations if it is to increase this clients net worth for whatever the specific reason may be. In reality if it comes down to liquidation of ones said assets under typical auction type environment it is assured any valuations are worthless and realized prices will be considerably less with the very few exceptions of extreme rarities. In my personal dealings with several estates of family members it has always been best to consider the lowest likelihood of a sale of any said assets if for no other reason than to helpfully diminish any tax implications or even worse probate issues. Generally as most members will attest realization against catalog values range in the neighborhood of 10-30% with Mint never hinged face value more modern issues at approximatly 70-80%.
I sincerly hope this is being done to benefit the person in your brothers care rather than to benefit the firm as is usually the case.