Too Good?

so I have an opertunity and may jump on it but I wanted to ask a few questions first. the most basic is - is this too good? as I am not a cover collector would this be a good investment? and as a non cover collector would I be creating to much work for myself?
the idea in my head is if I get this deal I would carefully get the best covers out and keep or trade them eventually and then harvest the stamps off the rest... here is the deal

35 shoe boxes of covers all full and one whole box dedicated to JFK... the price at this moment is $60 and thats for all of them as long as I go to pick up.

what are your thoughts.. still in debate over the financing of it but more a debate as to if its a good idea....

As a beginning cover collector, it would be a great education, I would think, and therefore worth the $60 tuition.

And if you end up not wanting a shoebox or two, you may be sure one of us will most likely be happy to pay to take it off your hands.

that was my thought.... the biggest concern is buying part of a collection that I am (at this moment) not interested in (covers).... but I think you are correct it would be a good investment... I just wish there was a local club here to help make it a group purchase.. I know $60 is not much but when you dont have it you dont have it LOL....

Sounds like a pretty nice deal. A couple of things that weren't too clear from your description that should be considered, though:

a. You have to pickup the material. Is it local or quite a distance? If at a distance, gas and transportation costs should be considered in your overall cost analysis.

b. You have indicated one box of JFK material (early 1960's) but no indication of what the other 35 boxes may contain. Is it all confined to that period (1960's) or are there earlier/later material in the mix? Generally, material from the mid-1960's are almost always low value items, but as said in the previous post, it still makes for a good learning experience at reasonable cost.

c. You can also look at it this way. Purely as a "guesstimate" if you're talking 35 "full" shoeboxes of material, that's conservatively 100 pieces per box (maybe more). At $60, it comes out to less than $1.72 per shoebox. If 100 pieces per shoebox, that's 1.7 cents per piece, which is cheap enough (even by kiloware standards) and you have the entire cover to check for special postmarks, etc.

On the other hand, if you're raising a financial "red flag" over this purchase, don't go spending money you don't have. There will always be other opportunities in the future if this one doesn't work out.

Also, if your idea is to obtain material that can be used to trade to other collectors in the future, shipping costs have to be factored in. If you were to sell off a box or two of the covers, the postage alone to ship it could be well above the value of its contents. Even if you placed the shipping costs onto the buyer, they would have to take a hard look at shipping costs, as well. Moreso, if mailing outside the US.

I'd go for it. Sounds like an excellent trading opportunity to me.

true true.. ok so I wold have to travel about 3 hours for it (each way) but the bonus to this is I love to drive any way and I am getting the itch for a trip ( I used to drive truck and old habits die hard LOL) so while gas should count its no more than I wold do on a typical day trip when I get like this any way... now as for the span its from the 40s - the 70's I believe but a huge focus on the 50's and 60's... that said with my primary focus being on 75- current the majority of this would be heading to either trades/sales or the over all US collection any way so its still looks good.. I some times have to talk it out to be sre I am not jumping to fast LOL (i often do and this is my tool to slow down)

If you're taking a trip anyway, and the gas prices aren't deterring you, then go for it. If you factor in the gas prices, though, a 3 hours trip is probably 175 miles (each way) or 350 miles (round trip) which equals approximately a tank of gas. With prices hovering around $4 per gallon, depending on the gas mileage of your vehicle, that would be at least another $60, so you've basically doubled the price when transportation costs are added into the formula.

excellent point.... something to consider for sure..

as you can see I try to talk myself into and out of these situations LOL .... its my method ... not trying to be difficult.....

hmmmm will sit on it for another day or two and really see what happens ... I mean if various obstructions suddenly disappear I know its time ....

for 35 shoeboxes full...how can you lose ?

I can't see how you can lose with this purchase. The time span of this collection would contain many interesting covers that you would like to retain and over time you should be able to trade/sell the rest.

The volume part sounds good but how is the variety? If all or mostly business type with primarily defins for the period I'd really weigh the gas price. Seen bankers boxes full of very generic covers that the box was probably worth more than the contents. However it sounds like there would have to be a good mix or they would all be tossed in 2-3 huge boxes. I'm no help I just talked you out and back in. Get pics of a random pile or two then we can push or pull.

... It's a hobby, not an investment...

I see it as both, but more of an investment in myself, than the speculative, profit-driven concept that one usually associates with the word. The more I learn about stamps, the more I learn about people, places and times and I feel more closely connected with the history of the world.

Smauggie, very nicely put!

I agree smauggie, investing in yourself is always a good thing. Expecting a financial return from a hobby is speculative, at best, and is rarely is profitable.

all great points! things came up over the week end that appear to prohibit this purchase however.. but hey there is always another time and place...