Need Pointers In Looking At The Purchase Of A Collection...

I am still a fairly novice collector.
Buying one stamp can be easy enough for me, but I have been talking to a lady that wants to sell her entire collection.

I have not looked at it yet, other than emailed pics of her shelf full of albums.

Here is what I know, and it's a copy/paste of her emails to me:
I told her how my dad collected stamps, and that now me and my little girl are trying to grow his collection. I asked her what ballpark she felt the value was, and told her that I only collect US, not really world.

First email...
"First of all, just to let you know, I'm not great at this. My brother has been supplying me with most of the stuff that I have throughout the last 10-15 years. MOST is US, I have both on pages and off, there are a few tax stamps, fishing stamps, revenue stamps, some post cards and airmail stamps, etc. It ranges from the first stamp ever made in the U.S. to present day. I have quite a few unwashed stamps but most are washed and just have not been sorted yet. I have LOTS of stamp holders (the sheets that can go into binders), I have a good start on plate number coils. I really don't know enough to be able to tell you EXACTLY what it is that I all have, I just know that some of them are very rare and my brother gave them to me as gifts or just because he is my brother (lol). I do know that he is recognised a few times for different stamps that he has found in the National Stamp (?) something or another. Anyways, this is why I put in my add for someone to come look at what is all available, because there is so much of it and, again, I'm not real good at this. He did buy me new Scott binders with holders and pages and I also have some older ones. I hope this helps somewhat..."

Second email...
"I know if I were to sell everything individually, I could probably make $5,000. I originally was hoping for $3,000 (through a dealer). BUT.....Your email touched me and I would much rather see it go to someone that is seriously trying to collect and would get actual use of it, then someone who will buy the collection and then turn around and make a fortune off of it. I am interested in working with you so please let me know what will, and won't, work for you also. Would $1,000 be too much? and if so, what would work for you?

I know for a fact that you would be getting your monies worth, but like you said, you are just in it for the fun and I do know that times are tough (hence, the reason I'm selling the collection), I have recently became unemployed and I am having a heck of a time finding another job (and at my age, it is getting harder every day, lol).

Please let me know what you think."

The only reason I put her email in was to keep myself from making assumptions. Like I would assume from her wording that she has at least one "#1" stamp... Do you read it that way?

Pointers on proceeding. This is a very large sum of money for me.

Thanks!
Dave

Dave
Been in same situation a couple times one I grabbed and one I just couldn't spend that much without it being a problem of sorts. Problem being I would likely want to keep everything and not resell to recoup my investment. Sounds like you need to bring donuts and spend the afternoon or afternoons taking a serious look through. My general feeling is if there is enough MNH to cover the purchase and you can still walk away with some classics you are doing well. It seems as though there is sentimental and of course that has value to the seller but not for you to get wrapped up in. Take your time and I'm sure she won't mind the chit chat , do some mental math or actually document on paper for you to go over since it sounds overwhelming. If you open an album and see a few early gems that you know would cost you the $1000 then politely accept load up and figure the rest out at home. These are sometimes what dreams are made of but if it is going to put you in financial hardship walk away or look seriously at how fast you could resell to get the investment back. Keep us posted and send some of the pics so others can help you out.

I thought about the angle of selling some to recoup money, but that's not really me.
I told her that I collect for fun and the challenge of growing my father's collection now that he is gone, and meant it.
The money spent would be an "investment" only to my kids or grandkids after I am gone. I tend to keep anything I add to my holdings.

I like the idea of calculating the money until I hit the target, and then saying 'okay' if I ever hit that point.
I do have a little trouble with catalog value. It seems no one ever pays catalog value unless they are buying from a dealer like Mystic Stamp. Other than that, CV seems high.

Oh, what does she mean here:
"I have a good start on plate number coils."?

I am not familiar with that term: plate number coils.

My interpretation of her emails:

1st: I have no idea what I have, there is a mishmash of stuff.

2nd: A dealer gave me a realistic offer, but I am hoping for better from you. Much better. I still have no idea and am shooting in the dark with big numbers.

My advice:

Carefully examine all the material she has to offer, and if interested, make a reasonable offer. Do not buy anything sight unseen. She will tell you the dealer offered better (he didn't).

For a dealer this lot probably involves much work for mediocre return. As a collector, the return is the work(fun), but the value is still about the same.

Probably $250 in albums. I totally get wanting to keep as holdings for future but if the WW is not up your alley you could really build on quality of your US by selling/ trading. Once its yours its up to you. The last collection I picked up had enough value in the Canadian to offset anything else and I've had a blast trading and selling to attain better for my collection. Forget catalog and go bt realistic values. If there is a decent #1 thats $150-$200 and so on. If she has the first 15-20 US in good condition then close the book and pay her.

Hi Dave, smauggie told it to you straight. There seems to be too many unknowns with that collection, you must examine it,and it may be filled with "space fillers".

Also take some time examining different issue's, air mails, ducks, classics, etc.. so you can find what appeals to you as a collector. Trying to collect "everything" at once will be overwhelming whether it's USA or foreign. For me the 1847 issue is all I am passionate about collecting, since I was a kid. I'm not trying to say just pick one thing, I guess what I'm trying to say is what ever you choose to collect it should mean something to you. Ah.. it's just an opinion.

"Plate number coils" are coil stamps with the plate number in the bottom margin of the stamp. These are typically collected in strips, with the plate number on the center stamp of the strip. PNC3 is a 3-stamp strip...PNC5 is a 5-stamp strip. I don't know much about it as a collecting discipline.

If that sort of thing sounds like it might interest you as a collecting area, then a good assemblage could be a useful foundation. If not, it is just discount postage in inconveniently-short strips.

This person's terminology leads me to believe that she knows next to nothing about what she has, and it could easily be the "rare" investment material that is assembled off of late-night infomercials. I'm not judging her harshly; the world is full of people who have an accumulation of stamps and think they must be worth a small fortune.

Maybe you could snap a few pictures of the first few pages of U.S. material under the guise of doing some homework? I won't be any help with early U.S., but plenty of others could be...

I'd be going very slow...

My 2d.

C.

Hi Dave-- remember that for any mint US stamp after the 1930's or so, a dealer will give her no more than 50% of the face value.

On the US classics, if there is anything wrong, bad perf, crease, it'll be worth 10% of CV or less. You can usually find a chopped-down version of Scott Stamp Values as a freebie on Linn's website, and you'll see values for VG, F, FVF, VF, etc for most of the classics. On ebay for each grade for each stamp, you can almost always find prices better than the Scott Stamp Values-- won't help you much with the Revenues, though.

As an old pharmacist told me when I was just starting out (I'm a pharmacist), "Fastina Lente"....."RUSH SLOWLY". Enjoy, and hope you do really well with it.

Ray

First of all I would like my sister to supply me with stamps like her brother did with her for 15 years. If she's lying there the rest could all be a lie too. We have people that come on SCF looking for the value of collection they inherited and advise that they should go to the library and use the Scott catalogue. When I sell a collection I have a detail up to date stamp value listing. If you go to her place you should be carefull evaluating old classical stamps. But for a novice it's some kind of an adventure starting from this point, she has no reliable listings. If at least she had pics of what she think is most valuable. Hope it's not to far from your place.

i never spend what I can not afford to lose...offer low...i would not believe the dealer offer bit !! in stamps there is no guarantee that someone will buy your stamps..if you get the stamps low enough all well and good...if not you wait for the next opportunity..just suggestions..you will probably do what you want anyway !!

I'm just curious to know why she's not going to her brother for advice on how to dispose/advertise/evaluate/ etc., etc. as he's so knowledgeable.

This is a very interesting thread,
of the perhaps 10 collections I have bought,
not one under valued their collection.

Good luck, it is a tough call, and you have had some good advice here,
if she is not close, what about getting her to email
a picture of perhaps the first 3 pages of the collection,
the early stuff, that should perhaps give you an idea?

I have to agree about proceeding with caution. Pictures would be advisable for sure!

Craig's list ad, I presume?
Hmmmm... lets see now, she does not really know much about philatelic material, but she knows she could get 5 grand for it, and some of it is very rare, but she likes you so she will let you have it for a grand.If she had been collecting for 10-15 years one would assume that a person would gain some knowledge of stamps and terms, such as "stamp holders", "National Stamp something" "unwashed" puleeeze give me a break, oh yea I almost forgot I aint got no job, so I really need some cash, this is really the deal of a lifetime. Just sayin.... odds are she probably has one of them upside down airplane stamps as well.But most likely it's just a mishmash of common material.I may be wrong, but I dont think so.

I still have some beachfront property here in Arizona that is priced to sell, just let me know.

You folks are making me nervous!

Jag: It is funny about her brother.
That question has weighed on my mind since the start.
I keep wondering what he'll think when she sells all his gifts to her.
What's up with that?

She isn't far away. About 45 minutes drive.
Curious thing now though, she has stopped responding to my emails since I told her I was ready to proceed.