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

Everyone who has responded so far: Thank you much for your insight!

I'd also like to say that I am glad I copy/pasted her words here, rather than paraphrasing.
You guys have a much healthier interpretation of her words than I did.
You know how it is being a buyer, and reading good into the words, when maybe a more jaded view would be beneficial.

ratio411 - scans of what she considers her "good stuff" or go and see it. Unless you have $1000 to chuck out the window, use some good business sense and identify what you are paying for. If she is legit she will let you take your time! - jeff

What I don't get, apart from the brother thing, is that she can afford to go down from $3000 to $1000, because she wants to do you a favour, yet she is sellig because she needs the money? I'm sorry, that doesn't add up, surely?

Unless my income to monthly expenses ratio were to change drastically (for the better ) I could never justify spending even $1000 on a collection unless I intended to turn some of it around to recoup investment or even profit from it. But that's just lil ol' me ...

I bought a collection recently for $30. Tons of stuff in it and it will give me hours of fun and enjoyment. That's my kind of transaction!

I am supposed to see them tomorrow.
I am really nervous now though.
Thanks guys!

She said the 'rolltop desk' she stores them in comes with it now too... ???

i had dinner with a stamp dealer last night...he said a lot of people are giving up collecting stamps...from the horses mouth !!

Don't get discouraged , Like Phil said many people are just dumpping stuff and have no clue or have a clue but just want it gone. The guy that got me started literally said I have 24 hrs to come and get these boxes (14 of them) out of his living room or they were hitting the dumpster. Sounds like BS but he gave me over $5000 mnh Canadian and then all the world stuff which was mostly low end but a ton of it.
Good roll top desk are worth a pretty penny especially if its a few yrs old. Don't be nervous and take your time , undervalue everything in your head and if the numbers still work go 4 it.

philb, re: your stamp dealer's comments, could mean the stamp market is turning into a buyer's market?

i believe it is a buyers market...my friend makes 92 percent of his income trading scrap silver and gold..before that it was sports cards..he is not interested in buying stamps !!

I agree that it has been a buyer's market for about 5 years now.

I have come up with a strategy of sorts.
I am going to be flexible, but here's my general tactic:

I am going to look at the general issues from 1840s to the 1860s first.
Then 1860s to 1880s secondary.
Next will be the pictorials of 1869, and the Columbian series.
After that, I will proceed to the early air mails.

My thinking is that since the main benefit of this exercise is to build on what I have,
I will look for what I don't have.

Before 1860, I have nothing.
From 1860 to 1880 I am light.
Then the two afforementioned pictorials and Columbians I only have the basics.
When it comes to air mails, I need a few of the earliest issues and the 3 Zeps.

If her collection is lacking in these key areas, the purchase will really do me no good.
Other than a few of the 'biggies' from 1880 to present, I am 90% complete.
I need 1840s to 1860s, Zeps, 3 of the first air mails, larger denominations pictorals/Columbians,
and of course the White Plains sheet. As for modern, the biggies I need are the old west error,
and imperf Looney Tunes sheets.

If I can fill a grand's worth of these holes, it's worth it.
If not, I can't really justify buying books full of what I already have.

Thoughts?
Should I just go right to the Zeps?

If I boil it down...do I have money to spend ? YES ! But I have to feel that its a deal..no mabe..not probably.. a DEAL !!

Ratio 411, the big lesson I've learnt with stamps is; you do financially better if you purchase 'One known popular rare stamp' for lets say $3000 compared to heaps of goodish stamps in a collection. Also it's far easier to correctly maintain and house a few 'high valued stamps' compared to many Albums (collection).

From the looks of it even if there is a ton of material you don't necesarily want at this point in your collecting its well housed and not like you have a ton of envelopes , glassines and dreaded ziplocs full of who knows what. Like you said its not something your going to sell so keep an open mind to the world material as you may finish your US and be looking for more ventures. Still think if the MNH value is there go for it sell off your duplicates and expand your horizons, Then again its not my grand and as Phil said it should scream DEAL and no doubts.

Well, I bought the stuff.

First, let it be known that I paid wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy less than the grand.
I also got a Cockatoo w/large cage thrown in the deal too!

The only postage stamp in her collection that I didn't already have was the #1.
There were no 2-10 that I needed, no Zeps (baby Zep though), no high end pictorals or anything.

Whomever said it was probably a 'mish-mash' of everything was dead on.
It is not only a 'mish-mash', it is a HUGE mish-mash.
Were talking 5 gallon buckets full of used stamps, both on and off paper, depending on what bucket you open.
Easily 500+ FDCs, with 1st flights and 1st trip RPOs scattered within.
Box after box of more on paper stamps.
State and federal revenues and various types of tax/doc stamps.
99.9% US stuff. The few world stamps are mainly far east and Canada. Also some Canada revenues/doc stamps.
THOUSANDS, and I mean THOUSANDS of cover. Ranging in age from 1832 to present.

I don't think I am going to find anything terribly valueable, but it will take me years to go through it.
Everything that is unused is modern (post 30s)... There is probably 300 bux face unused.
The used stuff is mixed unbelieveably well.
I can stick my hand in a bucket of off paper and pinch out a sample, and you will get mostly 40s/50s,
but the fun part is that you will get just as many 1870ish stamps as you do 1970ish stamps.
Every single sample I pulled had at least one Columbian, and early special delivery stamps are rampant.
Got a few Louisana Purchase commems in samples, as well as Pan-Am Expos.
All used, off paper.

Didn't find my White Plains sheet either...

I would never have paid anything close to a grand for what I got.
I need to save up now and add a new wing to my house to fit it all though.
Boxes, bags, drawers, buckets, pails, tubs, and albums coming out of my ears.

Now here comes the problem with turning into a accumulator or buying up collections. The value is there but may take years to sell to get it back.





Shoot me a email if you have 1st flights to go out the door.