How To Sell A Large Collection

My first post here, so, hello all! :)

I have a collection (about 10000) of well preserved stamps (around 80% of which are stored in albums) from all over the world (USA, Canada, Africa, Europe, Asia...) from all different periods (1900 to 2000) that I've inherited from my grandfather.

Since I'm in quite a bad financial situation I'm not thinking about keeping, but rather about selling theme.

So, I'm wondering, what is the best way to do so if something like that is possible at all?

Thank you,

Alex

Welcome Alex.

First, review the SCF Rules regarding Buy/Sell/Trade activity:
https://www.stampcommunity.org/rules.asp#rulesid12

Then use the search button at the top of this page to search for inherit

You'll find a lot of folks have come here with similar circumstances.

KirkS

innuendo,



Sorry to hear that you are having financial issues. There are too many people in this and other countries having the same problem.

I'm also sorry to hear that you are going to sell your Grandfather's collection instead of trying to build it up.

There are several web sites where you can do so. The 2 largest being ebay and BidStart. Both will charge you $$ for listing your items and $$ upon the sale of your items. Whichever site you use I suggest scans of the earlier stamps that will inform potential buyers of what you have and generate bids on the items.

Remember, just because a stamp is old doesn't mean that its particularly valuable and catalog values for a stamp is the value of a fault free stamp in very fine condition. So, if you find a stamp with a catalog value of $100.00 chances are that in reality, it may only be worth $5.00 because of condition.

If you have any questions or need some help, please ask, there are many knowledgeable people on this site that would be willing to help.

Whatever you do, please drop a note on this forum with a note of your decision.

Hi innuendo, you can post some pictures and we could look and maybe give you some advice. I think the best advice would be to get to 50 posts and then I am sure you would have lots of happy buyers here. - jeff

For about the past 10 years, the market for selling average
collections has been SEVERELY depressed.

Sorry for your loss. I am in the same situation with my
father's stamps. He never taught me about it, and in his
lifetime, stamp collecting was a thriving hobby as well as
investment area that he put a great deal of time/money into.

Sadly, now, if you do not have certain stamps in extremely high
grade, you are at the mercy of a buyer's market.

When we tried to sell dad's collection that he spent so much on,
we were faced with a reality that his investment was pretty much
gone with this economy. So now, I am just using his collection
as a base for my own pastime/hobby. I normally collect coins,
but when I am short on dough for that hobby, I can make some
really nice purchases for cheap and add to the stamp collection.

Have someone that KNOWS look over your collection and see if there
are any exceptions to the rule contained within, that are worth some
dough. Then, if you are set on selling the rest, don't expect much.
Even the unused postage from much of the 1900s won't even bring
FACE VALUE! Sure, it can be used on mail today, but it is a big
hassle to make 44c postage out of 4c and 5c stamps... So they
are bought/sold at a discount.

Hello Alex, Welcome to SCF :)
I'm sorry to hear about your financial situation right now, as Art stated above, too many people are unfortuantly experiencing the same thing. I too, was in your situation, with an inherited collection, and in need of money. So I called a local stamp dealer who did appraisals. He very kindly came to my home, for a small fee of $10 to sift through our collection. Art is right when he says condition is absolutly everything- so though you may have stamps 100+ years old (for example) it doesn't mean they are worth a ton of money. After the appraisal and harsh realization that Catalog value is only what is sometimes paid for nearly perfect stamps, I was allowed to keep the collection. Since then have grown the collection and fell in love with the hobby.
I'll suggest you call a local appraisal company or stamp dealer.
Or you could take pictures of them and post here for more information to save you the money it would cost to sell/get appraised elsewhere. The people here on SCF are very knowledgable, and very friendly. You will get an answer for almost every question you could think of.
I hope this helps, but I hope even more that you recover from your financial situation without having to get rid of your stamps :) They can serve as a great stress reliever if you choose to take up the hobby!! Take care Alex, best wishes ~Ash