Who Buys Mixed Collections

We need to sell my wife's grandfathers stamp collection. Some of the albums where sold 30 years ago to help pay for her college. We are not sure of the value. We have a box of albums and one or two boxes of mixed stamps. Most are sorted used stamps off envelopes. Others are still on paper. We have both US and mixed other countries. Some albums are collector sections from a sheet or individual stamps. We live near Portland Oregon but could ship collecton. We are aware they may have some value or little.

Hi Statman and Welcome



You will need 50 posts before you can start buying and selling here, but I suggest you stick around and you may get the collecting bug

It's happened to many like yourself who have posted here and thoughts of selling will disappear as you become entangled in a world of stamps and covers.

Londonbus1...at least we hope so

I think its a shame when stamps are passed on to people without any indication of value....the collection could be worth 3 dollars or 3 thousand dollars..the obvious thing to do is take a album or two to a library and check the scott catalogs...are most of the stamps minimum value or did the collector spend real money..buying stamps valued at 20 or 50 dollars...we stamp collectors can tell in an instant if a collection is serious or not....but to a non collector it can be a great mystery !!

Hello Statman, welcome.

Can you do photos of the pages of the older stamps in the albums and put them on Photobucket and then place a link to that here? Then someone or all of us could look at the stamps and better tell you whether any are worth pursuing more detailed info on and possible value.

If you look at catalogues the prices are not what you would sell the stamps for, unless they are rare and old stamps and in really great condition. Usually it is 10 - 25% of the catalogue prices unless you are selling to a collector. Dealers have to resell the stamps and make a profit.

It is nice to collect but if you need to sell you need to sell.

If the stamps are worth a lot then a bigger auction house would be the place to sell them for the best price. if they are so0so stamps then perhaps a local stamp store dealer or even ebay (lots of work) could be options to consider.

From folks on here you will get a good idea of if you have anything of value or not. Many stamps are common and collectors keep them in nice albums just because the collectors like to collect.

Some older rare stamps need serious study to differentiate between the different varieties, some worth $1 and some $1000's. There are fakes and counterfeits at times also but some collect those also.

To get the best price you have to take the time and effort yourself and sell them bit by bit at stamp shows or stamp clubs or ebay or to private collectors. If you don't have the time then you get a lesser price and the more stamps you sell the at the same time the lower the price usually. There are always exceptions of course.

Excellent advice from Puzzler, I just like to add that you might like to take your collection to a few stamp dealers and maybe get a feel for its likely value, some will do a quick evaluation for little or no expense. A proper evaluation is likely to cost you some money as many charge by the hour.

Good luck with it

:)

Lots of us buy, when you are ready. Welcome statman. - jeff

For dealers in and around Portland, Oregon visit The American Stamp Dealers Association website. Easy and quick search. Daniel