Inherited Collection From Grandfather

I am a medical student who recently inherited a collection of mostly US Stamps from my grandfather. Being as medical school is quite expensive these days I was hoping to sell part or all of the collection to fund at least a small part of it.

I know that the stamps won't be near worth as much as I would hope for, but there seem to be some legitimate stamps after flipping through an old Scott's catalog.

I would love to learn more about the stamps that I have and any advice on the some good ways for me to sell some of this collection.

The stamps themselves are a mix from US modern sealed sheets to 19th century cancelled. There is also one album of international stamps, mostly used, and I have no idea what is in there. He also has a FDC collection that ranges from 1930-60s.

I find this stuff interesting but I'm new to it and soon won't have the time or money to invest in it. So any advice or questions about the collection would be appreciated

Welcome to SCF



I often Post this ditty,
It is from "Allan" at Stampers choice.

I hope it influences you to keep Grandad's treasure.




Hello Dan,
As a long time collector and stamp fair dealer, let me answer your question by relating
an experience I've had repeated many times over the years.

A middle-aged lady, or gentleman, or couple, comes up to my tables with what look
like dollar signs in their eyes, and clutching an album or box. They've got a bit of
wariness about them as they think of handing over this family treasure to a stranger
who might try to cheat them.
This is grandpa's, or dad's or uncle's stamp collection, they say. We'd like to sell it and
wonder what you'd give for it.

And so I look through page after full page of mint and CTO propaganda laced stamps,
all from Romania, or Bulgaria, or Hungary, or others of the Soviet sphere of influence,
and typically all issued in that 40 year period, 1948-1988 . From experience I know
that just about all of these will have Scott values of 20¢.

And so I say to these people. Grandpa had a lot of fun putting all this together. What
we have here is the product of his time and effort. The best you can do for grandpa is
to have someone carry on with this collection, or, at least, put it in a place of honour,
where you can, from time to time, admire it. Surely that's better than receiving a few
dollars for it and having it pass out of your lives?

A word about the 20¢ valuation in Scott. Somewhere in the foreward is written words
to the effect that the 20¢ does not represents an actual value, the stamps so designated
being too common to have a value. The 20¢ represents the dealers' handling fee.

Well Dan, I'm sure this is not the answer you were looking for. But it is honest, and it
is straight forward. Take it for what it's worth.
Allan stamperschoice

Post some scans of some of the better stamps and I'm sure those on Stamp Collecting Forum would be willing to give you an evaluation. Unfortunately, what Rod222 said is probably quite accurate. The time and effort taken by your grandfather to compile the stamp collection is likely to be worth much more to you or a family member in "sentimental value" than the "cash value" of the collection to a dealer on the secondary market.

Generally, mint US stamps from 1940 to the present day go for less than face value; used stamps much less, only because they were issued in such vast quantities of many millions and therefore are quite common.

US 19th century material may be worth quite a bit more. A lot depends on the stamp, the condition, and (if used) the cancellation. Again, post some examples and we'd be pleased to help you evaluate it.

First Day Covers after 1940 are generally worth very little. Some of the earlier ones, especially ones with specific cachets (pictures or prints on the left side of the envelope promoting the stamp issue) can command a premium of perhaps a few dollars.

Again, I'm giving you some general information sight unseen. If you care to post some examples, I am sure we can give you some further guidance.

So here are a few examples from the collection.




And many of the FDCs are cacheted (sp?).

Wow! Well, I like em! I think you have the start of a very nice collection there! Congrats!

Very nice! From what I can see in the scan, the mint stamps look very crisp and nicely centred. As was pointed out above, not huge value, but a good start. Careful, or you'll be hooked.

and

I was in your shoes.
My father passed, and left my mother without anything much.
He had no life insurance, had 20 years of mortgage left,
and to top it off, he moved her 8 hours away from her nearest
family. He left a huge stamp collection, that from your pics
is as big or larger than yours. All the stamps you pictured so
far, he has mint unused multiples of.

We took the collection to dealers, and they either blew us off
or offered to TAKE it off our hands in a nearly literal sense.
Turns out that a combination of waning interest in stamps, and
the start of a serious recession conspired to make his collection
far less valueable to others as it was to us. So we kept it.

I came here to learn and actively grow it. This is a wonderful
place to do that. I suggest that you go through very carefully
and evaluate each stamp, as there very well could be a treasure
hidden among them, but don't get your hopes up. The big money
stamps are few and far between. Like anything else, you are
at a disadvantage selling. Anyone that buys them from you will
be only interested in buying wholesale, probably a dealer, that
needs to sell at retail to stay alive. When dealing with catalog
values, even retail is almost always far less than catalog value.

I don't mean to be a big downer, I am just sharing my experience.
You might be happier just hanging on to the stuff and maybe even
returning to grow it later in life. Passing it on to your grandkids
might be the best repayment you could give your grandfather.

Good luck!
Sorry for your loss.
Dave

joe4vt,

I suspect that your Grandfather knew that the value in his collection was in the creation of it. Like the other replies you have read, It probably won't make you much money but it will make you richer in other ways. The study of the stamps, the growing of the collection and eventually, the passing on of the collection.

It appears that you do have a good start so why not keep it growing? Nor would it hurt to keep it in a cool dark place for the next 20 years and see what happens and it doesn't need watering or feeding.

This may not be what you want to hear but it's not BS either.

Well medical school will certainly not get paid for but just think when you are done and all them loans are paid off you will have the opportunity and hopefuly dispossible income to truly expand your grandfathers hobby or passion. The great thing with stamps is they can be put away and returned to many years later . You may not have any heirs to the throne as yet but down the road wouldn't it be a great thing to share and pass on with a few grandpa stories behind it.

joe4vt
Didn't read all the thread but I read ratio post and he's of good advice. I sold myself collections to dealers and I got between 13% to 18% of catalogue value. I know because I made a list of all the stamps. It takes much more than few minutes more like hours. My stamps were mint no hinged that means like brand new stamps. Yours are hinged. There is a hinge that attach the stamp to the page and when you remove it it leaves a mark on the stamp. A hinged stamp worth less than a never hinged, maybe 60% to 70% of the cat. value for mint never hinged. A dealer would notice that and then the value of the collection goes down.

Another thing is that dealer have stamps in stock and they are not willing to pay much if they have yours in good quantity.

It's hard for someone not knowing about stamps to get a good return. Even in stampclub you meet greedy old stamp collectors who will try to scam you. But you can try or follow ratio advices.

Welcome!

From the scan this looks to be a typical collection of mostly common material. Its a great place to begin if you decide to build on the collection.

If in the end you decide to sell going to ebay is as good as any alternative with this type of material. Be sure to include lots of high resolution and sharp scans.

If you decide to keep it, that could lead to a lot of fun for the future. I inherited my wifes grandfathers collection, and have used it to augment portions of my own collection I started at age 8. I wish I had known he was also a collector when I was first married, before he died.

Matt

Edited to delete double post and correct typo.

Matt

I started here, a skeptic, and wary that those dealers I first approached about not just mom's but grandfather's collections were out to scam me. How could all this be so lacking in monitary value. In the course of trying to learn something about what I have I learned the real value of what I have... :) The collecting bug is probably genetic and can remain latent for a long, long time. I know enough now about what I have that I can slowly begin to divest portions (over 500 FDC last month) This month? perhaps blocks and sheets...? and retain some things I am interested in, or use them in trade to at least get place holders for things I'd like. Maybe just put it away until you've time to give it more attention. Med School is hectic enough.

Oh... and welcome. Barb

I've been collecting for about 15 years+ now and I share the same advice as others. I've probably looked at maybe 300-400 collections and of these, maybe 20 were monetarily worth something significant. Of these 20, 18 of them the family knew there was value as the collector in the family either left a note in the will or in the collection itself, or a family member was aware of the extensive amount of $ that was invested.

That said, sometimes people do inherit a surprise collection that has much monetary value but it is important not to have dollar signs in your eyes at first or you may be let down - but you already seem somewhat aware of this. I wish I had a Bluenose stamp for every time someone said "Oh these stamps are about 60-70 years old so they are worth lots!" Sadly that just isn't usually the case!

As Rod's post quotes, if you have any time or energy to continue collecting, I'd go that route as you appear to have a nice start. If not, you can attempt to sell privately, online, or at a local dealer and take the best offer.

Thanks for everyone's responses,
I have spent some time going over all of the stamps and I understand that many of even the good stamps that may be in the collection are only worth a dollar or two. And I don't think there are any particularly rare or super valuable stamps in the collection.

I have a second question though. The main bulk of the collection is in unused blocks and sheets. Some old, some not. That said, just in face value there is over $1000 in stamps. Has anyone else faced this sort of situation and know the best way to deal with them?

A lot of collectors do face the same dilemma you raise. Those old sheets and blocks of stamps were thought to be collectibles in their day but due to the massive quantities printed and the constantly increasing postal rates, much of the material is worth face value or less, as few want to be bothered with pasting multiple stamps on an envelope to make up the current postal rates.

If you personally have the need for on-going postage, you can always use the stamps for today's 44-cent first class postage rate or to mail packages and get full face value return for the stamps. If the quantity of stamps exceeds your needs, you can always sell them (at a considerably discount) to a dealer or broker who typically resells them (at a discount) to companies or organizations that use stamps for postage on mass mailings. The problem with this approach is that you (as seller) will probably get 60% to 75% of face value; the dealer or broker will resell to companies at 80% to 90% of face value, and thus make a profit in doing so.

You can, of course, sell them yourself on ebay or (after 50 posts) here on SCF at a better rate, but that takes time and effort on your part and you have said in your initial post that you won't have the time to deal with such trivial things in your educational pursuits.

It's like almost anything else of value: If you have a car and want to sell it quickly you trade it in at the dealer for a lower value and they will re-sell it and make a profit; if you want to gain the most for it, you take the time to sell it yourself, but most don't want to go through the time and effort to do it, so the dealer approach is often chosen. Same thing with your stamps. If you want to get a quick return and wish to spend little time in in the process, sell to dealer at a lower rate; if you want the maximum return, you have to go through the time and effort of selling it yourself.