Help? Sorry, This Is A Long Post.

I went to my first stamp show today.

Yes, I learned a lot, and confirmed a few things too.
Would be interested in other perspectives.
I could recognize that each dealer did have their focus, but was fortunate that about half had either US binder collections and covers, or classic US in their displays.

Mostly, I confirmed, from my limited experience, it would seem, most dealers have little interest in really helping you sell, and lots more interest in acquiring, stuff that will then get marked up 1000% at my expense. One binder I brought was flipped thru in less than 2 minutes and totally dismissed. ... and kinda makes me go hummmmm... and really want to learn enough to sell what I don't think I want... fairly.

I've never thought I'd see covers reduced by 90% and seemingly pristine Zeps and Columbians and a sheet of 2C Washingtons flanking a 5C in the center error sheet.... and even better for sale, not by the single piece, but multiple packages of them!

Unfortunately I don't know enough to recognize a forgery if I saw one.

Maybe I'm just naive? Most people would say I'm a bit a cynic... / skeptic to begin with... so I left, with my collection highlights and a couple of freebie covers and, now, more questions than I began with.

Issue two: So a lot of what I have is in the pre-1960's collection when it was ok to hinge Mint stamps... and there have been multiple threads about how it seems absurd to discount something post collection.

However, some of those stamps have become fixed, or more fixed to the hinge and page than is optimal, and it was suggested that someone very patient should use some unknown chemical (I asked about lighter fluid and a couple of others and was told no...not that) from the back of the page to loosen the glue and hinge and then remount.

I could not ever say it would be MNH, and I don't want to create thin spots, but I don't want further damage either; and was more than a tad dismayed by the poking and prodding of some of my stamps. I could not get the dealer to tell me what chemical to use beyond it was something he'd had for years, and couldn't get any longer.

Any suggestions as to what to do?

The dealer was right about lighter fluid. It will not dissolve the water based gum of pre self-adhesive stamps. That's one reason it's used to check watermarks. It will, however dissolve or loosen rubber-based adhesives such as those on today's self-adhesives.

There is a product called Stamp Lift that is brushed on to the back of album pages to release stamps that are stuck to the page. It works pretty well but the result isn't guaranteed to be pristine, at least in my experience. It also tends to mess up the pages just as wetting them with water might do. As far as I know this is still being manufactured. I saw some offered on BidStart within the past few months. You can also search ebay or just do a general search of the web. I will reared your post and may make other comments later.

Forgive me if I have you wrong,
it seems to me you are a pole apart from the
real target of stamp collecting, and that is to have fun.

The stamp collecting world out there can be rather gruff,
I bump into one collector often, who barges in along side
and treats auction lots, like they were all rubbish, and throws
the books back into the box really disrespectfully, I hear
him brag when he "does a dealer" etc.
He flips through collections in seconds.

He spends money, big lots of money, so we put
up with him, but it dosn't have to be that way.

I think you have to take another look at you own aims
and targets, and investigate what <really> you enjoy
in the hobby and work on that.
In my opinion the only fair way to get value for your stamps
is to put them to auction, with an auction house that
attracts major players in your area.

When someone post stamps and images here, it is open to
co1lectors who love stamps and you will always get
an appreciative wink from someone who follows
the things you like.
That will not generally follow out there in dollars and cents land.

If I were you, I would tend to hold back for a while,
re evaluate, join a stamp club and get a feel for
the hobby as a whole, and go to lots of auctions, I am sure
you'll find lots that match your own, and you can get a feel for
what your stamps are worth, really.

Who said it was wrong to hinge mint stamps? What you have done,
is to adopt another person / groups opinion of how you wish to collect,
and if that is going to give you pain, you have to accept
that, or take another perspective. It's your decision.
I hinge mint stamps because I collect for me, I don't collect
for a market that will appreciate that when I kick the bucket.

Find out what you really enjoy with stamps, work on that
and jettison that which causes anxiety and useless concern.

I agree with Rod222 100%! this is about us, and the hobby of collecting! sure there will be duplicates or parts that you just don't plan to keep that you will want to sell but as a collector our aim is to find it and catalog it in our albums, I too Hinge new use it does not matter to me. currently if its over $10 then I try to find it a mount that value will change as I get more accustom to whats out there. but in the end I collect to see what I can get not to make any cash.

now if selling is the direction your heading great, but like Rod said all learning takes time and it seems to me there are a lot of pit falls in stamp selling.

congrads to getting to a show, I still want to get to one and a club meeting I've still not gone yet!

Indeed Edwin, I use mounts for valuable stamps,
I don't have the guts to hinge them :) and will
hinge a space filler instead.
I don't own a great deal of valuable stamps
so decisions are easy.

Nicely put Rod.
It's a fun hobby for me too.
As for selling, this takes time to figure out when,where,how,how much and more.
I have been trying to sell at auctions for a while when time permits and with minimal success....but it's fun and an experience, plus you get to meet people, even if it is only via cyberspace !
I have been trying to sell a scarce GB Imperf for over two years now and have even taken it to London on my trips abroad. Gibbons offered me £10 for it and Grosvenor Auctions not much more. I offered it to a plethora of GB dealers at shows and exhibitions and was mostly offered peanuts. But There is no hurry to sell anything, patience is the key in our hobby.
Yesterday the stamp sold on ebay for £250 ! And it's been on ebay three times before.



I sent a text to Gibbons in the Strand to let them Know !

Be patient and have fun

Londonbus1.....

Wow, that is some story Lb. Well done
The experience lies in your patience.
I have recently been agog at prices realised at auctions,
but on reflection, it's partly me,
wages have risen so much over the past 5-10 years, I think
I am out of touch, $250 in Oz now reflects possibly
half or quarter a weeks wage for most of the work force.

I am going to have to accept phossick boxes at
$200-$300 are here to stay, much to my chagrin.

Well done Londonbus. I get the impression of Gibbons that they want to buy really low and then sell really high--in other words greedy. There is nothing wrong with making a profit, but-----

It all comes down to confidence in your own knowledge. If you want to sell something for £250 and you are offered £10, don't accept. A dealer simply looks at what you have and purchase with the knowledge that he can double his money in a reasonable time frame.

There's no reason to get frustrated, they are just trying to make a living (*some have prettty high stanards, though).

If you are disappointed with the response you get, ask why. It siply may be that what you have duplicates existing stock or the dealer may have missed out the night before. Who knows.

In regard to ebay, I have been elighted with some of my purchases and disappointed with some of my sales. Can you detect a pettern? You cannot pick up bargains in a market place and not expect to provide some when you are the seller.

Enjoy you collecting for the joy and knowledge it delivers. Being able to identify bargains and turn this knowledge into to other funds for your collection is an almost inevitable consequence of the joy and knowledge you develop.

Don't spend all your time 'in' your collection, spend some time 'on' your collection by reading and researching subjects of interest.

I enjoy my philatelic library (and some of this is my own research) as much as I enjoy my stamps.

I think that Barb, originally joined to find info on the inherited collection. For the purpose of selling them..
Maybe she has gotten a bit of the bug, but I think her main reason is to sell.
Barb, I and many others have mentioned that scott prices are not what they seem to be.
You have some REALLY nice stuff. The duck stamps will bring a nice penny. you have quite a collection of those.
some of the ones you have shown me via email are very nice as well... the whole 64 65 thing... keep those stamps on covers if they are, that is definitive proof of which one they are.
as for everything else.. patience...

And can you really trust doing business with someone that on the one side claims "Highest Prices Paid" and on the other "We Sell For Less?"

It can come as a shock that dealers have no interest in ordinary stamps..they have no problem buying them for a dime a dozen..but hey, where do you think the box lots and "collections" for sale on the internet come from ? I know two fellows in Canada who catalog stamps for different dealers..their "pay" is to keep the stamp that catalog under 3 dollars...they evidently are not worth the dealers time !!

bfranton I hope you did see some positive things at the show..its where we stamp collectors go for enjoyment !

Barb, going to a stamp show, you realize there is a lot of material available, a lot of material for sale. And if that wasn't enough to convince you, look at number of items listed on BidStart or on ebay in the stamps category.

The truth is, most stamps only sell for a fraction of catalog value to begin with, so naturally, a lower fraction will be paid. To the dealer, stamps are an investment, and not only in money, but in time and energy, and advertising and promotion.

There will always be competition among dealers for the "better stuff" and the "hot items" whatever they might be, but for the rest, they can afford to be choosy, pick the plums, and bypass the rest or make what you consider to be ridiculously low offers.

Maybe if you took the time to try to sell your stamps on ebay, you might get a better appreciation of what's involved. If you were to sell them as a collection, that would be the easiest way to go and the surest way of selling everything. Piece by piece you would probably do far better, but that would be even more involved and you wouldn't necessarily sell everything.

As for the stuck down stamps, while they are not actually damaged, they can come very close to it since there is a good chance that some of them will be damaged in the process of removing them or might need to be soaked. A dealer would hardly view such a collection as a good opportunity, particularly a dealer who worked with individual stamps and was not in the business of turning over entire collections.




If you are looking for a dealer interested in helping you sell and for a very small percentage, check with dealers who run stamp auctions and/or mail sales and see if they will sell it for you. In your situation, it would seem like the best way to go if you don't want to take the time to sell the material yourself.

As LB1 says To a Dealer any stamp is an investment.

All Dealers use the same basic principals. Here are some of them.
Do I have the customers for this? (When was the last time someone was looking for these, and how often).
How fast can I sell it? (How many shows do I need to take this to)
How much of a profit can I make?. (Lower profit % on higher ticket items is OK).
Is it worth tying up the capital vs the return?
What is my cost to sell it? (Iding, loting, Advertising, etc.)

These are all sound basic business principals. I run a Business. If I can't sell an item before the note is due then I loose money. Once I pay for an item I am losing money. It ties up Capital that could be used pay for other things. I have a very specific profit margin I must maintain in order to be viable and sustain the business.

When I originally joined I only knew that I needed to get an idea of what I have; let a lot of what I didn't want go and an idea of what might be fair to expect for it. I had always intended to keep a core collection, and beyond that, didn't really expect that I'd want to add to it. Obviously, the bug is genetic. If I'm fortunate enough to continue to work, I'll anticipate adding to some BOB and ...

I do realize that buying and selling is a business... it was, after all, only my first show. And I was a bit put off by the flip, scan... nope, nothing there attitude is all. Wasn't expecting to "win the stamp lottery either". Guess in the end, it's about customer service, and shopping, (and selling) where one feels "right" and I haven't gotten there yet.