How To Sell My Cover Collection

Hi all,
Usually I just whack my duplicates and odds and ends on eBay however I feel it's time to part with my cover collection.
Being in Australia these will not move well at all and won't receive a lot of attention at the auctions, and eBay will be a long and labourious task.
What would be the best way?
I figure here would be the best place to start but it would take hundreds of scans!
Do dealers travel?
Cheers

I just inherited a ton of covers worth a lot of money and a reputable Canadian dealer drove 4 hours to come pick it up and give an estimated sale figure. So if you you've got good stuff, they will come to you.

One by one will be time-consuming and laborious, so why not sell in large groups by decades or topics or country or whatever way you collect?

Great idea Drew!

Whatever you decide to do, please keep us posted!

i will do Orstampman, I'd actually want to sell them here so they would go to collectors and people who would appreciate them.
I will start scanning them soon
First chance here, then off to eBay!

Yes, dealers will drive to you to see your collection, and sometimes they will pay for you to ship your collection to them, HOWEVER, this only happens when you have a collection that is worth their while. They want the kind of covers that get featured in major catalog auctions, or complete collections of very rare and well worked up material. If you have cartons of first day covers or general world-wide commercial mail or such they will not likely be interested as it costs them a fair amount of money to travel to your house and back, and they need to make a substantial profit to keep their business going and make profits and such.

What kind of covers do you have? Classic USA? Pairs/Multiples? If so, please let me know (email here or post pictures to general board).

Laurie, we have similar desires. I started collecting stamps in the mid 1950s and due to work and family issues, stopped doing so about 1999, when the entire collection was put into storage. However, I was subscribed to a US FDC distribution for about 10 years after that, while I was overseas for a decade. When I came back, stacks of First Day Covers and three or four albums. Honestly, I do not really want them and need to sell them. Looking for suggestions or contacts for people who collect or deal in FDC in the USA. Mike

jamesg raises a very important point. What sort of covers are we talking about?

We'll, mine cover from 1850's to 1960's quite a few 10 and 11's, 24,25 and 26, 63's, 1x64 several 65's then the bank notes!
Hundreds of Crosby covers
Several wells fargos, Inc the Columbian edition, clipper first flight covers, the list goes on!

If I had to pick an Australian auction house to sell that sort of material I'd go with Abacus.

Strictly my opinion of course.

That's a great idea, thanks bobby

Happy to help where I can

Give Gary Watson a call and take it from there. My only advice would be to quote year/SG number rather than Scott. That said, Gary might be fully conversant with Scott numbers for USA, I don't know.

I'd expect Abacus to have a very good international reach too.

"We'll, mine cover from 1850's to 1960's quite a few 10 and 11's, 24,25 and 26, 63's, 1x64 several 65's then the bank notes!
Hundreds of Crosby covers
Several wells fargos, Inc the Columbian edition, clipper first flight covers, the list goes on!"

It really depends on the details and condition and whether there are special aspects etc. This sort of material can range drastically in values. For example, the clipper first flights, if they are the usual transpacific clipper first flights in really nice condition but not autographed by the pilots or having some other really unusual feature tend to retail in the $3 to $5 range for most of them. They are quite common since so many were flown. On the other hand, if you have a very rare experimental flight or such some of these can go in the hundreds of dollars. It is like most everything in stamps and covers, there is a huge range of values depending on condition and rarity and desirabilty. Talking to a well respected dealer there in Oz is the best suggestion as they can tell you about actual values, and of course you would want to know what they would pay which would be a fraction of catalogue values since they must make a profit to stay in business and but a house and send their kids to school just like everyone elese.

Also, Wells Fargo covers are not especially rare as there was so much mail sent by this service over many years. What makes something more valuable are rare locations from which a letter was sent combined with clarity of the cancel. So many Wells Fargo cancellations are lightly inked, not evenly applied and not very legible. One needs a nice dark crisp easy to read cancellation for a fuller value.