Collecting The World

I use StampManage software to track my collection so I have an accurate count of my mounted collection. The main exception are the Machins since StampManage follows Scott and does not list all the varieties. Machins are tracked in a spreadsheet.

Using some method to track is a must for me to keep from purchasing duplicates. I also have a scan of every page in the collection.

I would second the recommendation to complete "A Stamp for Every Country" album, which is available online from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. I printed it out on acid-free paper and look forward to completing it. I think it takes around 800 stamps to complete. It has certainly satisfied my itch for a worldwide collection while I focus on a few specialized areas otherwise.

Just a side note here ...........This past weekend at Kelleher Stamp Auctions they sold two massive Worldwide collections
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One had better stamps and had a average catalog of about $1.25 per stamp . It was in 31 volumes of Scott Internationals . It sold for $18,000 so with the 20% fee ,they paid $21,600.00 for the collection .

The second collection was over 100,000 stamps in 39 volumes , this lot sold for $11,500 ,so the buyer paid $13,800 .


Both lots seem high to me ,but I like the fact that huge worldwide collections are getting much stronger prices

In Rasdale's February auction they had 120 volume Scott International, described as "One of the few behemoths still in existence" I think that is about a whole room full of albums. That one only went for $8000 though (also lacking count of stamps)

Do these massive WW collections tend to actually be lifetime project of an individual collector? Also wondering who buys these, and what they do with them.

Tsmatx -----At $ 67.00 per volume it had to have very few stamps .....that is less than the cost of each book .

Yes it is a life time project ,had mine for 55 years .

A collector would buy it and spend many years filling them up and then turn around and get 10X for the same albums with maybe $600,000 catalog of stamps ......fiqure a collector would set a goal of buying country collections between $200.00 to $500.00 per country ......what doesn't work for filling those albums is mixtures or box lots .

And what they do with them ? The joy and entertainment thru many years is building those collections .

I don't know the completeness of that collection, but I can imagine a collector who wants to take the 'next step' with his collection and buying this lot. And then adding to it, as needed. At $67 per volume, it is a relatively cheap way to get what I can only imagine is a fairly comprehensive set of albums. Plus, if it is like so many other collections, this one is chock-full of cheap stamps already mounted. It would take quite a commitment, though. 120 volumes would almost (almost???) require its own room.

Or.... it could be of interest to eBay 'country' sellers. Depending on what's on the pages, I would bet there's a lot of breaking down and profit-making to be had.

Show me a skinny stockbook full of top-notch goodies any day over the oversized multi-volume album porn. In stamp collecting as in other things physical size does not always matter.

Each to their own ...........The hobby is big enough to welcome every type of collector .

hear! hear!

here's the Kelleher one. https://stampauctionnetwork.com/V/v771157.cfm It's always fun to see them flip though these.

Lot 156 for the 120 volume SI collection with Stiener augmentation. Pity no stamp count!
https://www.rasdalestamps.com/aucti...20&pagenum=1

I bought Lot 155 in the Rasdale auction, only 38 volumes. I was amazed when it arrived. This collection was 85-90% full from the beginning to 1982 and I estimated 200K stamps. After 1960 there are many stamps in black mounts and every one is MNH. This was one of the best bargains I ever bought.

Nice purchase ,it could only be purchased by someone who was going to take it apart and sell it in sections . Would of like to flip thru it and just view it but then again I would of spend many hours with it .

KRelyea - when I wrote my response, I had you in mind. It is nice to see that you got 'the other one', though. When I took the time to look at the photos of the few HUGE WW collection lots, I must admit that I found myself most attracted to the 38 volume collection more than the others. Nice buy!! When can we expect to see the country lots to hit eBay?

I went through the 200+ pictures of the 120 volume collection and was really not that impressed. Sure, the mass was there, but the quality didn't go as high up the scale as the mass did. I realize that by showing 200-ish photos that a TON was not photo'ed, so who knows what was there that wasn't photo'ed. It seems that a bunch of the photos were simply there to show the extensiveness of the # of countries represented - some of the photos had no stamps of any value whatsoever.

The 38 volume collection is easy enough to find on the bay...up to the F's now. Actually the listings are really enjoyable to browse as the collection is very impressive and very nice scans. Looks like healthy profit for the enterprising individual making it happen. Would love to see full report when all is said and done!

Question-what does it mean for collector to cross out the space? I see that a lot in this collection and have seen it in others also.

P.S. does anybody know what WW country letter A-Z is most valuable? I calculated based off Big Blue 1840-1940 break up value (from the Big Blue blog) and I get G, S, C, M, I. I would guess for more modern material, C would move up because of China.

Yes I am selling 10-12 items from the collection each week with "from 38 Vol Scott Intern Collection" in the title. So far I have sold 207 items thru Faroe Islands. At this point I've gotten my purchase price + commission back so I am looking at a very healthy profit. This collection doesn't have a lot of big ticket items but it has a lot of stamps and some countries yield 10-12 individual sales when most times I get 2 or 3 from the same country.

I find it amazing the disparity in value that different collections yield at public auction. This collection was much better than the description indicated and the owner should have realized more. On the other hand Lot 1881 in the Kelleher auction sold for $18,000 I think this was an excellent result for the owner. I watched the videos and all that was shown was the 1840-1940 portion and the coverage was way too sparse for me to be interested even at the $8000 opening price. 100,000 stamps sounds like a lot but when you spread them over 31 albums it's only 3000 stamps/album which is far from loaded.

IMO auction descriptions for collections leave a lot to be desired. Kelleher seems to do a pretty good job but DCA has some terrible descriptions. I bought a collection described as "a worldwide collection in 48 Scott Specialty albums".
When it arrived I found no Specialty albums only Scott Internationals. Is it possible their describer doesn't know the difference? Luckily for me collections are under described nearly as often as they are over described. If I was going to consign a large collection I would write my own description.