Newbie Here, Had Some Questions....

Hello, Im new to the forum/stamp collecting altogether.imbI recently inherited a collection of stamps, some US, but majority foreign from roughly the 1850's-1950's
I also inherited alot of foreign coins /US coins. All circulated stuff aside from some various proof sets.

Id like to figure out if theres value in what I have. If there is I am looking to sell it to help my mother financially.

Ive been working hard to search completed ebay listings, I am going to order a scotts catalog also.

Would it be best to sell them grouped by the various countries / series of stamps?
Or include the various years of a particular country altogether. Most have overprint, some dont though.

I am not thinking theres huge money there but if I can sell all I inherited itd help her out significantly. I have some other heirlooms that I will be keeping that have more sentintal value.

Estimating a value is really difficult without going through the stamps to see if there any of significant value. Most stamps after 1938 don't carry much value (used or unused) unless there an error in the printing. Stamps made before that are spotty in values as it depends on perforations, condition, and general overall appearance. Your public library should have a Scott catalog which will give values. Their valuations are based on retail prices for very fine to extra fine examples. Prices now generally are less than half of book price to even much lower. If you don't have a perforation gauge or watermark detector then you're ability to know which stamp to look for in the book will make your efforts not very fruitful. If you put them up on ebay you won't know which stamps to highlight and it is doubtful the bids will be very high. You might try a local stamp shop (if you have one) and find out what they will pay. I've found in my area (Houston) they offer about 10% of book price. If you want to post some pictures we always like to look and maybe offer other thoughts on how you can sell them.

Heres just a few miscellaneous stamps

Sorry for the doublepost.didnt think the 1st one went through

To cancel one, select the trash can icon; the last one on the right. Only the originator can cancel.

Most of what you have shone are early 20th century. I really like the Japanese stamps which include some revenue and postal stamps with revenue cancels. Those are a specialty thing but they sure made some beautiful stamps. The french were 19th century but fairly common. The 40 cent was off center. You can see the perf biting into the 40 cents. Overall they are nice looking. How many does she have?

Im guessing there has to be 500-700 foreign stamps

Unfortunately, most of the stamps appear to be very common values, even though some are old. "Very common" would equate to having minimal value. Also, a number of them are damaged; with tears, pieces torn out, corners missing; etc. None would have any value other than being a "space-filler" in an album until the collector gets something better. As an example, in the scan immediately above, with the bottom four rows of Romania stamps, I see at least 6 stamps that are damaged.

If by chance you have some items of greater value, then a damaged stamp may be worth a few pennies. I did not review the Russian or Japanese stamps. On the page between the Hungarian stamps (Magyar Posta or overprint of "Koztarsasag"). I see Tannu Touva #19, from 1927 & inscribed "Touva." That stamp has a retail catalog value of $.65 in the 2012 Scott Classic catalog.

I'd recommend that you consider 1847bill's advice and visit a library to review the Scott catalogs, if they have a set. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

The Chinese/Japanese stamps you may have some luck with. They seem to be a "hot commodity" these days for whatever reason?

No problem guys. Appreciate the honesty. I will do my best to just sell them for what I can .maybe ill have better luck with the coints. Nothing scarce, but I searched closed auctions and the value totaled over $500

Now with coins would I do better doing individual listings?
Or small groups of coins by country?

Thanks again, I've had such a full plate. Been working on moving the stamps, coins, and also a number of other antiques like old late 1800's/early 1900's oak desks and book cases. So its been a big learning process to learn info/values of what I have.

Hi draggin, I don't know much about Coin collecting but I believe it would follow the same principle as stamps.

If you are willing to put in the extra effort in to researching the coins you will probably get more if you list individually or in small groups depending on the coins. Then again you also have to account for listing fees, time spent in researching the item, responding to queries, etc.

If it turns out that you have some valuable stuff in there I would sell the valuable pieces separately and the general stuff as a whole.

For the stamps I would suggest selling always using the 'country' name and saying 'lot' or 'mixture' or for better items saying 'selection' also.

Sometimezss using the word 'old' or 'nice' or 'collection' will get you more lookers.

If you know the name of the stamp series then say that also, like the castles of Czechslovakia or the France Ceres or Napoleon stamps you have shown.

Look also on ww.delcampe.net' for foreign words to use or to use another marketplace. if you care to.

Selling individual stamps by their theme or topic, like dragon or castle or bird or the king's name or such-like also helps when selling to topical or thematic collectors.

Always soy Cancel or Postmark if the postmark is showing very clearly and nicely on the stamp. Using the city or town name also helps sometimes.