Inherited Collection

Hello, I am new to all of this as I have inherited well over 20,000 stamps from around the world. The majority are from Germany from the mid 1900's. I have both unused collections and used stamps. I don't know where to start as far as organizing them to find if I have anything of value. Thank you for your help

Hello

You will be receiving information from very kind and patient members of this board.

Go to your local library and look in the Scott catalogue.

Hi Amanda, Welcome.
You have a big job on your hands trying to decide if you are interested in stamp collecting or just want to sell them. A local stamp club could help both ways.You will need to get books and catalogs from the library or buy them, then pick out a stack and start looking them up.
They can be separated from unused to used. Since there is value in used stamps and unused. You can also scan pics of your stamps and upload them to the post. Its in the tutorial section on the left pane middle. I'm only kind and patient because I have 14 grand-kids. Respectfully,Gary

Hi Amanda, lorddenning is retiring from appraisals ;)

It's pretty hard to know what you've got just from your description. It is doubtful anyone here will be able to help you much. Do you actually want to spend time organizing and collecting yourself? Or is it a matter of just selling them?

If you like to spend time with them, you could invest in a specialized Germany stamp catalogue, or see if you can track down a world stamp catalogu ie. Scott or Stanley Gibbons at your local library and use that as a reference. But that will be time consuming. If you just want to sell, bring it in to a dealer. They will normally take a quick look and give you an appraisal, but you can also pay them to make a more painstaking appraisal that involves identifying higher value items etc.

If you take your collection to a dealer, make sure they are reputable and always get multiple appraisals before trying to sell.

Hi Amanda, welcome. 20,000 stamps, majority Germany of the modern era (post 1940?? {1950's on?}) My first instinct tells me to make some time each week, separating the pre-1940 from the post-1940. (20,000 stamps??) Are these loose or in albums, or stock pages??? separate mint from used. get some basic supplies, (glassine envelopes would help) a clear work space. Take what appears to be the oldest to the library and hopefully they have a Volume 3 of a recent Scott's Catalog and start looking for your assortment. (time consuming, 20,000 stamps???). You will begin to see the value of your collection, gather some information on specific issues, garner an initiative to seek more, and (after you have reviewed the brought assortment)linger a little longer to glance through the catalog for other issues that you saw in the separating exercise. I had an un-cataloged US collection, amassed over 40+ years which filled many hours (after work-weekends). It was an enjoyable task that continues today. Previous posters (and future will) offer good advice. Take some time, there may be something worthwhile.

The stamp catalogue is very useful in helping identify stamps but not a good way to figure out what they are REALLY worth. It may sound hard to believe but catalogue prices are not the same as real prices that you can expect to sell or buy them for. It is not out-of the ordinary to buy stamps at 5% or less than catalogue value.

Since the minimum value assigned to all stamps in the Scott Catalogue is 25 cents, then 20,000 stamps would have a catalogue value of $5,000. That's just a make-believe value. The reason for the fiction is too complicated to get into here.

Just a warning not to get excited about those catalogue values.

If you have stamps that catalogue for $10 or more then maybe they might have some real value.

This is not a hard and fast rule. There are exceptions- again too complicated discuss.

"Since the minimum value assigned to all stamps in the Scott Catalogue is 25 cents, then 20,000 stamps would have a catalogue value of $5,000. That's just a make-believe value. The reason for the fiction is too complicated to get into here."

Agreed, if it's less than $10 it's basically something to be included in a bulk lot.

One thing which never gets mentioned here is the location
of the seller.
Like "Amanda" lists no country in her profile.
Probably she is American or Canadian or maybe from the UK
or even Australia.

She wants to sell German stamps.

Well German stamps sell better in Germany, Austrian better in
Austria, Canadian better in Canada.
You get the point.

She says Germany mid 1990s. on.
Not much value there.

A decade earlier and if lets say the West Berlin Famous Women's
definitives used then she might have something.

That's the gist of the whole matter.

How do you explain anything to someone who has no idea at all about
stamps except you stick them on letters.

The average person thinks that in a stamp collection
there might/must/should be/could be some cash involved.

When they find out that their relatives' childhood collections
is basically worthless they don't believe it and go
go to another forum and another etc etc.

Some get mad or upset and think they know better than
the the people who have collected for fifty or sixty years.

I remember a guy here a few months ago who picked up some
US line pair in a garage sale and insisted it was worth something like $40,000.
With his vast knowledge, having learned all there is to know
about stamp values (Oh yes, he got a catalog)he was an expert
and figured by separating the pair he might double his money.

When people here tried to educate him he left in a huff
and deleted all his posts.

o_o Seriously? The guy was so uptight about it he couldn't handle being wrong on the matter?

Our current generation of collectors (the legitimate ones) are extremely well-versed in the details of this hobby as information relating to the particular stamps collected has never been easier to find and access. I used to try the more expensive hobbies for valuable collecting purposes but found that my collections grew too slowly (if at all) due to limited resources and that it wasn't particularly enjoyable. I still have my baseball cards (BORING, hate sports) and coin collections laying packed up somewhere, but I only add to them when I stumble across something unexpected.

But stamps give me the opportunity to expand my collection with ease and at minimum cost. And with the Harris 300 count misc. world bags, I'm at bag number 3 and have found a significant amount of unique and WW1/WW2 era stamps. Whatever I decide not to keep will be sold in bulk or traded eventually. I have found nothing as relaxing as simply zoning out while soaking my stamps and preparing them for archiving. To me that is priceless.