Advice Please (Identification + General Selling Advise)

Hello Everyone,

I wonder if someone could help me with two things:

1- identify the two stamps in the attached images below.

2- My friend whom I haven't seen for a very-very-very long time needs to sell the collection he has acquired over 40 years. He paid thousands of dollars for his hobby, but is now in need for money. Thus, I wonder where would be the ideal place to sell!

He has around 10,000 stamps in his collection. As I have no idea about stamps, he informed me that some are worth a penny, but others are very valuable. Of course, it might be the opposite as he was collecting them for their aesthetic values and not as a sort of investment.

Do you think that I should go for a serious auction house such as the top ones who charge considerable amounts in commission? Kindly note that I don't really consider ebay as an option, because I think it suits experienced people only, and he doesn't plan to sell them separately due to the very considerable time it might take.

One last thing: I am a realistic person, and informed him that although he paid a fortune for his collection, he mightn't be able to recover, not even what he paid, but it could be the case also, that there is couple of gems inside.

Any advise is highly appreciated.





Thanks a lot in advance
liiamra

The first is a revenue stamp from India, the second is a revenue stamp from Japan. Neither would be worth more than a few cents, I'm afraid.

Many thanks #tonymacg. Your help is really appreciated. The first question is now solved; I hope that someone can assist with the second one.

Thanks a lot,
liiamra

LIIAMRA -----what is a serious auction house ?

Your good friend appears to want it all which is likely impossible. Remember that you're dealing with someone who is going to be reselling to some pretty savvy buyers, namely us. Using the value of $100.00 as an example he is going to try and buy this for $10.00 and turn around and resell it for $25.00 which is a good price off of the Scott price. He may sell it to one of us for 15.00 still getting 50% return on his money. And remember he is going to be dealing with perfectionists who have limited funds. If he goes the ebay route which perhaps you could be of assistance, he could eliminate the middle man and maybe sell it for $25.00 recovering 1/4 of his money. Selling off the 100 most valuable would help his financial situation.
Tom

My advice would be to get see what a local stamp dealer will offer for them. That will give you a baseline to get started.

and offer to pay the local stamp dealer for his time since you plan on buying nothing.
Tom

I also agree with the idea of getting a starting number from a local dealer.

In the meantime, if your friend believes some are valuable, have him forward images of the four or five that he feels have the best chance to get some money, and post them here.

There will likely be a few people who will be willing to give you an idea of what your friend has and how to proceed.

ebay will be fast, and if there are a couple nicer pieces that you can pick out and sell alone, your friend might actually do okay. If those go well, you can try some more. At any point in time, he can decide to dump the rest at once.

It seems that you have a handle on the reality that there is no substitute for time and experience when it comes to stamps. There is no easy way to maximize your friend's return in a short time.

Dear everyone,

Thank you so much for the assistance, it is indeed very helpful.

#floortrader: I meant one of the famous auction houses such as Christie's; this in case the collection would pass through their process(s), if any.

#sdtom: Very helpful, your reply is to the point; thank you. I appreciate your second comment also.

#smauggie: Thank you, but kindly note that in the country he lives in, there is no local dealer.

#Cjd: Thanks a lot. Very good point; I will ask him to show me the ones that he believes are most valuable. Once the images are available, I will post them here.

Thanks again guys, your help is much appreciated.