Amazing Collection,60 Years In The Making, Need Help !!

Hey guys !
First of all,I am new to this forum and I need your expert help.
I am a sports cards collector and never really was in the stamp hobby.
Yesterday,I was doing garage sale and near me I heard some old guys talking each other about stamps.To make a long story short,one of them (The one who was doing the sale) feel it was time for him to end his journey with his lifetime passion/hobby.His collection was not include in the garage sale and was just showing it to his Buddy but later on asked me if I was a collector and if I was interested in it.We talk for half an hour about stamps and is collection (he was working on his collection for the last 60 years)and even if I know almost nothing about stamps I finally decided to buy it from him ( I own lots of collections from different hobby ).It's an IMPRESSIVE collection in awesome condition.I took some picture of it.It's about 1/20 of all the collection,I have two big binders around 100 pages full of stamps in sheets or block.There is some really old stamps and the majority of the collection is from mid 1900'
What I would like to know from you is what you think about this collection.Is it really an impressive one ? is that a big value collection ? Any info about it or any info I should know would be appreciated.The guy told me the last time he looked at the value of his collection was with Scott 1987 (stamps priceguide I guess ? )and was around 5800$ but that was NOT including the really old stamps.
So here are the pictures I took and if you have any info for me please LMK.
Thanks alot guys !

P.S also bought his USA stamps collection which is almost as big as this one but there is less older stamps only a page or 2 from 1910/1920's

WOW...you dont have to answer, but did you pay $5800.00...??

I saw it's brother collection on ebay http://www.ebay.com/itm/HUGE-COLLEC...em5b00baee07

I do not know about the collection you posted here (WW not my thing)but the other one (see link posted above-usa collection) looks to be many common blocks. I would not pay the $3,999.99 price asking and don't think the 1987 appraisal would come to $5,800.00 either.

I would offer $200.00 just to see what was there but I have all that material and blocks and since the seller wants in the thousands the $200.00 offer no doubt would be shot down in a blink of an eye so kinda moot.

I do like the binder pages, they seem nice and solid protection for the stamps, neat, see through, uniform- very good looking.

It amazes me how these collections have a high price yet they still charge for the shipping. It seems needy to me, give the guys a break they just spent 4k on your goods lol.

Some blocks are $1.00 value and others as little as $0.40 I do not see the value here and there are no big ticket items here to come close to any bid of $1-3k. Go to the library look in the reference section scott stamp catalog. It is the 2013 addition and has a lighthouse on it. Look up those stamps it is easy either look in the alphabetical index at the back or look by price on stamp ie 5c, 4c, you will see what I mean and as a sport card dealer maybe familiar to you with catalogs and whatnot.

Here's a lesson I learned the hard way many years ago. Be very careful buying anything that you don't know a lot about. Catalog value and what things actually sell for can be very different things. I'm afraid a lot of US and Canada material from the last 60 years will not even sell for their face value. It is very common. This is a nice collection, but I don't see anything rare. I have bought many collections. A dealer would probably figure the face value of the mint stamps and pay 50% of that for everything including the used stamps without adding anything in for the used stamps. That is only if the dealer has a market for mint Canadian stamps. If not he would offer less or pass on the lot. I know a dealer that would guess on how many used there are and figure a penny each unless he sees something of value. Many dealers would pass on the lot. The used is pretty common material that does not have a lot of profit in it for them and they will have to box lot it out to make any money.

Haha no I didnt pay 5800 for it lol.
Larry Bruce-yes pages are really nice and his collection is all mint...except the really old stamps.Since I didnt know anything I just put a price for the USA collection.Look like its far from that ahah !
Pjsstamps- your probably right but I took a chance and Im still very happy with the deal I got.Will probably end up selling it to somebody since I am not a stamps collector.
Thanks for your info guys !

Sorry to tell you, but From here it looks like you bought some expensive postage.

What do you mean ?

It looks like a lovingly put together and nicely displayed collection but there is not a ton of monetary value.

I've dealt with family members of deceased collectors that can't believe how little a collection is worth. Because all the time and care a loved one had put into it. I try to tell them, the value was in the joy it brought the person.

With this collection I would be attracted to the display books and pages.

How much I should be looking for this collection ?

Buyer beware and never buy anything that one doesn't know much about because one can end up paying too much for it.

try 250$ to start.

Ok thanks for your info guys !

The comment about "expensive postage" is probably quite accurate. As a rule, most stamps from US and canada printed after WWII don't have a lot a value. It may be hard to fathom, but even mint US stamps that are 70 years old are barely worth their face value.

As for catalogue value - if the seller quoted 1987 catalogue prices, he either stopped collecting a long time ago, or is a hustler. There have been a couple of big bubbles that have burst in philately, and many of the more common stamps actually catalogue less now, than they did in 1987.

If you want to calculate the auction value of this collection, start by calculating the total face value of all the mint US and Canada stamps after WWII, then divide by 2. Full retail for said items will not exceed the face value. The used stamps after WWII are basically penny stamps, and anything from earlier will need further examination to determine value.

Good luck!

I have helped someone last year with a similar collection and I took the approach that Rileysan above mentions:

1. Make a pile of all mint (unused) stamps from after WWII--add them up and pay 50% of that. You will have a profit of 50% but necessary because it takes a lot of time to sell retail for this volume. (or just use the US Stamps as postage).
2. Make a pile of all used stamps after WWII and value them at like 1cent each.
3. Make a pile of the prior to WWII stamps, and evaluate those by going to library and use Scott. If it was me, I would pay 25% of Catalog value not more. Its a lot of work to sell and realize the value even then.

If it were me I would pay 10% of catalog value or less.

You said that this is only 1/20th of the collection. Is that true? If so (and assuming the rest is newer unused stamps), the only way to get a value is to count up the face value total first (as recommended).

For just what is shown, $300 is too much.

Some of the older stamps look unused and may have value depending on condition. That is where research is required (also mentioned). Most buyers (the wise ones anyway) will assume the worst, unless shown otherwise.