$475,000 Ebay Listing

Have to agree with TheArtfulHinger that collection will be closer to 5% of catalog and will need to be broken down by a stamp auction firm .
Canyoneer ----Yes it is a lot of time ,the only way that can be put together is a person who truly loves and uses their stamp collection as a way to relax.

This is not a lot for a collector, it's strictly a dealer lot. Any collector who can afford this probably has most of it already and almost certainly buys individual stamps or specialized small groups.

The thing that bothers me is pretty much everything has been hinged, even the modern issues. :(

I'm gone be very honest..... I want it but I can't afford it

REVCOLLECTOR-----You bring up a important point that I never thought about until your posting .
The point he brings up is that after a certain point in the life of a worldwide collector ,he has to decide if he/she continues to collect the world, there is three directions that can be taken . The first is to continue to fill blank spaces and purchase material that will help you fill spaces it a album . The second choice is step up and fill those high price stamps ,which takes you into a advance collector and having those blue-chip stamps every collector dreams about . The third path to follow is to study and have those specialized small groups that show your effort in studying the stamps and adding the research to your album pages .

I had request seller show photos of China stamps of 1878-1912,(most expensive of all)but not get any respond,i guess seller/consignor must pick out stamps of that era.

I don't think any collector or dealer will buy this..but I will try to offer $85. just making a chance.

valjean...why waste the sellers time??
He should block you immediately if so.

Actually, if the seller is smart he will have set an auto-decline for all offers below a certain amount, just to ward off the jokers.

Gotta get on this again.............
Does the seller really believe anyone would spend that kind of money for something seen only from a few pics? I suspect even an auction house would split it up into groupings to attract more interest/bidders.

Also, I would not be surprised if the real "cherries" in this collection have been removed........

No one would spend that kind of money on a collection he or she hasn't viewed in person. This ebay listing was a very "cheap" form of advertisement for this kind of collection. Whoever views the collection will be able to judge whether or not the collection has been cherry-picked, and bid - or not - accordingly.

Anyone with a spare $475K to spend on stamps - or even half or a quarter of that - also has enough to spare for airfare and a hotel to view the collection in person. If and when this finally sells, it will almost certainly be to someone who has actually gone and viewed it. It would be unfathomable to me that someone would buy it from a sampling of pictures.

Why use this venue to sell something of this magnitude ? What would the ebay fees equate to compared to an auction house ?

The ebay FVF on stamps is currently 6%, then add 2.9% PayPal = 8.9%, which is still likely to be lower than the seller's fee at a major auction.

(Although doesn't the price exceed the maximums for PayPal transactions?)

Mega sellers such as Noble Spirit have a different (lower) fee structure than mom and pop sellers.