I Inherited My Uncle's Huge Collection Of Stamps, Thought You Might Enjoy Seeing Some Of It

I have sold through Harmers of Tustin. They required a $5000 minimum. However, I do see that now they have delisted the minimum and may take this bulk lot consignment.

This is Rasdale material. I do not know their minimum but I would think they would work out fine.

Kelleher amazingly has a very low minimum of $2000. They will provide free shipping and insurance.

Another possibility with no minimum problem is Michael Aldrich of Carefree Az.

I have consigned to all of these auction venues and many others.

Barb
Speaking of health, take care of yours as stamps are just stamps and I am certain you will find an answer to your question: what am I going to do with all of this ?

Rene (Canada)

Thank you everyone, I am still having fun with these. Researching terms, learning so much! My uncle had a very bad habit (from the depression I think) of hiding his most valuable things in weird places. When we started to clean out the house, there was thousands of dollars hidden in bags of junk mail in the garage, all over the place. The garage BTW was stuffed from to back, top to bottom with boxes. It was an unbelievable mess that we HAD to go through because of his behavior of hiding things. We found stocks and bonds, it was a fortune.

I am finding rare coins mixed in with the stamps, stamps in the coin collection, jewelry in boxes of papers, it's a job for an army. We also knew he hid his most valuable stamps. Knowing my uncle, he placed them carefully hidden in all these packets of things. He told me I had to really look, as he made sure his 'treasures' were not stolen.

One of his friends was also an avid collector and he had come to the house to ask about the collection. Gee, big surprise, right? He wanted to know who got the collection. He said he knew Jimmy had stamps that were worth a fortune as he himself had seen them. Where the heck are they now? Part of me wonders if that person went through his collection when Jimmy was in hospice, as we had yet to find it. Stamps are missing, did the friend take them or are they hidden in this hoard?

I have found boxes of old letters, at the bottoms are rare jewelry, some of worth a frigging fortune. Still waiting for an appraisal on a piece that might blow me away. He had lighters from the 1800's, watches, so much jewelry, and again, as I go through that I find the high end pieces hidden in boxes of old handkerchiefs and buttons, things like that. I shudder to think what got thrown away as various family members were going through a lifetime of stuff. Near the end, people were just grabbing handfuls and barely looking. It went in the garbage :(

I think I could make a TV show game called, "Find It Now!" with all this :) Fun but so frustrating at the same time, Jimmy, where did you hide what you know I am looking for??

It will be interesting to see if the few stamps I through up on ebay do anything since I know nothing about their values. Maybe that will help me start to narrow down what I should be looking for. Feedback from any buyers will help too as they tell me what they think (I offered full refunds if they are not what they want) about the stamps and I put them at free shipping, and $3 International anywhere. I hope that helps me get an idea too, but having to wait a week for the auctions to end is a long time for me right now :)

They probably won't do well as I scanned them in their sleeves and didn't show the backs. It's just too time consuming for me with this old computer equipment, when my financial situation improves I will be getting a new computer that will work with my excellent digital camera that I used to photograph live tropical fish. It takes photos like this.

And I picked a crumby pic, as I can't see them off this awful computer, argh! Anyway, I was famous in the rare tropical fish World, and my fish are still talked about, even though I closed down the business in 2010. My photographs were in magazines and are still all over the computer. Funny.

Barbara,
Nice Angels, my wife and I owned a wholesale pet supply company (1979-1990) and we also sold freshwater fish.





We have a number of 'fun' tanks at home including a 135 gallon tank that I installed in the living room wall. It has had all kinds of nice fish in it over the decades; discus, nice African cichlids, etc. (obviously not at the same time).
Don

Hi Don,

I have found many stamp collectors were/are also tropical fish enthusiasts. I started in fish at age 8, was the first teenager ever to be on the board of directors for the San Diego Tropical Fish Society. Fresh water addict, bred everything, and was one of the few people in the World to have a breeding colony of Zebra Plecos that were wild stock, I had F1's and then their kids which I crossed with F1's from another person I found who had some babies.
I was known all over the World for my fish and still get emails about them today. The Zebra's I donated to the San Diego Tropical Fish Society when I was dying the first time about 4 years ago. They had already taken me out of the house, told them to come get it all and do their best. They lost a lot, but I hear they are still in existence. Broke my heart to let them go, it was a 15 year labor of love, I never sold a single one, and I was hounded by collectors all over the World for "Woodle" Zebra Plecos.
Love your set up! I had 40 large tanks, and outside 6 huge ponds that I bred the rarest of the rare. That Angel line I developed, they fought over them when they went up for auction. I miss them all so much, but life threw me into a health mess and I could no longer do them all justice so they went to private collectors, mostly for free.
Maybe someday I will be able to do all the things I loved. Finger crossed.
Barbara

As you and your uncle had this bond, he has possibly hidden things where you will think to look them. Ever talk "treasure" with your uncle? Something specific he wanted you to notice?

Alas, no one ever figured out my Uncle's hiding methods, not sure he knew them all. That was clear when we cleaned out his house. He was also an avid gardener and developed many varieties of rare orchids that are named after him. He had a green house in the backyard that was full of rare and impossible to grow orchids, he even had 2 grave stones of his mother and father from the 1800's in his yard. The cemetery was going to change them or something so he took them home.

Now that I look back, I bet he buried all sorts of stuff in his yard too. Shame, as no one thought of that, should have taken a metal detector to the yard.

If I had a clue where I thought he hid the stamps, I would be looking. If they are still here, I have a mountain to go through. I will be contacting a couple auction houses tomorrow and get this appraised, it's beyond anything I have ever seen. For all I know, he kept all his best stamps out of the albums. He was wicked smart and always joking around, he loved to keep you guessing and he is still doing a great job of it!

I'll keep you all updated as I go down this road :) Right now I am going through the jewelry, this is what Paul Royka from Antiques Roadshow wants me to concentrate on. The jewelry, as there are so many named pieces and lot's are real stones and all vintage and antique. He said my best bet would be the jewelry collection. Again, most of it I will end up getting appraised. Paul told me to list as much as I can figure out, and if it's big enough, they may send someone out to look at it or I send it to them.

Exciting and sad all at the same time.

His parents head stones? I'd have to dig!

Too late for digging, he died many years ago, his nephew actually took the headstones, and the house was sold.

I need a time machine!

Need some help. I set up an ebay page to let people see how nice my uncle's stamps are. $5 starting bid for most, free shipping, 100& satisfaction guarantee, returns accepted. No one is bidding. I know my pictures aren't the best but I do not have the equipment to do better.

Not trying to sell now, they want me to relist them but I am doing something wrong. I know my pictures are not perfect, it's the best I can do and I happily offered to take further photos, no one asked. These are perfect stamps with original gum, been stored properly, colors like the day they were issued.

I think I give up on ebay and will be talking to local auction houses, etc, it's just too big for me to deal with. But I am dying to know why someone would not bid on this for $5?

Thank you so much.

Excuse it came in upside down, it wasn't on ebay. Here is another block I put up for $5.

Also $5. I do not know why they are coming in upside down, they are correct on my lap top and when I put them on ebay, thanks!

You should look for 'comps'...

Go to ebay search, enter the catalog numbers for the stamps you are trying to sell.
About half way down the page on the left side there is a check box marked 'Sold Listings', select this.

Review what other people have actually sold similar items for, this will give you a good idea what to start your auctions at.

(The images you show above were started too high and that is why you got no bids. Try starting them at $1.00 or so.)
Don

Thank you for replying. I would lose money starting them for $1 with free shipping, postage, and packing them properly so they do not get bent. I did check the comparable listings and brought them all down to practically give away prices, I guess on stamps it is really give away. I get that on the bulk of stamps, but these are fine specimens.

Thank you so much. I would rather use them as postage if they are worth so little. This entire thing has become incredibly depressing for me, going through my uncle's life and memories.

Rather they go to a charity or something that can use them, I no longer know. I have a 52 POUND bucket of old coins sitting here too, along with all the rest of his coin collection. I'm in over my head and it is surprising how little people will help. They want to help themselves to it all, had lot's of offers from people 'willing' to come here and see what I have. I know what they want, to get the rare stamps. It was the same when I was a child at stamp clubs. Interestingly, it was mostly older men in the clubs, few kids, few women.

These guys would look at my albums and try to get my good stamps for pennies. My Dad would jump on them and make them back off, he knew. It doesn't seem to be any different today, is that a collector thing? Trying to rip off a little girl for stamps? It wasn't long before he stopped taking me, he didn't like the creepy way they tried to guilt me out of them, pressure me, I was 8 years old! Kind of sad. I thank you all for your help and kind words, I guess I will either put this all away for now or take it to a couple auction houses. Probably put it all away.

It doesn't help that I am alone for Thanksgiving, ill, and incredibly lonely. Probably not the best thing to be going through my loved ones treasures when I am getting so down. Sorry if I have unintentionally made anyone angry with my questions or comments, it seemed like a good place for help.

Thank you everyone.