Finding Honest Dealer/Auction House

After reviewing my inherited collection, I have come to believe there is a fair bit of value to this collection. Maybe not enough to retire on.

I have no idea what I am doing and I am afraid I will get offers that that are low and will exploit this. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

I would prefer to sell the collection outright but for "protection" do I need to go the auction route?

If you don't want to keep the collection, an auction house would usually be the best bet.

I mentioned in another thread Kelleher. Siegel is another one. If you go to http://stamps.org you will find on their homepage under the heading "stamp collecting" a tab for "local clubs". Click on it and you will be able to find a stamp club in your general area. When you contact these folks ask them for a local dealer they trust or maybe they can refer you to a trusted auction house in your area.

Peter

In your position, I think that I would invest another 47 posts finding out what I had. What litttle I've seen was interesting. The people here are very knowagble and honest.

I will be happy to post more pictures and would welcome any thoughts on this collection. I did not understand what you meant by "47 posts"

If you aren't in a big hurry, I'd wait till late April and take it to San Francisco for the Westpex stamp show - that way you can talk to multiple dealers and decide who you want to deal with (may depend on the size of the collection, etc.). Get a dealer list and perhaps contact some dealers beforehand to let them know if you're bringing it in. Alternatively, check the APS or ASDA dealer listings in California; perhaps there's someone nearby who can further advise you.

Definitely some value in this collection but also a lot of the high value material has condition issues, which suggests that this will be an issue throughout and have a significant impact on overall value.

Very nice. Thank you for sharing. As already mentioned due to some condition/centering issues this collection would seem to lend itself towards being broken down into appropriate groups by area and single countries and sold at auction. It would probably do quite well in sum total.

You should also consider scanning them by country and sending them to dealers, auctioneers and other stamp club members, for an initial opinion.

Carrying it around is cumbersome and might be risky

Before you put in your retirement papers I suggest you look at some collections that were sold at auction and try to get an idea where your collection fits in. The following link takes you to Kelliher's recent auction, they always have some nice US collections and often show pictures.

http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/...ter=2&page=1

Maybe you can judge if your collection is worth $3,000 or closer to $30,000. The foreign stamps you show aren't too interesting. I always check the 1st page of Great Britain to quickly determine the level of a collection. A few of the 1st pages from some of the large countries can help us advise you.

The collection has some value based on what was shown, but not huge value. Someone suggested Siegel - there is not enough value for Siegel. I didn't see you mention where you are from, but someone seem to think California - if so try Harmer-Schau. If Midwest, try Rasdale.

West Coast Stamp Company in Fresno has some good reviews.

https://www.westcoaststamps.com/

You can also try Rumsey Auctions in San Francisco. Very reputable.

Schuyler Rumsey Low consignment limit and reasonable fee.

http://www.rumseyauctions.com/consignment

http://www.rumseyauctions.com/

I have contacted quite a few auction houses. Everyone seems interested in my collection and all are willing to travel to California to pick up the collection. I have narrowed down my list to H.R. Harmer, Kellereher and Harmer-Schau. My question is are one auction house better at reaching a certain type of buyer. Does it matter where the auction house is located. Again, thank you for your assistance.

All three are excellent and as a regular bidder I can attest they get good prices. You might want to ask them about their schedule and when will they be able to sell your collection. Harmer-Schau has a sale today and Kelliher on March 9-10 so it may be awhle before they could sell yours.

The next Harmer sale is in May. I consign to them regularly and am always pleased.