Valuers - Am I So Wrong?

Ok bare with me:
I sent off about 9 albums to a valuer for a valuation to see what might be worth selling.
In among the stamps were around 100 used Penny Reds, a mint 2d Blue, a Penny Black (in excellent condition) SG2 CV £225 (in 2005) Several mint Penny Reds plus several more with a variety of really nice Maltese Cross cancellations and MC with numbers CV between £100 and £175 plus a lovely one with a blue cancellation CV £800.
Used 42 x SG166 CV £15.00 each
An Indian Gwalior stamp mint with an inverted overprint Cv £2,650
Etc etc etc
Loads of errors, inverted watermarks on stamps between 1901 and 1934

They have offered me wait for it......

£65.00 for the lot.

I reckon I could get £2.00 each for all the Penny Reds on ebay and get over £250 that way! Forget about the Penny black, blue and all the errors!



*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Where did you send them for valuation? Perhaps you could upload scans of a couple of the better items.

I will Geoff as soon as I get them back. I am reluctant to say who they are at this stage but they were one of the recommendations on another post. I took photos of what I sent them but only for my record, they aren't good enough to post here although I will double check!

This is where the realization of time versus money rears it's ugly head. Yes you could list up the penny reds one at a time and get probably more (without seeing condition) than the $65 offered but that takes time and time is money, especially to a dealer that needs to sort through everything and invest time. Personally if and when I sell my collection I will do it on my terms. By mixing in common material with better material in a bulk purchase that will surely drive the price down. I sell the common material as a bulk lot and take what you get. For the better material I'd separate and sell individually.

Thanks Stallzer, that's what I will be doing.

Condition is everything when it comes to selling off the better material (listed one at a time). And this is the HUGE issue with selling online. Pulling out the best material and getting decent prices works fine IF the material is great quality. But far too many hobbyists overprice the lesser quality material and/or mis-describe it when they list it.
Don

Agreed Don. I know condition is paramount and a lot of what I sent was in mint condition in every sense of the word. I do have someone else who wants to see what I have so as soon as they come back I will let them have a look at some of them.
I have emailed the valuers to ask if there is a mix up. I originally sent the majority of the albums back in November and I then emailed them 3 weeks ago to say I had two more albums. They said 'send them along as we are going to start your valuation next week' - so I have asked if the £65 is for the two albums I have only just sent and may be they have forgotten they were linked to the original 7.

As I said not very good images at all! I will wait until they come back before I post any others or your eyes will spin counter clockwise

Found a slightly better one. This is just one set of these, the others have inverted watermarks in sets and are in just as good a condition.

Looking at the multiple block cypher group of controls on the small stock-card, Stoneham's gives a M price - roughly a dealer's selling price - of around £1.50-£2 for most of these - £15 for the 6d. Can't really see the others well enough to comment.

Eiger,

Despite SG prices for Great Britain not being anywhere near real world figures, the offer you've received seems light on to me.

Dealers will naturally cost their time but if the collector (me, you, Stallzer) takes matters into their own hands, and price time as enjoyment, then it's worth selling your material yourself.

Easier said than done I know, but if you decide to go that way I'm sure you'll get plenty of good advice here.

I totally agree with Don, and would add that there are far too many dealers who engage in the same practices. The principle of anonymity on the web frequently applies to stamp condition.

I think that to maximise the returns for a collection requires some effort on behalf of the seller.

For example an elderly friend is currently breaking up and selling off his superb collection of Colonial Southern Africa - the Rhodesias, Bechuanaland, Mafeking, Transvaal, Cape Colony etc. containing the sort of stamps I never thought to see outside of one of those glossy auction catalogues. Regrettably neither his children nor grand children have expressed any interest. So rather than leave the collection for them to dispose of he has instead decided to do so himself.

He is working through one or two UK auction houses. What he does is send them 10 to 20 stock pages at a time accompanied by a printed list of the stamps along with the SG number and catalogue value. He also takes care to make note of any varieties or other special considerations such as valuable postmarks.
So far, for the most part, he has been very happy with the prices he has been getting.
Clive

Spot on Clive. When I send excess material to auction I enclose my own description which often appears in the catalogue verbatim.

Agree with Clive as well. Auction houses cannot normally be expected to get everything right. Many times they simply are not thorough enough. Providing the "Cliff Notes" upon consignment enhances the likelihood of a positive outcome especially if the info provided is accurate.

You absolutely should provide some sort of write-up or highlights. The auction house may not be have an expert in your field or they may be rushed.

typos fixed