Evaluating Collections

I am curious how one goes about evaluating a lot such as this. The price is quite high but obvious they will accept lower.

How do you guys/gals do it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Noblespiri....m1438.l2649

I sometimes get the desire to go all in and such a collection (number of stamps not knowing their value) would keep me occupied for a long time.

I would pay +/- 50-100 dollars per volume based on the scans of mostly minimal value stamps with condition issues shown. My basis is throwing an estimate of 1-2 cents per stamp for the fun factor and assuming five to ten thousand stamps per volume. The albums are junk.

Here is a link to upcoming lots at Kelleher that are multi volume.

https://stampauctionnetwork.com/V/v71242.cfm#153

Good idea to jump in all the way, but if you can afford it go with someone a bit safer. I would never spend this kind of money, even if I had it with these folks.

Peter

Many times you can tell about a collector and the quality of the collection by a single page; sometimes a single item. Was the collector discriminating? Did he or she collect used or unused? Did the collector go after scarce or rare items, etc?
The seller encourages you to look at all of the photos. There are so many photisyour thumb gets tired strumming. However as I did that I kept looking for one page that distinguished itself. I didn't see any. What I see is an accumulation of used commons. Volume does not equate to quality.

For a quick eval of a collection with this scope, I look at the three countries I am most familiar with and then assume the rest of the collection is about the same level of relative completeness and value. If I had $50k+ to throw down on the table for a stamp collection, that one would certainly not be it.
Don

Argentina 3 seal of the Republic stamps forgeries!!

Given the presentation -- just images -- where is the justification for the price? It reeks of sucker deal. I would never even consider spending this amount of money but wondering why they thought it was worth it. I was still curious how people evaluate collections such as this if one said I would buy it for x (not being shy to bid much less). I could not believe it is more than $5K to 10K if that but no idea.

I don't get the mixing of album pages. Using Scott binders, but many, many Minkus pages enclosed. Kind of a real mess. I'd beware, for sure....

As I said, 50-100 per album for someone that wants stamps to pick through. There are some better commonwealth mixed in. 1500-3000 for the lot. Noble Spirit has been peddling these large junk lots with crazy prices for as long as I can remember. They do buy large carton lots from Rasdale and Kelleher and list them on ebay for nutso prices.

Good news. China worth about $400 and Japan another $100. LOL

This seller is one to avoid, IMO. All of their offerings are horribly overvalued. If you bid on their auctions which start at $0.99, you *might* get a decent deal, but their fixed price listings are all at full retail and then some. They list stamps at full Scott regardless of faults.

Just my opinion, but the highest profile philatelic sellers on ebay are frequently the ones with the most egregious claims. Throw crap against the wall and see what sticks.

A few months ago I watched a decent Scott Collection they had up for auction with a reserve. I think I would have bid around $7000, but at the time I didn't need it. It ended with a high bid of $4800 and reserve not met. A few days later they relisted it at a fixed price of $36,000 and it sold a few weeks later.

When I look at a collection like this I focus on the Volume I pages and some key issues from the 1940s such as the British Colonies 1948 Wedding stamps. As mentioned there is an amalgam of pages I noticed there were 3 different Hawaii pages. This doesn't bother me because I would be breaking this up but for someone that wanted a collection intact this is bad. In addition the binders are beat. The Volume I stamps are weak, for example the 1st line of Austria is empty, Belgium has no imperfs etc. I saw no strong stamps from the 1940s either. I think I could break up the Vol I for about $6000 and sell the remainder by album with an expectation of $150-200/volume. Considering how much work is involved I would bid $5000.

There is nothing wrong with asking for a high price. Many large stamp companies ask for the full Scott catalog prices. They have many customers who trust them and are willing to pay that prices. You can exchange or return if not satisfied.

These albums are in the upcoming Kelleher auction. Estimate is 4-6 thousand. Starting at 2200. Nice material throughout and binders are decent. Ex Jack Ott.

ROGDCAM -It is hard to say because everybody who is going to bid on it is looking at different things. As mention above some will look at the first volume for value . Others like me look at complete sets ,some will look at the better stamps thru the whole thing to set a price .

I also buy collections like this so I can add thousands of my duplicates and turn around and sell it .

For myself, I look for complete sets and some decent singles and there are just a few in the Noble Spirit lot. I also am drawn to more obscure items that do not necessarily have a high cv. I would be looking at 50-100 per volume for the Noble Spirit lot if it had the right allure for me which it does not. Also, the binders and pages are toasty. No matter how you look at it though the lot is overpriced by a factor of twenty or greater. My opinion. Handling and reviewing many large lots over many many years is really a prerequisite for purchasing these things. I learned by making mistakes and have a very good feel for such material now as do you undoubtably. Reading through some of the threads here on SCF I see that I will have hearty competition at the Kelleher auction. All the best to you.