Newbie In Dc. Large Collection Of US & Japanese Stamps

Acquired from my late father. Four large steamer trunks filled to the brim. I have absolutely NO CLUE as to their value or what to do with them.

I've avoided the issue going on 4 years now. It is time to deal with them.

Welcome.
It might be best to post some (8-10) images that you feel represent some of the better (older) material. This will allow some of the folks here offer opinions as to the scope of the collection.
Don

Welcome !!

Welcome! That is quite a lot of material to go through. It may help you to know that stamps still attached to their original envelopes, postcards, etc., are often more valuable that way. Good luck, and I hope you discover some of the enjoyment your father must have felt.

I will post some pics in the next couple of days

4 steamer trunks. Also found some Japanese paper currency, incl what I assume is WWII Japanese occupation notes for the Philippines(?). As well as my dad's high school ID and his US Army post-war occupation paraphernalia...

Raenor - Based upon the scans you have a lot of catalog value. The Japanese alone that you have shown is in the many hundreds of dollars in value. The National Parks sets and 3rd Athletic Meet blocks have substantial value. The Ryukus airmails are still valued at what was paid. If the trunks contain many multiples of this type of material you will need to start contacting reputable philatelic dealers. Forget ebay. I will let others chime in but you have something very, vety good here.

Looks like you may have quite a valuable accumulation of material there! Some of the mounted stamps have been damaged by shrinkage of the mounts (a legendary problem with that type of mount), which is unfortunate. Removing the stamps from the mounts may be one of the first things you consider doing. I see a lot of unused stamps, so you might also get some thin gloves and forceps (you may find some in the trunks, they are called "stamp tongs" by philatelists) so you don't put fingerprints on the gum of the unused stamps.

If you live near a Japanese bookstore such as Kinokuniya, you mihgt consider getting a copy of the current Sakura catalog, which is inexpensive, well illustrated and fairly easy to use whether or not you read Japanese. It will help you to identify postcards as well as stamps. The Sakura prices may be somewhat different than in the US (for example, Scott catalog), but I haven't compared them recently.

I hope you find it interesting and enjoyable!

Can anyone refer me to a reputable philatelic dealer who has knowledge of Japanese stamps in the Mid Atlantic Area?

I am in Alexandria, VA. I would prefer not to have to ship 4 trunks to the west coast...

I'm just a collector, and speaking only about the stamps and postal cards for Japan, Manchukuo and Ryukyus, there are some things of some value here, along with common material as well. For instance, in the picture for the Ryukyus items where you also show the receipt, the C1 (that's the blue airmail underneath the green and the red ones), catalogs for $125 each, so that block of 4 catalogs for $500. (I'm looking at the 2017 Scott -- I don't know how the prices may have changed in the 2 later editions.)

In another picture earlier upstream, one where you show a red stamp at the top of the pic and a blue stamp at the bottom. It's the 10-sen stamp with the side paper still attached. It catalogs (in 2017) for $825 if it's hinged. It's been mounted on the page using something other than a hinge, so it's possible that it may have never been hinged. If so, it would catalog for considerably more. (Maybe 50% premium for that time.)

Catalog value is not what you would expect to sell for, either directly or to a dealer, but I cite those figures to tell you that there's some expensive material in there.

And there's a lot of other solid, low- to mid-range items you've shown as well. Very respectable, in my opinion.

The military postcards you've shown also have a bit of value. (These are actually "postal cards", rather than "post cards", because they were issued by the government and have the stamp image pre-printed into the design.)

I can't speak at all for the currency, although my sense is that it is not uncommon, but I don't know about any special items that may be there.

I would think that the paper ephemera (the military and school id's, etc.) would also have some value with paper ephemera collectors or possibly even the Japanese American National Museum ( http://www.janm.org/ ), especially because he was Japanese-American during this very ugly time in our history, and was here in Los Angeles, at the heart of the community hit so hard by the internment executive order 9066.

I think Kelleher (in CT) is probably the best auction house for Asian material in the US these days. but there could be others, too.

http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/home.php

One thing you could do is wait until the next large annual stamp show in the DC area. (Somebody here will know which one it is.) It's likely Kelleher and other major auction houses will have representatives there and you could show several different houses the material then. But for anything specialized, I would think Kelleher would have the eyeballs for auctionable material.

(edited to add:) You might also be able to entertain some direct outright purchase offers from dealers then, too (at a large show). It would really depend upon whether you'd rather have a firm price than wait for the auction realizations, etc. But if you're not in a huge hurry to liquidate, you can let this play out over the coming months/year or so in order to try to get the best prices. If dealers or auction houses sense that you are in a hurry to sell, they may offer you fire-sale prices, instead of better offers if you're in no rush.

Also, it just flashed in my head that there's a small chapter of the ISJP (International Society for Japanese Philately, the specialist group) in Washington DC. (Los Angeles also has a very small chapter. I think only those 2 cities have a chapter, although I have vague recollections of hearing that a new chapter may also be forming in the SF Bay Area.)

You may want to contact them, not to lug the 4 trunks to a meeting, but at least to have a phone chat, if not show up at their monthly meeting.

In doing that, you may be able to find someone locally -- either a dealer or a collector -- who might be interested in buying outright, or at least guide you in who might be the best dealer or auction house for your material.

http://www.isjp.org/DCChapter

The comments seem to be based on the assumption that the material is all Asian. If it is diverse that may change the sales focus.

Highly recommend.

http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/...n.php?lang=1

http://db.kelleherauctions.com/php/home.php

Thank you all (esp. Philatarium) for your assistance! I have reached out to ISJP to see if they are interested in learning more about the collection. I'll be sure to post updates here.