Help With Valuing An Extensive Worldwide Collection

So as I mentioned in another post a friend of mine partially inherited a nice world wide collection from her father. She is considering buying out her siblings so that she might continue with her father's work, and I am trying to help her figure out what a fair market value might be for the collection so she could do that. The catalog value of the collection is probably between $40-50,000 dollars based on my 2006 Scott catalog. I cut CV in half for all stamps less than very fine. There are some very nice stamps in the collection (see scans), but nothing outstanding that would lead me to believe that consigning it to a large auction house would be the way to go. Based on what I have seen on ebay, I thought 25% of CV might be appropriate for the GB#1 and some of the other quality stamps but how does one value 29 copies of GB#28. Also does anyone have a feel for what a dealer might offer. I have a relatively large collection of WW stamps (100,000 dif or so) but have no expertise selling them.
Thanks for any insight

For the curious the $ notations next to many of the stamps are what the father paid for them in 1935. BSL stands for "bought Selfridges London"

Wow, the cheap, toned paper really pops out on stamps like this. First thing I would do is invest in some Vario pages which would then assist with understanding the condition of the better material. Hopefully they are mounted with vintage Dennison hinges. Only once I had an understanding of the condition would I then try to estimate value.
Don

with Inflation 2.00$ in 1935 is like 35.00$ today !

As a rough guide, a decent 4-margin 1d black (ignoring plating) would sell for around £100 at auction. Worth checking the embossed to ensure that they're stamps, rather than from postal stationery - I think only one of them has the desired four margins, though.

This is the type of collection that Kelleher sells all of the time. The estimate is usually set at 10 -15 percent of cv for stamps with the centering and in the general condition shown. Bidding starts at half of the low estimate. How well it does depends upon many variables but in general it will sell for around 5 percent of cv or get a few bumps. I see it realizing between 2500 and 5000, more likely towards the lower end because the buyer pays 20% commission. You will pay 20% commission as well. You can search for yourself on Kelleher's website or on SAN. their current auction has many such collections. Of course there is the chance that it is passed but these types of collections do seem to sell when estimated conservatively.

Thanks everyone for the feedback. A few notes.

I had to cut the resolution on the scans (except for the penny blacks) in order to meet the 200k limit for uploads,
I think that might be a bigger issue than the cheaped toned paper (at least I think it is acid free) in evaluating the condition of the stamps. Since they are not my stamps, I am not at liberty to do anything with them at the moment, but I will make the suggestion.

For GB#5 two have four margins, but both are creased, GB#7, two have almost four margins (right and left of stamp design used as cutting guide by mailer), one is postal stationery

In the past couple of weeks I have seen the penny black go for between $47 and $140 on ebay depending on condition, it is figuring out how to maximize return on 29 Scott GB#28 without flooding the market.


As Rodgcam, notes Kelleher sells this type of collection all the time, and I am sure they do, but it is also my understanding that they would sell it as a single lot, whereas an ebay consigner would probably break it into many more lots which would tend to increase the realized price. These are guesses on my part since I have no expereince with either.

Frankly I would sell the stamps individually.Depending on the condition.Putting a
collection in 1 block for sale is very risky.They will look through the collection
and the first thing they will see is defective stamps,and that will throw the price
way down in their estimations.All defective stamps could be sold in small lot's.That way
it will not devaluate the rest.Plus you will have too wait weeks through an auction house
and pay 20% plus ...This kind of thing you can only do once..Who knows what is in store in the coming months?

How long and how much work will it take to sell stamps one at a time and how many will sell? If you pick out the good ones the rest will fetch nothing. All at once is the way to go. My experience for what it is worth.

Don is right. Get the owner to carefully remove the stamps from those cheap old scribbler pages that are definately not acid free. If they are on hinges leave the hinge piece on the back of the stamp so they will not be thinned as they can always be removed by somone knowledgable if she is not. Just keep them in the same order as the #s on pages.

As for the #4 Canadian beavers, too bad some chewed the corners off! Some may have varieties, while the others look ok and if not damaged will fetch an average of $50.cd each or more at auction. The 6 pence Prince Albert has four small margins, but a heavy cancellation and if not thinned or creased may do fairly well. I believe it may be #2 or 5. Cannot tell from present photo.

Good luck.

Mike

Thanks Mike,

The Alfred is a 5, and the stamp underneath is a 1. With respect to the #4 beavers with the chewed off corners, we have to remember that is what beavers do


Will take Don's advice, and suggest the stamps be removed from the current pages.

Selling a few stamps a lot makes sense. The penny blacks, penny blue and the embossed one are quite desirable on ebay. I may consider bidding on your penny blue and one of the embossed stamp if you put that up on ebay (of course I need to examine the scans).

As a lot to a dealer in your area $300 top. To sell it individually, probably will take about a month of soaking, sorting, scanning, listing, selling, shipping; if listed with a very low starting price like, I mean very low like $0.01. If starting with 5-10% of the catalog value (about a retail value of your stamps) may take longer. If someone asked me to by it, I would not pay more than $100.

Anyone who got that lot for $100 would be a lucky boy or girl.

As the original question implied that the wish was to keep the collection, but buy out the other co-owners, surely the most practical proposition is to get an estimate of likely sale value from an auction house, then make a decision on whether a buy-out is affordable.

Heartily agree.
My route would to approach my local Perth dealer, offer to pay whatever, $50- $100? Cash for an on-site appraisal, (not letting it out of my sight) with a signed written quote.
Fortunately, I know my dealer, if not, I would get 2-3 quotes, then take a median. I'd have it finished in a day.

Wouldn't touch the collection at all, the toning etc is working in the vendors favour, why upgrade, when that is going to cost you?

Owner is not trying to sell, she needs to determine value so she can settle the estate with her siblings. Since a mis-step in determining value could lead to damaged family relationships, understanding the condition of the stamps seems pretty important.
Don