Amazing Old Time One Owner US Collection Sale Upcoming At Cherrystone

This collection reminds me of the Frelinghuysen collection sold at auction by Siegel in 2012. It too had some world class rarities (and it did not matter that they were not all sound) but the bulk of the collection seemed rather pedestrian to me, with a goodly number of unsound stamps. If memory serves, the rarities in that collection did very well at auction and the bulk of it had so-so results. I still think this upcoming auction collection is special though due to the number of seldom seen rarities in it.

There is a small handful of genuinely rare items, rare in the sense that they almost never show up at auction, such as some of the rare grills. Then there are a large number of high catalog items which are very scarce but show up with some to frequent regularity, such as all the inverts and many of the coils. There is no question that there are a number of very nice items here, but there are also a lot of stamps that are no big deal, even if they catalog a lot of money.

Seems to me the guy here was trying to fill every spot in album, mostly unused except for rarities.
I respect that and deep down inside I still think most collectors have same ambitions.
I often look at album page and wish I had money to fill those rare spots.
Nothing worse than looking at my album and seeing an empty spot on a page but the other 9 stamps look perfectly centered and sound. I would give up the centering and soundness to finish the page in many cases. Without finishing the page it just looks wrong.
I get his collector brain. I understand (I sound like a psychologist here)

I think this is turning into a debate over whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. Obviously the owner was not overly discerning about quality. Just compare lots 97 and 98 (24 cent and 30 cent 1869 inverts). The 24 cent invert is the more common stamp yet the copy in the sale has a sealed tear and two creases while the scarcer 30 cent invert is sound and unused.

Since I don't collect in albums I never worry about empty spaces staring me in the face. No one makes pages for what I collect anyway.

I think debate is more about specialization versus album completion
Unless you are Bill Gross and can afford to do both

That's not what the debate is about. The debate to me here seems folks who are critical to the quality of the collection versus the sheer content.

I'm going to be honest as I collect stamps that have few in count, albeit modern. You are all being way to critical of the collector.

When a stamp becomes available you buy it. If you miss you may have to wait 2,5,10,20 years maybe never. Being discerning about quality comes second to availability. Decades ago there was no SAN historical searching. The guy didn't know that a stamp would be up for sale ever again, so he bought what he could find. I do the same thing. And I am not going to sell when I find a better one, because then it will cost me way more. Taking a loss on the original, and then up paying for better condition.

I also take exception to pedestrian, as I suppose few feel that way. The stamps don't lack excitement or else this thread wouldn't exist. It's a great offering, that shows a love of amassing stamps. There's a 1.6M c3a and everything else.

Sometimes I wish the folks in the hobby just cherished all of it.

I started viewing this morning with the "Postmasters' Provisionals Providence". The fact is that every lot is accompanied by a "Philatelic Foundation Cert" for pages and pages. I finally reached a group lot without one, I had to stop looking and just say WOW!!

By getting current certs for everything then none can be returned. The idea that "when a stamp becomes available you buy it" works for some items, clearly there are some stamps that might not come up again for 20 or 25 years. But they are in the distinct minority. There are a large number of stamps here that show up fairly regularly as well as some that show up by the dozen every year.

A great accomplishment building this collection. There are always negative Nancy's but it does not detract from what it is. A great warts and all collection which is very refreshing actually. It reflects the real World where a billionaire buys only the finest in a relatively short time span instead of the 60 years this one took and is lauded for spending money. No, if you do not understand the beauty of this or feel that you need to degrade or criticize it you deserve sympathy for your loss.

"The 85F is only opening at 20% despite there only being 2 known. Basically a lot of rare stamps in very mixed condition."

So the guy gets low marks for having the second best example?

Not on that particular stamp. But if one can afford to buy that stamp then one can afford a decent $2 Columbian instead of one from a rummage sale. Or a decent 3X1. Or 10X1 and 10X2. Or 1, or 2, and the list goes on and on. I see hundreds of collections every year, from mediocre to great; it's not as if I have no way to compare it.

Rev - out of curiosity, how would you have recommended marketing that collection? I assume you would pull 30 - 50 items out for a rarities type sale and then what would you recommend to do with the rest?

Essentially what they did here, make it a balance lot. Probably the only way they could get the collection was to have a name sale; to do that requires a certain number of lots. So they were faced with doing it this way. My issue is with calling it a "great collection". It's not. Given the money, I would rather have 50% fewer stamps but all of better quality. Not graded, not 98's, just nice sound stamps.

OK, it is a less than great collection with a staggering degree of completion and seldom seen rarities that come from some of the greatest collections ever assembled and which have not been to market in decades. We need to focus on the negative so as not to be blinded by the positive. Point?