Disposing Of My US Collection - Dealer Suggestions?

My U.S. collection catalogues around 100k, almost all stamps of any value bought at auction. Nothing extraordinary, but a reasonable representation of classics, complete Columbians, Trans-Mississippi, airmails MNH or MH, good collection of WF, etc. All legitimately VF or better with clean certs for stamps above $200-300.

Looking at the auction route, but would anyone suggest any dealers that might be interested in purchasing the entire lot at a good price?

Thanks for any assistance.

"Entire lot at a good price " ? First the size is going to exclude 99% of U.S. collectors .So you are really talking about a dealer or a internet reseller.

Your giving someone else the opportunity to make money from your collection . OK, I understand that .

Then you bring up the "Good Price " did you mean "wholesale price " because that is what a dealer or stamp auction house will offer you .

Now if you decide to sell it yourself piece by piece that is a different story . If that happens a few good items will sell fast at a "good price" the rest 85%-90% will take time but then the key items are missing and already sold .You can be selling and relisting those over the next two years, by then your giving up on your "good price" and happy with wholesale price .

My advice is consign it all to a major auction firm and walk away with the minus your 10%-15% plus the 20% the buyer pays now your not talking "good price" but a wholesale price " and your waiting 4 to 6 months for the money .

My guess is your going to be offered $8,000 to $15,000 for a U.S. Collection in good shape to a reseller. Who will take a year to sell it .

Christopher Rupp may take it on to sell by individual item if the centering and quality are better than the norm. If he does you can expect to get top retail dollar for each item as he sells it minus 20%. I highly recommend this route from personal experience. If you wish to sell as a complete unit I recommend Ed at Century Stamp. He will not lowball you. You will not realize as much as you would from Christopher but it will be a quick disposal.

Edit: I meant to also add that Kelleher will do a 10% commission rate on individual US material.

Not to fear monger...but least we not forget the Regency debacle. It is difficult to determine with private companies, but you would want to avoid any auction firm which shows signs of financial stress.
Don

I've had limited success selling duplicate US/Canada items (>$50 cat) on ebay. The same item for sale by a larger, well respected seller on ebay would easily get more than an individual disposing of his collection would (assuming you are starting with little seller feedback). I'd guess the extra you would realize by consigning would easily cover commissions. Besides, scanning and listing, and dealing with questions/returns can consume a lot of time. I don't know which of the larger ebay sellers sell on consignment - anyone know?

Depends on your tolerance for pain. If you're looking for a clean transaction with minimum delay, I wouldn't rule out Mystic. Some time ago I sold them a US collection, in albums, that sounds a lot like yours, and did very well, considering. Catalog value approached $75K, I would estimate, and I got about 20% of that amount. Buyer came to my home, took several hours to review, check certs, and so forth, and made a solid offer. My theory is Mystic's very high retail prices can be reflected in the slightly higher sums they can offer to buy. I've never sold on consignment, but if I were to do so, based on my experience buying from them, I'd take a serious look at Kelleher.

Appreciate the comments so far. Just to clarify - I am asking specifically whether there are dealers who might be interested in buying the entire collection for a good (fair?) price, who would then presumably break it up for sale to collectors (how they proceed to do that is up to them). Thank you for the suggestion of Rupp, Century and Mystic. I understand that they need to buy on the low side to justify the time and expense of then turning around to try to make a profit on the material. Just wanted to benefit from others' experience if they have gone that route.

I appreciate the comments re the pros and cons of consignment to an auction house. I will be talking to those folks. Just wanted to explore the dealer route to see how much of a haircut I would be taking for less risk/uncertainty, more convenience, more immediate payment, etc..

Not interested in trying to sell directly to an individual collector, either as an entire lot or by individual stamp/sets. Have never bought stamps on ebay, Hipstamp, etc. and would not try to sell there. All of my higher value stamps have been purchased at auction through the usual suspects - Siegel, Kelleher, Cherrystone, Harmer, Spink and yes, some from Regency before they went out of business. The rest from dealers.

Again, thanks.

Oracle,

Just to clarify, it is unlikely that Rupp will buy a collection. Ed at Century most certainly will. Per your description of how you acquired your stamps and given the certificates that many of them apparently have you no doubt would receive a very fair offer from Ed and it would be far North of the 20% mentioned by others. I would not be going out on a limb by thinking at least 50% for the more bread and butter items and you could get 80% for high quality popular items with good certs. Ed (Century) does not work on exorbitant margins. He works on volume and carrying items that he knows will sell quickly a soon as his catalog goes out.

I think what is being missed somewhat in this overall discussion is that all collections are not equal and your return is based in great part upon your initial outlay and insistence on quality.

I sold a portion of my US collection not long ago on a non-Ebay commission basis through a very well respected dealer and realized anywhere from 65% net for some more common items to over 100% of my initial cost for some better items. On average the return was close to 80% of my cost after my sellers cut.

I did not choose the auction route because we all know that at any given auction many factors can lead to an abysmally low selling price. That and the likelihood that it could be a year from the time that you handover your collection to the house to the time that you are paid made it a nonstarter for me.

Do not undervalue what you have and do not settle for giving it away. You only get to dispose of it once (unless you start over again!).

Please PM me if you have questions or need assistance.

Consider Dr. Robert Friedman in suburban Chicago, with a second office in Florida.

I would think Century or Rupp would be better than Mystic for better than typical condition stamps since they usually deal in better quality items while Mystic usually deals in lower quailty.

If you get prices from dealers, I would like to know what they offer. You see all the ads about highest prices paid. The experience would help useful for others.

Agree with Angore. It would an interesting reality check (shock?).

Dave Cobb, Newport Harbor Stamps, in Newport Beach, CA, also may be an option.

Mystic's propensity for giving extremely low-ball offers has been well-documented on another site. I would avoid them.

I have found Friedman to be honest, forthright, and fair.

Jack Kelley

I'd also consider Gary Posner. I've sold stuff to him at fair prices.

Would the recommendations above apply to a large worldwide collection as well?