Massive Stamp Collection

I see the criticism of what I posted. Help me out. Define "modern" and "semi-modern".

Ok. I was looking at another set of "full sheet" stamps he has. These look "mint" to me.

790 - J.P. Jones and J. Harry (7 sheets)

I googled these and Mystic Stamp Company has them listed as $25 per sheet
What could I reasonably expect to get for them?

786 - A. Jackson and G. Scott (3 sheets) - $26 per sheet

787 - Sherman and Grant (5 sheets) - $70 per sheet

788 - Lee and Jackson (1 sheet) - $80 per sheet

789 - West Point (1 sheet) - $85 per sheet

791 - Decatur and McDonough (2 sheets) - $45 per sheet

792 (2 sheets) - $28 per sheet
793 (2 sheets) - $75 per sheet
794 (1 sheet) - $110 per sheet

I don't know how reputable Mystic is, but this book would sell from them at $1125. Is 60% reasonable to expect?

No. Mystic is FULL+++ retail.
To get an idea of current market value, look at prices realized on ebay for actual sale results.

Descriptions of periods vary from,place to place and collector to collector. In the UK, the period before 1900 would generally qualify as "classic", the period 1900-45 as "middle" and anything after that as "modern". I'm guessing "semi-modern" here would be 1945-60.

For example, Mystic lists the #794 sheet at $110 - this one sold on ebay for $18.00
https://www.ebay.com/itm/794-US-Nav...384068945862

As John mentions, search on ebay using the 'Sold' filter (first search 'sheet 794 US' and then check the 'SOLD' box for left hand side of page )
Don

Thanks for the info. I'll use ebay as the reference. I'm debating on getting something like Stamp Manage Deluxe. Do most of you use that software?

It is indeed a large amount of material and something that many folks here familiar with, many of us have entire rooms full of material. But volume, and often even age, is not what determines value. As you are finding out, the amount of work and man-hours is huge.

Here are your options as I see it;
- If anyone in your family has any interest, you have a great start on a new hobby; they will be able to spend months coming up to speed and learning.
- If the desire is to sell this material off a maximum value, then someone in your family will need to spend many weeks coming up to speed and learning. Then more time would be needed to image and list many smaller lots on ebay (note that ebay and the postal system will probably make as much as you do).
- If the desire is to sell this material quickly and without weeks of time invested, sell it as single lot at a discount
- If the desire is to sell this material quickly and without any time invested, sell it to a reseller/dealer at a deep discount
Don

Thanks for the help for all of you who have responded. I'm a high school Chemistry teacher. This is Spring Break, so I hope to put some time into this, but I've got a grandson due any day.

Be aware that catalogs (including software apps) have values that typically do not reflect actual market values. Digging into online 'sold' values is your best approach for understanding market value. After you spend some time doing this you will get a feel for values and be able to get quicker at estimating what is there.

This page will help with US stamps
https://stampsmarter.org/features/Id_US_RegA.html

You can lookup stamps by the catalog number (click on 'View By Catalog Number' tab) and it automatically links ebay 'sold' values

Don

I am interested in getting market value for the stamps, but I'm willing to put time into it. We debated about paying someone to come in and "appraise" the collection, but I imagine even those of you on here would need several days to determine the value and it would probably cost about $1000.

It's a lot faster than that. An examination in a couple of hours will be able to give you a very good idea of a ballpark figure and a "wheat from the chaff" assessment.

As I said earlier it is mostly face postage. Somebody will need to get a calculator and add it all up. There is no way around it. At least you have written notes as a start if they are accurate.

The stampsmarter.org site is very nice. Thanks!

I've updated the Google drive.

I have a lot of 50 stamp sheets. Would a set of sheets be more valuable if I had every sheet? For instance, I have sheets of Scott #985-999, but missing several. Are these more valuable if the entire set of a year is together? Kind of like having all of the baseball cards of a given year? Or is it just sheet by sheet value?