Update On An Inherited Collection

A few years ago I posted about a collection I inherited. I live several hundred miles away from where the collection is stored so it took a while to figure out what all is there. I now have a better idea of the size of this collection. There are about 100 binders full of stamps from around the world, some boxes, and some books. It's taken me all this time to just figure out what countries are included. It's pretty much all of them! I brought about 20 binders home with me and I am very slowly cataloging the stamps in each binder. It took Les 50+ years to collect these and it'll probably take me that long to catalog it.

An enviable task. I would love to have a look through that lot.

There must be some specialisation among it, not just countries. Would be interesting to know what sub-collections there are - specific themes, countries, etc. Most collectors pretty soon start focussing on specific areas and I'll bet that's the case here.

Photos always great to see too...

There are definitely other binders: air mail, revenue, plate blocks, blocks of 4 or 6 stamps, multiple albums from US and Canada, and some topics (Les was in the Navy so ships are common, and he loved cats so there is a whole binder with cat stamps). I've got some pictures but not enough to do it justice, and I also don't know enough to take pictures of things that are interesting. These are just a few I took as I was organizing them:

I really don't know why some of them are uploading sideways. Sorry!

Wow, that is a whole lot of fun waiting for you! Have you looked through everything. Before spending much time trying to ID things, you might search through everything first, it would surprise me if there wasn't any type of inventory or lists in one of the boxes.

I'm envious. The searching, identifying and database bulding is one of the best parts for me. At this point if you don;t have one or ability to create one, this might be a good time to invest a few bucks in a stamp database program.

Happy Hunting!

Searching through that would be a lot of fun. Hopefully, as stated, there's an inventory list or some binders with good catalog numbers listed. (At least some of the difficult to identify Washington Franklin are shown)

Good luck!

Well, it's going to keep you busy, for sure!

I bought software to help me along the way and I've really enjoyed using it. Makes basic identification much easier. From what I've seen so far, most stamps seem to be in SCOTT catalog order. There are pages and pages of Washington and Franklin stamps, I'm not going to attempt to get to the details on those yet. I have not seen an inventory list. Les was pretty meticulous but the list may not have been kept after he died. This is an exciting and overwhelming adventure for me.

Digital cameras (including phones) have an "up". Usually, shooting with the camera to the left and on its side is the proper orientation. That is hard-coded into the image itself and when it gets uploaded to a lot of sites, that orientation is read and it is displayed "upright".

Just something to keep in mind for the future.

You say you've bought 20 of about 100 binders home with you. I'd be a little concerned about where the rest are stored, especially if they're that far away and not easily accessible to you. If they're in a nice, climate-controlled environment (maybe a separate room of a closet) in someone's home that's probably fine. But if they're in an attic, basement or (God forbid) a garage, you may find they deteriorate pretty fast. Humidity kills stamps -- as do insects and heat and other things. Be sure to protect what you have. What pictures you've shown so far makes it look like a pretty decent and above-average collection, not just the usual common stamps. Don't let all those stamps languish in a poor environment or you may regret it. Have fun.

Echoing DrewM's comments, my cousin asked me to look at her late husband's collection to see if it was worth anything. Unfortunately, it had been stored in a basement and was subject to dampness and mold. Stamps that might have brought a couple of thousand dollars were reduced to a few hundred because of the deterioration. Had to throw many away including all of the albums.

They are stored in a climate-controlled environment and I have the assurance from a family member that they will remain there until I can get them all home with me. Thanks!