Matthew Bennett International

I "never" see Matthew Bennett International auctions discussed here. The first time ever I purchase from MBI and it was Canal Zone. I never collected US(area) before. Quality material and I had to pay up for the certed material and even for the near complete collection with fakes(i was aware). Any opinions on buying and selling from MBI US and foreign? When I called after hours about a MBI/SAN situation Harvey Bennett took the call and and went above and beyond.

Matthew Bennet has, in my experience, excellence quality, but does very few auctions. I have purchased successfully (and satisfactorily) from him several times. I'm unsure why you're looking for comments / discussion given your seemingly positive experience.

65 years collecting. Little to no mention of MBI recent history. They were more known to me but not used by me in the old,old days. One stamp experience for me for the first time ever. I would like more feedback on every phase of the operation. US, singles, collections, foreign, foreign sent to their international auction houses. Good & bad experiences. Overall results. Example: Would you send MBI an Mongolia collection vs Cherrystone, Raritan, Kelleher? Kelleher takes PayPal. MBI does not. Give me all you got SCF. Thanks

Specific to the Mongolia question, I would send it to Cherrystone or Raritan in that order. I dealt with MBI for US material a few times and it was a smooth and pleasant experience. I have been dealing in the past few months with Nikolai who owns Raritan and it has been an amazing experience. Not only is he extremely knowledgeable he is very responsive and conscientious. Raritan is the rare bird now that is small but big. You can always talk to the owner but their reach to buyers is pretty darn impressive.

I don't see accepting PayPal as a concern when you are talking thousands of dollars in stamp purchases. Most buyers are going to cut a check, use the old CC or do a wire transfer.

Not many responses yet but good ones. Not selling Mongolia but I do have some thoughts. I purchased Mongolia stamps from Cherrystone and Raritan auctions for what I thought was too good of a price, ie. low. Raritan even sold a forgery of the key stamp undisclosed after previously selling genuine copies. The forgery sold well. ebay gets the big bucks but I am not an ebay seller. Buy auction house, sell ebay better results. Kelleher does well with Mongolia but the stamps are generally fakes. My Mongolia stamps are not fakes/forgeries. Therein lies my eventual dilemma. John Bull recommended Ave Auctions in Hong Kong but not sure I have enough material for them. No postal history or major rarities.Will MBI send my material overseas? Will Kelleher send overseas? Heinrich Gaertner in Germany did well with the major Mongolia set. I was runner up but even that set could have done better. Just having fun here and still collecting Mongolia as the stamps are very elusive. Canal Zone here I come!

MBI does not charge State taxes.

In the 1980's, I lived in the DC area, so I would go up to Baltimore every once in a while to 'do' an MBI auction. I've dealt with them periodically over the years since. Very few auctions nowadays, but I DO look forward to them when they have them. I would have no qualms about doing business with them, either buying or selling. My only reservation is that if you want to consign to one of their auctions, there may be a looooong wait to see your stuff sell, simply because it will likely be a while before they have an auction. If time weren't an issue, I wouldn't have a problem with selling through MBI.