California Rookie Seeks Expert Advice

I live in Southern California. I've been going to estate sales for about a year and a half. I'm not a stamp collector, but several months ago I purchased two separate collections from people who appear to have been serious collectors. The larger collection appears to have belonged to someone who operated a business buying and selling stamps since the late 60s, early 70s.

I don't have room for any new collections, so my goal is to sell everything and learn as much as I can about this hobby in the process.

I'll be posting some pics in the coming days.

Any advice on how I may go about getting everything valued is greatly appreciated.

Nino, welcome! You are asking us how to do something that took most of us a lifetime? OK, just kidding. But it is quite a request, and I would suggest you join a local stamp club and go to some of their meetings.


Peter

Take what you can to a local show, there are several in SoCal, show it to a dealer and if they're interested have them go to see the whole collection. That's how it usually works

Welcome. If you made it all the way here, maybe you'll give some of the collectors here a chance to make you an offer on those stamps. Quid pro quo. Not me, I'm not that big a collector.

Lots of stamp shows here in So Cal, with 2 held every month. I agree with recommendation to bring your better items to one of them to get advice. However, please try to get at least two different opinions before deciding.

Nino.

Enjoy having fun with stamps! That is the name of this game.

Collecting for the enjoyment of collecting, whatever that might be, is the name of the game. Don't hesitate to ask questions especially if you need basic information and especially more advanced sources of information for any possible topic. You should be able to find folks on this board a little further along on their collecting journey glad to share experiences.

My personal bias is a used stamp loses the story of its journey in the postal service when it is removed from the cover it transported to its destination. Collecting postal history adds a whole new aspect to your journey in our hobby.

Wishing you many enjoyable future days in our hobby. Russ

Let me first say than you to everyone for the responses and advice. I knew I'd come to the right place!

Having some trouble uploading the pics, but what I've seen so far is a stack of postmarked "First Day of Issue" envelopes from the 30s, 40s and 50s.

Several hundred loose postmarked stamps from around the world, and five albums ranging from 60% to 80% completion as well as used and unused postcards.

I've reached out directly to two separate stamp dealers, and I'm also going to take the whole thing to a local stamp show as soon as I can find one.

Don't get your hopes up. It does not sound like there is a lot of monetary value. First Day Covers usually trade for a dollar or less each unless you have something unusual. If the cachets say "Fleetwood" or "Art Craft," you have mass-produced "collectibles." Loose used stamps in a box or envelopes are not likely very valuable (you may have what's known as "kiloware" which are stamps sold by weight), and you have not offered enough detail on the albums to know much.

Closest to you is probably in Van Nuys. Check out Stephen Patillo stampshows at
http://www.stampshowsteve.com/

Thanks, Partime!!

If interested still, here is a primer on how to upload pictures to this website:
https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/SCF/help1.html
Also note that there is an Image Tutorial you can see when you try to post a response.