Amazing Ww Mint Collection In Upcoming Schuyler Rumsey Westpex Sale

When I see a collection like this, and particularly from a philatelist residing I. Great Britain, I ask myself what would I expect to be there ( early Canada, Newfoundland, Rhodesia for example) and why isn't it there?

$75,000 is HALF of the high estimate ......... That is a stamp collection lot that would need someone to sit down with , after downloading the file and reviewing with a catalog . If it is close to what your willing to pay for it . Then buy a ticket and fly out ,rent a car , get a hotel room and stay for a pre-auction viewing to see what they didn't put in the describition and scans , then set a price limit . I don't think every page was scanned so maybe there is more to figure in .

It always burns my butt when an auction firm is disingenuous when describing "enormous catalog value" or some other vague nonsense. They have a VERY good feel for what the real value is. Others will disagree but IMO they did not just pull their estimate out of thin air. They may not have tallied every single stamp, but they did not just throw a dart at a board to get a number. A little more specificity is in order. What if you and another numpty bid the thing up to $150,000 and took it home only to find out that it had $150,000 in catalog value? Would you take your lumps or send a shoe box of horse poop to their office.

There could be several reasons. One would be this collector concentrated on GB and certain Empire countries and kept them in another album. Intact must not necessarily refer to the philatelist's collection. It might refer to the part of the collection that is put up for auction.

Another reason could be the collector was not British at all. It is noteworthy the description does not mention a "British philatelist" but "a philatelist who resided in Great Britain." Also, if the strength of the collection had been in Great Britain and Empire, you might ask why this particular auction house has been chosen.

As I mentioned above, the main reason is that the New Ideal in its three-volume, A-Z, permanent form was for foreign, not British Empire, stamps. We don't know whether the collector had an Empire collection too, but it wouldn't be in these volumes.

"enormous catalog value" means "you need to inspect this lot" to me.


Hahahahahaha. Also, hahahahahahaha. In this case, you've been ignoring this company's past history going back years to its beginnings or never ever looked at their auctions. And it always gets worse for the huge WESTPEX auction since most everybody, certainly over 2/3rds of the total value of the sale, tends to consign at the very last minute to make this particular sale. That deadline is right up to the time the catalog artwork has to be sent out for printing.

In terms of evaluating values, they are no Kelleher or Siegel by any stretch. They're not getting even close to that level at this point.

Hy-Brasil - You are right. I always fall into the trap of giving S-R a certain level of gravitas based upon their "cachet" I suppose. Then I remember some past purchases where US classics were seriously misdescribed (or deliberately) and I returned the material. They were good about it to be fair.

We as long time posters ,have always repeated the line ,if your going to spend serious money "You need to spend time viewing and researching BEFORE you spend the money . "

I can only speak how I look at this lot ,I try to read what is being said and what is and what isn't being said . . First there is a problem with the describer who works for the auction house , careless is the best word for me to use ..

Your asking for trouble when you write "Hawaii 1-5 " in a grabbled sentence ,then "Hawaii MNH" when in fact only one stamp is in a mount and 24 other stamps are hinged to the page . Then you show page after page of Persia with them all forgeries but no mention of the word "Forgeries are present ".. Also notice over a dozen stamps have tape stains that show thru the stamp to the front .

As for me if your spending $75,000 to $100,000 to buy a worldwide collection you want to see $500,000 catalog value , that to me is a "bridge to far " with this auction lot . Yes it has some nice stamps that I would like to have ,but I can't justify spending that much money for something with a lot of land mines in it .

A proper viewing will most likely being around $250,000 to $300,000 catalog there just isn't enough $1,000 stamps in this lot .

If you have the means to be competitive for this lot, you have the means to go out and see it in person.

Don't see how you could be comfortable spending $75,000 for a lot and never go see it, only to complain when you receive it you are unhappy with it.

This is not a collector lot anyway, this is a dealer or small auction house lot. And they will be at the show early enough to view.

It is the kind of lot that will make me tune in with a bucket of

Completely agree viewing is required, but on the question of Persia forgeries, do you really need to be told there are firgeries. The starting position on Persia is the are guilty until proven innocent.

I very much doubt that was true for this lot. The seller probably knew a while ago, and the auction house would have picked it up or had it delivered as early as possible. They knew it was going to take time to examine and write up.

Will be interesting to see what this goes for - seems overpriced at the starting bid based on the pics provided. Considerable high-value Fiume in there - same caveat as for classic Persia.

They do have a tendency to phone in some estimates, but whether that is stuff arriving at crunch time (it does indeed happen), whether it is laziness, whether it is not understanding the material, or in the case of too low an intentional strategy of trying to make it appear you might get a bargain in the hopes that it will start a bidding frenzy, I don't really know.