Newbie, We Inherited A Stamp Collection

A lot of box and albums to look at...

Nice picture of a pile of stuff, but we need to see what stamps you have. Try taking close ups of some of the earliest US, Canadian, English etc stamps you have. That way we know how the collection looks


Peter

I know, I have a lot to do

Welcome,
I agree with Peter, posting 8-10 images of what you feel are some of the better (older) pages will give the experienced folks in the community the best opportunity to advise you how best to disposition what you have.

In terms of market value, another fairly good gauge is to use whatever the previous owner spent on the collection over the years. If the previous owner was wealthy and/or invested tens or thousands of dollars, then the odds are good that you will need to spend time doing deeper discovery and take your time understanding disposition options.

But if the collection is like about 90% of what we typically see, the previous owner spent modest amounts of money and your best disposition direction will be ebay to maximize your return. If the collection is modest and the desire is to liquidate quickly, then wholesaling it to a dealer might be your best direction.

But posting 8-10 images of the older material is probably the best first step.
Don

Yes, stamp collections are often built over decades ... not like someone new to the hobby can get it figured out quickly. Takes time. Good luck. Just from the look of the albums it looks like there might be a lot of covers (envelopes) in there ... those are often more time-consuming than the stamps. Previous comment is correct - post a dozen good photos of a variety of items (oldest material is priority) and you can get some guidance here. ... Meantime - try these:

https://stamps.org/services/inherited-a-collection

http://www.inheritedstampcollection.com/index.htm


https://www.apfelbauminc.com/inheri...-collection/

Hello, I will be digging into this stuff tomorrow and over the weekend. There is a lot of mint sheets, first days, and well organized older stuff.

Wow! Looking forward to seeing what looks within!
Eric

ok, I gather all the commemorative albums as a start. I have the following:

1990 paperback
1991 paperback
1992 hardcover
1993 hardcover
1994 hardcover
1995 hardcover, 2 books
1996 hardcover
1997 hardcover
1998 hardcover
1999 hardcover
2000
2001 hardcover
2002 hardcover
2003 hardcover
2004 hardcover
2005 hardcover
2006 hardcover
2007 hardcover
2008 hardcover
2009 hardcover
2010 hardcover
2011 hardcover
2012 hardcover
2013 hardcover
2014 hardcover
2015
2016 hardcover
2017 hardcover
Wildflowers hardcover
Celebrate the Century binder

I think most folks on the forum would agree that you won't find virtually any value in any of these mass-produced USPS issued commemorative folders.

While they don't have much value, they do contain postage, which is being bought at around 50% of face.

The books are interesting in their way, and retail for a crazy premium when bought from USPS (the 2022 is $95). However the stamps inside are worth no more than face value, and the book would go for anywhere from $5-$30 on the secondary market depending on your own luck. A lot of money was spent for very little (IMO). They're kind of the tourist trap of modern American philately.

Back to Studebaker's advice, time well spent in gaining advice and clarification from the members of the forum would involve finding the oldest looking stamps that you can find and posting images of those. They would tend to be found on the first couple or 3 pages of a country section.

Thanks Sherman - that was the advice I needed. But there's a lot to sort out

So a couple of the items you might want to show are the two albums sitting in the open plastic tub on the right side of your photograph. The ones one the front left, in your most recent photograph, back right in your original photo

Before you throw away the 1993 (Elvis) Yearbook, take a look at the R&R booklet pane (of 7) inside it.
99.99% contain a plate A22222 pane. The rest contain a plate A11111 pane. Don't throw away that one ...

I have the Elvis Yearbook, but the plate pane was not mounted (dohhh Pop!). All stamps are included except for the AIDS stamps. I have no clue currently how to find this stamp or how to mount it.

My dad enjoyed stamps but way overdid it with the Mystic stamp stuff which investment wise is minimal. I think it is analagous in numismatics when buying products from Littleton Coin.

I am going through this stuff album by album. He has 3 Heritage Collection albums with the 50 states filled with very nice stamps. It also includes the 50 state quarter which is worth $12.50, and some gold plated stuff which is pop change.

Looking at this album by album and organizing. Will take awhile obviously.