Valuing A Stamp Collection Only With Pictures : Possible Or Not ?

If the goal is to invest in stamps, then I think that you should only buy stamps of very, very exceptional quality (gems; or less), even if it takes time and you pay a lot for them.
I only buy used fill-in-the-blanks. I don't care about the condition if I like the stamp for some reason... I don't usually pay more than 0.10 but sometimes I can go as high as 50.00. Money that I will never recover but that gives me the satisfaction of having a specific example that is out of my reach in good condition, plus (the best part) all the research that goes into classifying it and such. Sometimes you catch something good.

If this is the establishment the OP buys his stamps then it becomes clear why there are issues.

https://boutique-tpm.com/

They sell every single thing you could call collectible under the sun (and beyond). Even with the massive scope of their wares they have no category for stamps on their website.

About 15 years ago I bought 2 stamps from that store. The only reason I did is that one of the stamps was Australia 419 that a friend had been trying to get for 5 years. Saw it and bought it. Back then that store had a glass display with maybe a hundred stamps in it but a lot of games, etc. Never went back there as the store was 2 hours drive from home.

I'm completely agree with you ! I checked on ebay for an interesting seller and I discovered this one : https://www.ebay.ca/str/citystampmontreal

The dealer is grossly taking advantage of your limited understanding of catalog value and how it relates to condition. A trustworthy dealer will take the time to explain how they price their items.

If you have a Scott catalog, it very clearly describes condition/centering, etc.. Stamps are valued in the grade of VF with no faults, unless otherwise noted. As others have said, values are a reference and no guarantee that someone will be able to sell a certified VF grade stamp for catalog value.

Today, I talked to my seller and he told me that I can negotiate when I buy his stamps. He will sometimes accept the offered price, depending of the arguments. There's some good deals there, like the Prince Edward Island #5f ''TWC error that I got for 45$ CAD.


I will also buy some stamps on ebay, so I will have several sellers. Thank you very much for your advices, that helped me a lot, but I finally don't think that my seller is robbing me, I would just need to negotiate sometimes. Y'all want to see a picture of my #5f stamp ?

The seller may not be robbing you. He may know very little about stamps.

The last image of the Chile stamp has issues, even if the back doesn't have any problems. The cancel is quite heavy and the bottom right corner has the edge close to the design on two sides. For an imperf stamp to qualify as VF, which is what the catalog uses as the basis for pricing, ell four sides need to be even, and very close to 1/2 the spacing between two stamp on a sheet. In your case you know the spacing because you can see a portion of the design of an adjoining stamp. Look at that spacing and you will see those two sides are quite a bit short of half the distance of one stamp from the next. So, two issues that detract from the catalog value, I'd say the best guess for street price would be 20-25% of catalog and your selling price would be around half that if you needed to turn it back into cash.

Billsey, you think that the value of the stamp from Chile is the half that I would pay ? Bobby de la rue, I don't think it's about a lack of experience, he's philatelist since 45 years ! That's probably just another way to sell stamps.

Captain Stamp - Obviously you don't need to make any changes to what you are doing. We are on page six of this topic and after everything said you basically are going to carry on with your same seller.

Best of luck.

That's pretty hard to explain but I got some good explications from my seller. I got some awesome advices here too, and all these comments here haven't been wrote for nothing at all. I learned a lot about values of stamps and how all that works.

An imprudent individual and his wealth are not long acquainted.

Happy stamping, I am glad that you are having fun.

Thank you very much for all your replies ! I am feeling ok about still buying stamps there. And if I'm not sure about the value, I'll do research about it on ebay, like you already suggested me. I can also buy some stamps on ebay. Don't worry, I won't be buying stamps for a too big price.

I think that we talked enough about stamps values in this topic, and it's now time to talk about other things in other topics ! This forum is also made to have fun, right ?

What you may want to do is to first decide what you may want to buy. At your home, Research Sold prices for the exact item and the quality of such an item that would please you. THEN go to your favorite dealer to see their offerings. You know what you can get if for (re: the sold prices) and see what they are willing to do. If they aren't even close to, then please look for a new supplier.

Note: you could even bring them links to the sold listings so they can view themselves.

That's an awesome advice ! That's approximately what I wanted to do before you tell me !