Advice On Getting A Fair Appraisal For My Stamps.

Firstly, thank you to Staff for moving my post to the appropriate forum. NSK, you are correct I am not "a collector". The stamps shown are a mere fraction of those I own and I'm grateful for the information provided above about their origins. Amongst the many hundreds more that I have I feel sure there are a few rarities which will be of interest to a collector. I have to say that I am shocked at, what I perceive to be, the snobbish and derogatory comments above. Perhaps I'll just burn the whole lot and be done with it - that way nobody will ever know if I held any rarities or not. However, to return to my original post, all I politely asked for was advice on where to go for a fair valuation. I apologise if that was too much to ask on a stamp community's forum.

Appley. Please don't give up on a great hobby that is not only fun & rewarding but truly educational. It has allowed me to visit places around the world with pictures that I could never visit as well as a world history lesson better than any college. Look for the good. Thank you for your candid reply. Hang around.

Hey there @Appley,

Answering your question directly is difficult. We could suggest you seek out a nearby stamp dealer to look at your stamps, but as some have mentioned (sometimes vigourously) the stamps in the photo are so common, and in such poor condition, to be more than valueless. You wouldn't recoup your bus fare.

There is a post at the top of this category that shares the best collective knowledge we have for folks who have inherited / discovered old collections: https://goscf.com/t/51932 which might help you out.

It can be quite a shock to have to read a conversational tangent about the overwhelming glut of common stamp material that exists in the world, all stemming from your well intentioned photo. If it helps at all (and I can see where it might not help), the tangent wasn't about you, or your photo, or your stamps, really.

All a roundabout way to say, read the topic I linked to and then, if you're still keen to know more, seek out a local collector or stamp club to take a look.

PS - Two words that can trigger folks who have been asked the 'what are my stamps worth' question over 1000 times (and some of the folks here really have!): "fair" and "rarity"

- 'fair' can imply you're worried that someone might take advantage of you. Much more likely, the person looking at your stamps is stressed over how you might react when told there is less than zero value in the collection.

- 'rarity' implies monetary value, especially in the mind of a non-collector. A better goal might be 'collectible' as in, are there any stamps here that even a teenager might want to add to their collection? And as you can see from the tangential discussion around your question, most all of the stamps in the photo don't reach the 'collectible' bar.

Hi Appley,

While I think it's possible to see things this way (as "snobbish") I don't think that's what's going on.

Even if you found a local stamp dealer to take and show your material to how do you know that if they in fact found something that is a "rarity" that they'll honestly tell you about it?

Maybe I'm a cynic, but I think it's naive to just accept what a stranger tells you about value. I'd be worried they'd see something valuable and then give you a low-ball offer to try and get it away from you cheap.

The only way to protect against that is to educate yourself using the various resources available. That of course takes time and realistically you probably won't become an expert, but you'll have a sense of things like value and rarity.

I've done that enough to know that of the thousands of stamps I have there really aren't many that are worth more than 5 or 10 cents - if that.

I love the stamps for the sake of themselves. For the stories they tell. If I showed most them on here and asked about their value or rarity I'd get the same kind of reports you're hearing.

If I ever find something that I think might be "rare", I'll bring that one on here and try and get people's opinion. But I'm not going to do that without being as sure as I can about it myself first.

And for what it's worth I don't think the stamps you showed are garbage or trash. I think many could be cleaned up and made part of a collection. That doesn't mean they are rare or valuable but in the process of doing that you'll learn about those things.

Nailed that before I could agree with you NSK.




May I ask you and this not in a manner of being snobbish and derogatory, but why should we waste our time for free to help you find a winning lottery ticket? This is when you yourself refuse to do the work to learn what is and is not valuable. If you will not invest your time for no likely benefit, we should not either. As is said in many arenas, "it doesn't pay to care more than the person you are helping."

That is correct, you have hundreds of stamps which based upon the random sample you show are quite likely, as a group and individually, worthless. You would have better luck finding value by burning your stamps and taking 1 Pound to the local store and buying a lottery ticket(s).

That said, find the address of a retail store from stamp dealers on line, put all of the material into an envelope, mail it to the dealer, and ask for an appraisal. Of course, you should call the dealer first to learn the hourly price for true appraisals. Better yet just send them to the dealer and ask if they are worth anything, please send you a check (or a coin), otherwise tell him he may keep them. If you want them back, be sure to include return postage costs as well as an envelope.

The fact is there are millions of worthless stamps for each stamp for which someone would pay you $5 or 5 Pounds. Your odds are better with lottery tickets. Remember there have been hundreds of billion stamps, if not into the trillions, printed of which not many have any value.

Edited for better English and the stamp image below.

Translated: I only want to hear positive things because without any basis I feel sure there are rarities.

I need a Kleenex.

Appley - Please post more pictures. Take 20 or so and post. Then we can tell you what we see.

Thruout my 83 years I have consistently found that folks who are so knowledgeable about something they find it nearly impossible to lower their thinking to a beginners level. I always reread what I write and ask how I would feel if someone wrote it to me.

Ok, on a beginner's level.

What you have shown us are extremely common, and damaged. No rarities, and probably no interest in them from other people. Either clean up and keep those, or give them away. Or use in an art project, or burn them, or toss in the garbage.

From what you have not posted, but believe you have some type of rarity, then only a few options. Post your best examples for these rarities and let us comment. Bring all of them to a local dealer or stamp show and let them comment. Educate yourself so that you can identify and value the items.

The problem is that you'll have to trust one of those options: this group, the local dealers, or yourself. Of course, if you eventually sell them, then you'll have to trust that they gave you good value for the lot.

Sorry, but the OP admits he is not in the hobby as a collector. He said he is looking for financial gain, not a hobby.

I do not understand why so many in the hobby cannot accept there are those only about the money and care not why you are in the hobby and what, if anything, you get out of it.

@appley,
I can understand your confusion. If I am not mistaken, one or two of your overprinted German stamps have expensive varieties. People who have little experience in the field see the similarity but ignore details like that the expensive item has a dark green and not black overprint, they are on a certain 'shade' of red or green stamp, or that they are only expensive with a readable cancel with a date in a period of maybe ten days in October 1923.

East German stamps had some value in the past. Some had varieties in the state symbol that were rare and valuable. The market for East German stamps has crashed. Your East German stamps have been cancelled to order. Most collectors abhor such stamps.

What is important, even for a valuable stamp, is condition. I am sorry to say the condition of all the stamps you posted is poor. Disappointing as it is, it, also, is the truth. Hopefully, your collection has stamps in much better condition. But what you posted here are very common stamps that are in poor condition.

To answer your question: if you think the reactions here are derogatory and snobbish, you can be sure that if the stamps posted by you are anywhere near representative of the whole collection, chances are a dealer, auctioneer, or appraiser will sent you packing as soon as you show the collection. I.e., you might struggle to find someone willing to go through it and give you anything but an answer to put the lot in an auction without a reserve and hope you get a few tenners after auction fees. Alternatively, they might advise you to sell sets and singles on ebay, but that may take many years.

It, just, is not worth the time to go through a large collection of common, poorly looking stamps hoping to find a rarity in good condition. Unless the collection is organised and the appraiser can go directly to three or four stamps that may be valuable, he will tell you exactly the same as some people have written here.

Your best bet will be to check for the meeting dates of a local philatelic club and ask members whether they would be willing to have a look and tell you if there is a possibility there is anything of interest there. If they say there is, you might approach one or two dealers and point them at the interesting items.

Edit: spelling mistake in OP's alias.

By all means, please do. Waste of lighter fluid, though.

This is a forum for collectors, and you admitted that you're not a collector. No problem with that, and I understand it's a disappointment to learn that you've got essentially worthless stamps on your hands. But worthless only from a financial standpoint. A hobby is a great gift, and perhaps you'd consider picking up stamp collecting?

If you ask others for free help, and you're not a collector, but merely looking for a free appraisal, then at least show evidence that you've done some homework. Petulant threats like the above won't help your case any.

Appley,
Please keep in mind that just because something is old, does not make it rare and/or valuable. I have many things that are old and I will probably have to pay someone to take them away.

The Virtual Stamp Club site has an article providing the links necessary to get a rough idea about your stamps as well as links to reputable dealers. Here is a link to their site https://virtualstampclub.com/inherit.html

When you go to the library to research some of your stamps, you will use most likely the Scott Catalog which provides the value of stamps in Very Fine grade in Mint condition and then Used condition in a similar grade. Note that stamps after about 1940 are valued as if never hinged - that is nothing was affixed to the back of the stamp to secure it into an album. Also, Worldcat site is a must for anyone to know as it provides the libraries which have library materials you seek. So check that site to find the library that has the most current Scott Catalogs.

If your research shows you have something of value, I would order stamp dealer cards and glassines to present the stamps to a dealer, If you find many, store the cards and glassines in a small plastic boxes for temporary storage.

Now for those of you who out of world-weariness automatically stated the stamps shown were garbage and based your assessment of the entire collect on the evidence of just a handful of stamps pictured, please try to avoid doing that. You could have said simply that what is presented shows stamps of little or no fiduciary value. Then you could have pointed the person to the resources I gave or others of your own. If , after this, the OP shows they have done no legwork and continually asked the same question, then the thread could be closed and the OP suspended from posting.

Finally, the Pareto Principle usually applies to the valuation of the content of our collections - the majority of its value will come from 20% of the collection while the remaining 80% will make up the smaller amount of the collection's total value. I experienced this myself when selling off most of my father's collection - the main value was the handful of gold bullion coins in it while the lesser remaining value (which still added to a sizable if modest sum) was from the majority of the collection. And even recently I had the experience of a coin dealer offering melt value for a coin a paid a substantial premium above its melt. The dealer said he liked the coin but he has few buyers for it and recent political events have depressed the value for this coin type. This can happen to stamps as a few of you have noted regarding the collapse of East German stamps on the collectible market. Keeping the aforementioned in mind, the OP needs to be ready to possibly toss some stamps and donate others to new collectors on a small budget (and try to give something with a little value above face as some here have suggested).

Hello chris s, you write a good piece for a new collector wanting to learn about the and enjoy the hobby. The Op's post was to get the more information for the least effort to maximum any potential sales value.

This I must ask you, how many hours will your process involve? Do you think he will average out an hourly wage of minimum wage for his country once he finds and sells all things of value? Will he be able to recoup the expenses involved with the dealer cards and glassines plus the additional labor time to fill the cards and glassines? Time and transportation to the library, the dealer even getting the supplies you name must be compensated for so the OP does lose MORE time and money on this holding of his. Even giving away the stamps of no value will increase his overall loss as compared to recycling them or starting his next fire.