Stamps collection

[ram64]

Afternoon all,

 

Someone dear to me has a stamp collection with stamps of various dates (1960s to 1990s) and has asked me on advice how to evaluate and sell them. I don't know much about stamps so I just tried to google it with various results.

I thought maybe I could ask here on the forum for ideas and tips from people that might have real world experience.

How would one evaluate these and sell them? Is there a service/company you could recommend?

 

Thanks

- Alex

[Derv]

@arphethean maybe ?

[Zhorro]

2 hours ago, ram64 said:

Afternoon all,

 

Someone dear to me has a stamp collection with stamps of various dates (1960s to 1990s) and has asked me on advice how to evaluate and sell them. I don't know much about stamps so I just tried to google it with various results.

I thought maybe I could ask here on the forum for ideas and tips from people that might have real world experience.

How would one evaluate these and sell them? Is there a service/company you could recommend?

 

Thanks

- Alex

If we are talking about GB material, it is unlikely the mint stamps will be worth more than face value (apart from the Machin definitives which have recently been demonitized!).  In fact, you may have seen on this Forum that people have sold mint commemorative stamps at below face value, to others wanting to use them for postage.

First Day Covers are plentiful on eBay and unless they have really special cancellations, and are in perfect condition, they are probably only worth pence - if you can find a buyer.

For a stamp collection to be worth serious money, the original owner needs to have spent serious money on it - but even then they could have been buying rubbish!  (Yes, there are Binlords in the philatelic world!) They really need to have specialised and become experts in a particular area.  If however, they were just collecting for fun, then this is how they got their pleasure from it, rather than thinking about it as a serious investment.

So, does it look as if they have spent serious money on it?  Bear in mind that in the 1970s a new set of stamps might have cost 40p every three months, so, you can't really expect these sets to have gone up much in value.

Is the collection well set out?  Are the stamps in chronological order or are they just set out as they were acquired? All this gives an impression as to how serious the collector was.

These days there are not many stamp shops around, though there are a few stamp fairs, but these dealers are probably not very keen to buy the material I have described above.

If you have any specific questions, I will try and answer them.

[ram64]

47 minutes ago, Zhorro said:

If we are talking about GB material, it is unlikely the mint stamps will be worth more than face value (apart from the Machin definitives which have recently been demonitized!).  In fact, you may have seen on this Forum that people have sold mint commemorative stamps at below face value, to others wanting to use them for postage.

First Day Covers are plentiful on eBay and unless they have really special cancellations, and are in perfect condition, they are probably only worth pence - if you can find a buyer.

For a stamp collection to be worth serious money, the original owner needs to have spent serious money on it - but even then they could have been buying rubbish!  (Yes, there are Binlords in the philatelic world!) They really need to have specialised and become experts in a particular area.  If however, they were just collecting for fun, then this is how they got their pleasure from it, rather than thinking about it as a serious investment.

So, does it look as if they have spent serious money on it?  Bear in mind that in the 1970s a new set of stamps might have cost 40p every three months, so, you can't really expect these sets to have gone up much in value.

Is the collection well set out?  Are the stamps in chronological order or are they just set out as they were acquired? All this gives an impression as to how serious the collector was.

These days there are not many stamp shops around, though there are a few stamp fairs, but these dealers are probably not very keen to buy the material I have described above.

If you have any specific questions, I will try and answer them.

Thank you, that's quite a bit of information. I don't think he collected them for investment specifically, more as a passion at the time. I'm aware these might just be duds so I told him to manage his expectations.

I attached some photos of these. 

They are from around the world. A lot are sports themed (Olympics, Football etc). A lot are from Eastern Europe/Russia. A few are from UK and Commonwealth. Some from Asia (Mongolia & Japan I believe). And a few from South America. They are all sorted by dates & geographical location. 

Thanks again for the tips. I'll have to do a bit more reading and research on specific countries/dates I guess.

 

 

[Zhorro]

28 minutes ago, ram64 said:

Thank you, that's quite a bit of information. I don't think he collected them for investment specifically, more as a passion at the time. I'm aware these might just be duds so I told him to manage his expectations.

I attached some photos of these. 

They are from around the world. A lot are sports themed (Olympics, Football etc). A lot are from Eastern Europe/Russia. A few are from UK and Commonwealth. Some from Asia (Mongolia & Japan I believe). And a few from South America. They are all sorted by dates & geographical location. 

Thanks again for the tips. I'll have to do a bit more reading and research on specific countries/dates I guess.

 

 

It looks to be just a fun collection.  I'm not saying there isn't a rare stamp hidden somewhere, but based on these pictures it does not look to be anything special. Whilst thematic collecting is popular, it would have to have a lot more depth to be worth anything significant.  Collections like this are often given to children to develop their interests, or given to charity shops.  I don't think a dealer at a stamp fair would be too excited  Sorry!

[ram64]

1 minute ago, Zhorro said:

It looks to be just a fun collection.  I'm not saying there isn't a rare stamp hidden somewhere, but based on these pictures it does not look to be anything special. Whilst thematic collecting is popular, it would have to have a lot more depth to be worth anything significant.  Collections like this are often given to children to develop their interests, or given to charity shops.  I don't think a dealer at a stamp fair would be too excited  Sorry!

I really appreciate the straight answers. I'll pass on the information. Thank you.