Stamps...thousands of them, for sale

[twistidd]

Hey guys! An older coworker of mine has recently moved his elderly father into an assisted living community/hospital due to the fact that he is unable to function normally anymore. Over the last year, my coworker (who is truly a great person but is without a doubt one of the least sentimental individuals I know) has been cleaning out his old father's house since he will be putting it up for sale. It turns out that his father had collected all kinds of stuff, namely coins and stamps. Unbeknownst to me, he took the coins (which he said we "just old silver coins"...grrr!) to a coin shop and took whatever the shop owner offered. I had to tell him to slow down with moving all of the old stuff since some of it may be valuable. So, he told me he still had "thousands" of stamps his father had collected, or, whatever was left after he used many of them! Yeah, he was using vintage stamps to mail letters. I told him to stop. I told him to hand me over the stamps so that I can take a look. It turns out that his father was indeed the owner of thousands and thousands of stamps, mostly from the 40's to the 60's but many going back to the 1870's. The vast majority of these stamps are unused and in awesome shape. Most are still in the wrapper (blocks of four), and many still are in albums. He gave me four big albums to look at, a gigantic manilla envelope full to the brim, plus he's got more "somewhere around that old house".

Anyway, I've got all these stamps and I'd hate to see them not appreciated. I have been looking at many of them and it has been a great storybook of the 20th century. There are all kinds of commemorative stamps in the mix. I wish I could take photos, but I don't have a digital camera. I'd like to try to sell as many of these as I can and get my coworker some money for them. If I had the cash, I'd buy them all myself, trust me. As a matter of fact, I might take a few

So, he is willing to sell them cheap, he just doesn't want them anymore. If anyone here collects stamps, wants to collect stamps, or knows anyone who collects stamps, let me know. I can try to borrow a camera to photograph them, but honestly, there are so many, it would be best if you came to check them out. So...let me know, if anyone is interested.

Joe

 

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[davebien]

That's great that you're honest enough to help your co-worker out like this and not take advantage. About all I know about stamps is, "yup, those look like stamps". I'm sure the stamps are worth way more than face value. WTG

 

[Mackaydon]

Joe:

It's good that you wish to show appreciation to what has been collected. In my opinion, to show that appreciation the collection needs to be reviewed and appraised by a dealer. I suggest you call a couple stamp dealers in the Chicago area and make appointments to have each of them (separately) review this collection. It may take hours to properly review. (Tell them in general terms what you are bringing in so that they can set some time aside for at least a cursory review.)

That green Washington stamp, for example, was issued in 1870/1871; and there are several variations, each with a different value. The spread of value could be tenfold--or more. With unused (mint) stamps, the value spread could easily be even greater, compared to 'used' stamps.

Also, blocks of four have a different value than 'plate blocks' of four where the stamp sheet's number is included. If the man was an avid collector (meaning he purchased and traded for stamps), then you/he may have some stamps of substantial value.

Good luck,
Don.......

 

[Lowbatts]

Kudos to you Joe, good job and karma!

 

[DPBOB]

all I know is that I found a couple books that were partially filled and the oldest stamp in it was from 1868.
I sold the whole lot on ebay several years ago for $167.00 Not a bad garbage find.