Stamps - A Whole Lot of Them.....

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

OK, I am brokering the sale of a deceased person's very large stamp collection. I have approximately $1800 in face value, all mint sheets from the 70's to what I believe to be the late 80's. Face values range from .13 - .32 cents. Lots of .01 - .05 cent stamps as well as a few $1 and $2.90 stamps too.

Calculating the total took me six hours!

What should I be asking for these?

I am thinking about going for 80% of face value on eBay, but I don't know if they will sell there due to the variation of the face values and the high cost. Most stamp lots I see selling for high amounts are 1 or two different kinds, whereas there are hundreds - maybe thousands - of different stamps of all different denominations.

I also have some very old single stamps - some cancelled, some not - from the US as well as Imperial Russia and Nazi Germany. Three or four albums full of them. I haven't even begun to look through them yet.

Any help from the stamp folks here would be appreciated.

[clovis97]

It has been a few years since I've been a stamp shop, but typically, mint unused stamps have sold for face value, less 10%...and they sell fast at that.

I'd try selling at 90% of face.

Of course, you'll find some stamps that have decent premiums above face.

With all that said, it has been a few years since I've messed with stamps.

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

I just got back from Atlanta where I sold them to a stamp dealer.

[brucebob]

Good luck Hombre,

My grandpa just showed me his stamp collection that was given to him by his dad. He literally has at least 20 binders full of stamps. A lot of them are the full sheets. He even did this thing where he would mail himself a letter the day a new stamp was released and the post office would post a special mark on it or something. Pretty interesting to look through but I have a feeling I'm going to be in the same situation as you.

[hombre_de_plata_flaco]

Good luck Hombre,

My grandpa just showed me his stamp collection that was given to him by his dad. He literally has at least 20 binders full of stamps. A lot of them are the full sheets. He even did this thing where he would mail himself a letter the day a new stamp was released and the post office would post a special mark on it or something. Pretty interesting to look through but I have a feeling I'm going to be in the same situation as you.

The 'special mark" is known as a "First Day of Issue", or "First Day Cover", as you said, basically a postmark from the first day that particular stamp was released.

I'm out of the stamp business as of today. I am selling the remainder of the cancelled ones to a guy on craigslist. It's just too tedious a hobby for me to get into personally. I do enjoy the historical aspect of many stamps - particularly the Banking and Commerce one with the money on it (I'm a coin collector).