HUGE USA stamp collection 1890s - 1960s for sale, one at a time or in bulk.

[BBcardsRI]

HUGE USA stamp collection 1890's - 1960's for sale, one at a time or in bulk.

Hey guys. Haven't stopped by the forums in a while as I've been out of the Coin Roll Hunting/Coin Collecting hobby for a bit. But I just received an insanely large stamp collection that belonged to my Uncle's father. It is almost entirely USA stamps, though there are some from other countries. They go back into the late 1800's and as early as the mid to late 1960's.

There is everything from single canceled and single unused stamps up to entire pages of unused stamps. There are many blocks of four, most of which include the plate numbering. They include normal postage stamps, special delivery, air mail, different sales tax stamps, Christmas Easter Seal stamps, special handling, certified mail. I also have some unused one cent postage post cards.

There are many THOUSANDS of stamps total including single loose stamps, blocks, books, mint block booklets, various collector binders, etc.

I am not familiar with stamps, though I am learning fast now as I have been tasked with trying to sell these. The man who collected them had a notebook where he cataloged some of the better ones with values. No idea what year he wrote it and how values have gone up in down, but some are into the hundreds of dollars including a block of four deep orange 1925 (I think) special delivery stamps of 15cents valued at over $600

He kept them in fantastic shape and most are uncanceled/unused stamps. Almost all are unhinged as well.

I figured I would post this here before truly going through them self and really going after selling them, probably on ebay individually in an ebay store setting. I thought some of you might be collectors and looking to fill some holes or perhaps be interested in buying a bulk collection to try and keep some for yourself and sell off the rest.

I will take some pictures to give you an idea of the sheer amount of them and conditions, etc. And maybe some closeups of what I think are the more valuable ones soon.

 

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[Mackaydon]

I'll be interested to see the pics you intend post.
I'm also sure you realize the collectible market is not what it used to be; and that applies particularly to stamp collecting. For example, the Official Blackbook Price Guide of US Postage Stamps (2013) reflects a retail value of $240 for a plate block of the E-13 (the "Deep Orange" Special Delivery stamp) from the series 1922-1925.

You must also be kidding when you mentioned selling thousands individually on eBay; that (to me) would take another lifetime of effort--and expense.
Don.......

 

[BBcardsRI]

Thanks for the reply and interest Don. I will post a bunch of pics today as I have nothing going on. Thanks for looking up the deep orange ones for me, Seems they dropped about 60% or so which will be a good price marker for the rest of the values he wrote down as well. =)

I was kind of kidding on the individual selling but a bit serious as well. =) I've done it before with baseball cards. I'd plan on using the same tactic which would be take a closeup high quality picture of the stamp/card and give a very short general description without looking up the official name/listing of the car/stamp and just use a templated post. I'm also out of work currently so it would keep me busy. =) I used to easily list a hundred or more baseball cards in a days sitting before I got bored. And I love collectibles like cards and stamps so it would be entertaining.

When I post pictures are there any specifically you would like to see? I'll pots a couple of the whole collection from a distance then take some close ups of a few of the bettter/cooler ones unless you or others ask for specifics.

 

[FC-Treasure]

I am a US stamp collector and buy/sell on eBay occasionally. So the stamps that hold the most value will be stuff from before 1930. There are exceptions, in particular some stamps with face value of > $1.00, error stamps, stamps on covers that are signed by someone famous, etc. The Scott specialized catalog of united states stamps & covers is a very comprehensive pricing guide with color pictures that covers all aspects of US stamp collecting, including the more obscure "back of book" items. Prices in the Scott catalog are way off though, when compared to Ebay. This is unless you have pristine stamps with exception centering and large margins. With stamps, much of the value in the earlier issues comes from how well balanced all 4 margins are. So if you have stamps with "jumbo margins" and perfect centering, you can realize more than the catalog value.

You have to take high quality pictures of everything. If you poke around in the "box lot", collection section of stamps on eBay, you will see listings with 100's of photos.

I like to look at completed listings on eBay to get a sense of value. You have to take quality into account though, quality is everything. You will find that most of the modern issues go for less than face value on eBay. Sheets, commemoratives, and plate blocks might go for face if the condition is perfect. A lot of times I buy modern collections on eBay and just break down the majority of the collection for postage. I recently bought a little too much and I've got about $1,000 bucks worth sitting in my office. I need to resell some of it because it will take forever to mail that much postage.

I'd be interested in seeing your stamps from 1920 or older (especially the pre-1900 ones) Also, if you have any interesting back of the book. (e.g. tax stamps, postal due, etc)

 

[BBcardsRI]

Thanks a ton for the reply!

If either of you or anyone else wants to chat about these my instant messengers are: [email protected] for MSN and BBcardsRI for AIM.

Here are some distant pics of the lot just to get a general idea of how massive it is:



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[FC-Treasure]

How is it organized? So from the pictures, it appears to be a collection of different lots that he may have purchased elsewhere. Is there one or two albums where all the good stuff was placed? What's in the two albums at the top of the first picture? The mint block booklet might be interesting. To be honest, its a bit of a hodgepodge. There may be something of value, maybe not. A couple of hints for selling it:

1) Don't show damaged items in a lot. Break them out and sell the separately as they degrade your auction value.
2) Break out face value from the other stuff and sell it separately. If you mention face value, buyers will think of the lot as a face value lot and that will set a ceiling on bids. Stamps after 1950 can be considered for their face value IMHO.
3) Sometimes lots where people can't see everything, but can see something of real value, can go for a high amount, because people like a treasure hunt. So they think, "this guy doesn't know stamps, there is something of value showing, there must be something else of value as well".
4) If you find an item of serious value, e.g. worth over $100 on eBay, then break it out and sell it. If it is damaged, then display it prominently in the treasure hunt lot.

 

[FC-Treasure]

Oh, and you are going to need much clearer pictures on eBay.

 

[BBcardsRI]

Looked through them some more and also brought the collection to a guy who runs a stamp business. He scanned the majority of the collection very fast and didn't find anything worth a ton, though he marked a half dozen or so pieces that are worth $20-$200 range for me. Though a couple of those pieces were random ones that just fell out of a book or envelope so he very well may have passed on other good ones and just not seen them.

Some of the better ones were:
- C9 green 20 cent airmail block of four (not a plate block) never hinged.
- green 25 cent special handling
- four block of #417 12 cent franklins
- plate block of four 50 cent #831 taft never hinged.
- 603 joint line pair of 10 cent monroe

There are also two albums of foreign stamps from a fairly large number of countries from the 1850's-1920's etc. if anyone is interested in foreign stamps.

 

[Mackaydon]

US stamps, on balance, will have the greatest value. If I were in your shoes--and had the time--I'd catalog each US stamp. (Place a Scott's Catalog number next to each stamp and note if the stamp is used, unused or unused and never hinged.) Once cataloged, you'll have several alternative paths to proceed. (Bulk sale, individual sales, donation, etc.) I specifically wrote 'donation' since any Boy Scout Stamp Collecting Merit Badge counselor would probably drool at your donation. The donation might only be those stamps where further effort to sell would not be worth the time.
No doubt each of us who is responding to your initial posting could write endless paragraphs regarding the choices you can make. In general, I've suggested just one 'baby step'; catalog your US issues. Once that is completed you will have had plenty of time to decide what to do next.
Don.... ( a collector for 50 years-no typo)

 

[FC-Treasure]

When I have foreign collections, I usually try to sell them to people in the respective countries. I've had good luck selling stamps in Germany for instance via eBay. People tend to like collecting stamps from their own country and that is how you can get the most money. I once made a couple hundred dollars selling a Mongolian stamp collection to someone in Mongolia. (no kidding). The Mongolian stamps have next to no value in the US, but someone wanted them...

 

[BBcardsRI]

Thanks again guys for all the replies. I have a scanner which takes very nice quality images of the stamps so if anyone is looking for something specific let me know and I can scan some stuff up for you.

 

[Mackaydon]

Like FC-Treasure wrote above, I, too, would be interest,initially, in seeing pics of your US issues before 1930 and preferably before 1900.
Don.....