O/T : Need Help W/Stamp Collection...

[Bamacollection]

Here is the situation:

My brother-in-law's father passed away from an extended illness earlier this week. He left what has been discribed as an extensive stamp collection to his wife($100,000 face value). This afternoon, he called me and asked if I knew anyone in the vintage stamp world. I only could think of all of you members. If anybody, individual or otherwise, can help me guide him in a safe direction, I and he would be most appriciative.

I know most here do not agree with this type of thread, but I will thank you all in advance for the tolerance.

Lance

[JamesGallo]

Lance,

Depending on what era the stamps are from they may not have any value above face. If they are 50-60s or later then there is likely nothing worht more then face, if there are earlier you might have a shot.

I know Phil Weiss does stamp auctions and has done very well with them. His site is www.prwauctions.com.

James G

[Bamacollection]

James,
Thanks for the reply. I won't know exactly what they are until next week. From what little he told me, they sound like vintage stamps.

Lance

[Steve D]

Actually, you really need to get before 1930 for the most part in order to have anything worth any significant value. Franklin Roosevelt was a stamp collector, and because of this, stamp collecting exploded in popularity during his presidency. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing therefore, printed exhorbitant amounts of stamps, and these stamps are still worth very little.

If you don't have anything from before 1930, your best bet might be to try to sell them to a dealer(s) for use as postage. Some have been known to pay around 75-80% of face-value. Otherwise, you can always use them as postage, but if you really have ~$100K face-value, this could take beyond your lifetime to accomplish.


Steve

[barrysloate]

I collected stamps for several years and sold some on ebay, so I might be able to help. The information above is correct. U.S. Stamps post 1930 are rarely worth much more than face value. Even the ones from 1900-1930 only have value if they are unused. And while all unused 19th century stamps have some premium value, used ones often aren't worth very much either (although there are always rare ones).

Now you didn't say if these were only from the U.S., and worldwide stamps demand a great deal of knowledge. Anyway, try to find out some more about them and we'll try to help you.

[Goose]

If you get to view this collection and see things like Graf Zeppelins, Scott 1 and 2, and complete Columbus sets take some pics. I've always wanted to get a 1 and 2 just for the heck of it.

[barrysloate]

You can find numerous Scott #1 and #2 on ebay any day of the week, and can pick up used copies in the $200-400 range pretty easily.

[Bamacollection]

My brother-in law is returning to Mobile this evening. I will pass all the info along to him and hopefully he can provide some scans for verification. Again, thanks for the jump-start.

Lance

[Mark]

You also might look in the local classified, craigslist, etc. to see if you can find a slightly used stamp catalog. If you have an international collection/ accumulation, you will want a multivolume kind. Scott's, I think, is a standard.

[barrysloate]

This may sound strange to someone who does not collect stamps, but most American issues sell for about 15-25% of the Scott catalog value. This applies to stamps in average condition with minor flaws. A gem quality stamp will be worth a larger premium, but very few stamps fall into that category.

[tbob]

This may sound strange to someone who does not collect stamps, but most American issues sell for about 15-25% of the Scott catalog value. This applies to stamps in average condition with minor flaws. A gem quality stamp will be worth a larger premium, but very few stamps fall into that category.

Wow! I had no idea that the stamp market was so distressed. My dad is 86 and he has a huge stamp collection which includes plate blocks of almost every stamp from about 1975 backwards to 1900, as I recall. I know he has stamps from the 1800's also but I think I will spare him the sad news so he can think his eventual estate will include a lucrative stamp collection for his son :(

[birdman42]

Bob,

I have a carefully assembled collection that I put together in the 1970s and 80s. A couple years ago I figured I hadn't done anything with it in a good while, so why not get rid of it. (And turn it into cards, of course--alchemy!) After a good bit of investigation I decided it wasn't worth it, = I didn't want to take such a big hit--and that after 20 years of "appreciation." I wrote a note to my heirs about how to dispose of the stamps and placed it in the front of the album. Anything they get out of it will be more than they had before.

And Barry's right on with his numbers. To go for more than 30% of catalog value, a stamp has to have something really special going for it. Of course, that does bring up the question, what good is it to have prices in the catalog in the first place, but we have the same questions about card price guides as well.

Good luck with your Dad.

Bill

[barrysloate]

Bob- I don't know if the stamp market is so distressed (it probably is) or that the catalog is simply way off. We have the same issues in the baseball card hobby with printed prices that do not reflect the market.

If a stamp lists say for $800 but it can be bought on ebay for $125-150, perhaps that is the real value and the catalog is wacky. Could you imagine if Scott's decided to print next year's book to better reflect the true value of stamps, and proceeded to lop off 80% of the previous year's prices? It would likely cause the stamp market to collapse.

Regarding plate blocks- all the ones from the 1940's up are worth a little more than face value, with the exception of some high value ones (a plate block of the $5 Hamilton would have some real punch). If he has some between 1900-30, there's a chance some are valuable.

[oldjudge]

Many mint stamps from the 30s on up actually sell in bulk for less than face. That is why you sometimes see bunches of low value old stamps used as postage

[sb1]

As others have stated generic, average condition stamps are and have always sold for a fraction of Scott catalogue value, mint stamps bringing a percentage of face +/-.

However high grade and or rare stamps are extremely strong right now. Many of the recent auctions have set many records for individual stamps. Graded or certified stamps are the area of strongest interest to collectors of US stamps at this time.

As an example a highest graded PSE 98 Jumbo used copy of Sc #8a that I was quite interested in recently sold at auction. The catalogue was $1,250 the estimate was $5,500, which was also the opening bid. The price realized was $20,000+ the juice. This is just one of many examples from that particular sale. There were many more from this auction and others this Spring.

Scott

[barrysloate]

Scott is correct, but the number of stamps that fall into that gem category is extremely small. Nearly all stamps typically transacted have at minimum small flaws, and often are poorly centered with narrow margins. And these sell for a fraction of catalog.

Scott 8a is an early 1850's stamp and quite scarce. Of course if it is a gem PSE 98 it is going to sell for a huge premium. But maybe 1 in 10,000 examples would fall into that category. You are citing a high end extreme, and that area of any market is always in high demand.

Please note each of my paragraphs begins with "Scott" but are entirely unrelated.

[JamesGallo]

I can relate, I am sitting on 10s of thousands of dollars in face value stamps from the 60s-70s. I have thoughta about going through them but I just don't think it's worth the time as I have yet to hear from anyone that there is anything worth a thing. Most are 6,8 10 or 12 cents, but damn sheet after sheet adds up to a huge value fast.

I found some neat baseball and football sheets from 69 that are probably worth more as a sports collectible then as stamps.

How I wish my grandmother collected cards or almost anything aside from stamps but that and coins were the in thing then....

James G

[barrysloate]

James- when I was growing up in the late 1950's and early 1960's the big thing was Proof Sets. Every year my dad would send away to the Mint for a bunch of them. We felt certain they were going to be really valuable one day.

If he only took the same amount of money and bought boxes of baseball card wax packs and put them away unopened. But nobody ever thought of doing that. And that's why they are so valuable today.

[egbeachley]

I think maybe the term face value was misused. Maybe he meant book value. If it was face value, then the collection is worth at least that much - I believe the post office will take it back and pay you at face value.

[Rob D.]

I believe the post office will take it back and pay you at face value.

If this is true, I'd insist on cash.

[JamesGallo]

This used to be true, you could get cash or current stamps. As far as I know that all changed as on 2009 they will no longer do that.

Some stamps are damn nice, its kinda a shame no one really cares anymore.

James G

[birdman42]

I think maybe the term face value was misused. Maybe he meant book value. If it was face value, then the collection is worth at least that much - I believe the post office will take it back and pay you at face value.

Sadly, not the case. The Postal Service has sold you (or someone) the service; it's not up to them how or whether you use it. In fact, they'd prefer you didn't use the service you just paid for. Why do you think they spend so much money promoting stamp "collecting"?

There's an active market in below-face value postage. The Post Office has no use for all those scuzzy part-sheets of 13 cent stamps with the gum missing. My dear, late father-in-law, however, delighted in the thought that he was putting one over on Uncle Sam by paying only 90 cents on the dollar for postage stamps on the secondary market.

Bill

[Rich Klein]

When I used to do card store visits for my dealings in the 80's -- many of my better friends had combo card/stamp/coin stores. A good trade off; they'd let me look through NWPS (New Purchases) and I would teach them things they might not always know.

However; I did learn a few things.

1) Stamps bought over the counter were purchased at approximately 10 percent of catalog (that is; if the dealer were interested)

2) Unused postage was bought at 75-80 percent of face. Yes; bought at less than face.

What I remember; but could not google.

Supposedly; there was a big lawsuit between Greg Manning Auctioneers (who later owned Teletrade) and Scott's catalog when Scott lowered the prices in their catalog to reflect more of the reality of the real "market" rather than a market based on this purchasing of stamps at 10 percent. I heard this a couple of times but never saw anything. A link to a story or the suit about this would be great.

A google using the terms Greg Manning and Lawsuit brings up fascinating links which are not germane to this discussion.

In other words; unless you have a real scarcity -- take a reasonable offer and move on

Rich