if you are interesting in valuing a collection on your own, the first step is to get an idea of what's in the collection. The more work you do, the more you'll get from the collection.
First, sort the material in the collection by country, and sort the covers (envelopes) from the stamps within the countries. Next, go to your public library and ask to see the stamp catalogs most have in the Reference Department. Scott Catalogs are the standard in the U.S., Stanley Gibbons in Britain and many British Commonwealth countries, Michel in Germany and other parts of Europe, and Yvert in France and French-speaking countries. If the library has some not-quite-current versions, you may be allowed to take check them out.
Look up some or all of the stamps in the collection. Keep in mind that the minimum value in the Scott Stamp Catalogs is 20 cents, no matter how undesirable the stamp is, so don't mistake 1,000 20-cent stamps for $200. Also don't mistake catalog values for what a dealer will pay you. Stamp dealers who buy and sell at the same price don't remain in business very long!
What you're looking for is to see if the values of any of the stamps in the collection jump out at you - significantly higher than the others. Make a note of those.
If the entire collection consists of "better" stamps, and especially better stamps in a single country or subject, then you'll want to contact a dealer. If they're all mediocre stamps, your best bet may be to donate them to a charitable organization, as discussed above. The tax deduction may be worth more than whatever cash you'd get from a dealer.
To get several quick looks at a collection at once, and if the collection is small enough to be portable, you might want to take it to a local stamp show; you can find upcoming shows on our "Shows" page. However, dealers at a show are often pressed for time and distracted, so this may be best only for getting a "ballpark" idea about the collection. |
