Hey I need some help here.

[parntz145]

I was left my grandfathers stamp collection in his will. I dont know crap about stamps and really dont care to learn. I looked through them and there are alot of them. They all range from old to new. I was wondering if anyone can help me put a value on these things. I live in NJ and have found some collectors that buy, but you know they are going to rip me off. What should I do? There are just to many of these things to look up and try and put a value on. Any help will be appreciated. Paul

[finnman]

Re: Hey I need some help here.

Find a place that will give you an "Appraisal"
They will charge you a fee, but at least you will know the value before you try and sell them.
Good Luck!!

[parntz145]

Re: Hey I need some help here.

Thats what I was thinking. But these palces also give you a low ball and then try and buy them from you real cheap. Thanks for your advice. paul

[Rhmsc8]

Re: Hey I need some help here.

Tell them up front that it was your grandfathers collection and you would like to keep them in the family, you are not interested is selling them. Personally I would say I needed a written appraisal for insurance purposes. I don't know if they take things out of view when they do the appraisal or not.... I would lay them out and take many pictures before I went down there.

Good luck

[RacerX]

Re: Hey I need some help here.

2 words: Antiques Roadshow! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[parntz145]

Re: Hey I need some help here.

[ QUOTE ]
2 words: Antiques Roadshow! [img]/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]Good one. When I take them down to get appraised im not letting the stamps out of my sight. everything will be done right infront of me. Im hoping to get enough cash out of these for a real nice piece of gear. Maybe another GMW or a Suhr.

[kremit]

Re: Hey I need some help here.

I was left one last year that was started when my great grandmother was a little girl. Over a hundred years later and my grandfather adding to it his whole life the collection fills 4 36x24x24 boxes and 2 20gal totes. There are quite a few bound collections & collectors editions, foreign stamps, framed series, stuff that goes back almost to the beginning of stamps, etc.

I found it an almost impossible task to log & appraise the collection. I gave up after 3 solid days of just trying to sort things out. In talking to a guy who appraised the coin collection I inherited at the same time he said it was very difficult to do stamps and normally people sell the whole lot with only a couple of samples checked to get a very rough idea of value, condition, age and rarity or the collectors knowledge of the rarities (like they'll look for stuff in binders, page protectors, frames, etc as that's where - in theory - "the money" will be).

I figure it can't hurt to keep it and maybe it'll bail me out of a jam sometime in the future.....