I inherited a sizable stamp collection and the safety deposit box fees are more than what it's worth for me to keep them.

There are a few interesting ones I'd like to keep for sentimental and historical reasons but most need to go.

Any members have some advice to share, connections to auctioneers or private buyers?

PM's are welcome too.

 

There are still stamp shops in OC and SD. You’ll not get quite as much but you can get rid of them in one swoop.

 

Keep me posted? I have just about every UK issued First Day Cover from 1979-1990 and no idea what to do with them. I get the impression that the arse has fallen out of Philately, totally.

 

Lick ‘em?

 

I see what you did there.

 

I will try a few.

 

Honest to Goodness... I didn’t. But thanks for making me appear witty. Appreciated.

But seriously, what’s happened to stamps? Has the market tanked? Has the world lost interest in them?

 

Here in USA.....my great aunt willed me her extensive stamp collection a few years ago(50yrs worth). Unfortunately all since the 1930s. I went to a few coin/stamp shows and got a universal response from dealers....except for very few rare(mostly errors), they are worth the face value if uncancelled. Virtually zero if cancelled. This includes special editions and covers. So sad. The true value was the enjoyment my aunt received writing to her pen pals all over the world and they in return sending her stamps.

Regrettably the same is true of coins for the most part. My grandmother bought every uncirculated & proof set issued from 1960 to the 1990s thinking she was investing in my education....that I would go to college on them. Not even close. Nearly all are only worth face value (albeit a little bump for pre 65 silver). Given the time value of money, she lost about 75% of her investment.

It seems in this market, for both stamps and coins, pre 1900 is the only stuff of real value, with a few exceptions.

 

Wonder if the same will happen with vintage watches

 

It's all about extrinsic vs intrinsic value - and sadly stamps and coins (for anything over face value) along with beanie babies, cookie jars, etc. and even watches are all extrinsic value items. Pretty much all "collectibles" - walk into any antique store and they are overflowing with items around 75-125 years old that pretty much no one wants anymore. Tastes change - it's entirely possible that 10-15 years down the line watches will take a massive hit, much like pocket watches once did. I personally think it is less likely, since watches are far more tasteful than a beanie baby or a cookie jar, but none of us can see into the future.

 

I found mine a few years back, but the glue stuck to the holder. So basically ended up using them to send letters. The problem there was these were 10-15 cent stamps so I needed to use several to make it work and I needed to buy a glue stick. Frankly not worth the time, but I had no idea what to do with them.

Is the value much more than face value? If not, use em for your Christmas cards.

 

Ditto. My uncle was a UN diplomat for Israel and left me boxes full of every FDC from the early 60s to late 90s. They're just in boxes taking up storage space because I don't know anything about them and I'm afraid to toss them just in case they're worth anything.

 

Sadly, watches are not much more useful than stamps for most people these days.

 

It’s true, gluing a watch to a letter will not get the letter to its destination any quicker than a stamp will.

 

I think as the WWW took off, access to things that were collectible skyrocketed, and drove prices down. When AOL first came out I remember selling & buying sports cards in about as insecure of a method as imaginable (instant message correspondence & paper checks through the mail)...all that changed with eBay, and people began to be able to locate items that were previously only accessible via shows or classifieds or a few small forums... And as exponentially more stamps, coins and sports cards exist now than perhaps 50 yrs ago, "condition" is another discerning factor to increase scarcity.

Good luck selling them; if they were late 1800s US or penny red/black UK, I'd be interested! --I collected for a while and still dabble but mostly it's the art I appreciate--early stamps are just beautiful.

 

I am in the business, here in Calgary Alberta Canada. It's true what is reflected in the above posts. The material that sells, is all the stamps and coins that are or were in Grannies safety deposit box! Material in the EdwardVII back to Queen Victoria is what everyone wants up here. Pre 1900 in the USA, high quality, fault-free, limited issue numbers etc....same thing in the watch market. Collectibles have the same issues.

 

My sainted Czech grandmother had an impressive collection of pre war Hummel figurines. When she passed, we had issues with distant relatives or friends in the Slavic community in Trenton NJ all claiming she had promised the collection to them. My mom had a big fight on her hands as my uncle was a total wimp. Fast forward to my uncle passing and they caused trouble again with my siblings. Finally my sister who was handling his estate researched their value and yep ... worth zip. I volunteered to crush em for all the trouble they caused. I’m actually not sure where they are now. My Grandmother just liked the hideous things.

 

Can't elaborate too much on the advice given, worth at least taking to a dealer or show and getting an idea on any/whole lot? If you don't want to keep em, you don't want to keep em I guess!
If there's any worthwhile sell em to the dealer and offload the bulk on eBay for $1 reserve and let the people decide, at least that way they're not being thrown out. That usually what I do with stuff I don't want to keep but don't to throw, rather someone who wants it takes it

I actually collected in my pre and early teens, built up a great friendship with an old guy who worked at the post office down the road.
My English uncle gave me his early collection (all cancelled) and it definitely piqued my interest in traveling and seeing the world wondering where all the little bits of paper came from, trying to figure what country Helvetia was!! And of course pre Google and computers so took a while haha! Have some pretty cool ones I'll definitely hold onto and a lot of late 90s/00s new Zealand FDC's and a $20 NZ post stamp with my cook on it, definitely a favorite and beautiful!
Anyway, let us know what you decide. As I said I haven't looked at value or the collecting community in many years so will be curious what you end up doing?

 

Thanks for all the advice gents.
Many of the stamps I remember are pre-1900 so I guess that’s a blessing. I’ll post some when I get around to sorting the collection.

 

I think it would be worth it to have the collection appraised and graded by an honest service. There are coin services that do this ... must be same for stamps.