I need to sell my father’s stamp collection. It’s actually more of an inventory than a “collection” since it consists of about 75,000 stamps.
Here are the things I think are the most important about these stamps:
- About 400 US mint sheets representing approximately 20,000 stamps, and about 1,000 US plate blocks representing approximately 10,000 stamps
- About 20,000 US singles (about 17,000 used), including about 18,000 from before 1970, almost 6,000 from prior to 1950 and about 100 from prior to 1910.
- US mint sets from 1976 (including bicentennial sets) to 1991 and many back-of-the-book items.
- About 25,000 stamps from other countries (about 18,000 used singles), including 16,000 from prior to 1950 and about 900 from prior to 1910 (less than 1,000 are later than 1970).
- Major country collections include British Commonwealth (2,600 items), Canada (4,200 items), Germany (4,400 items including Austria), Hungary (2,600 items), other Eastern European countries (1,400 items including Russia), Scandinavia (1,200 items), Netherlands (1,000 items), Latin America (1,000 items) and the United Nations (1,400 items including UN mint sets from 1964 to 1989 in their original envelopes.)
- Topical collection of “Scouts on Stamps.”
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I have catalogued these stamps in a searchable database which you can see here .
I’m hopeful that these stamps can be sold at auction but I need advice on that as well as assistance on dividing the stamps into lots, describing or presenting them, etc.. I am not looking for an advance or a guaranty and I recognize that the dealer needs to be compensated for their work.
Could you please let me know if you can help me with this project or if I am off-base on their salability? (I can email you scans of individual stamps if you want to see them and the database lets you analyze the stamps in considerable detail.) If you’re interested I’d like to know terms and conditions. You can contact me via email (jerry@obatik.com) or regular mail (Jerry Scott, 6260 First Avenue NW, Seattle, WA 98107) or by phone (206) 784-9815.
Thanks in advance for your consideration and help.