The Hurdles of Buying Postage Stamp Collection

Good information. I was struck by the following sentence, "While a medium size collection contains 40 to 70 thousand stamps, some collectors accumulate up to a quarter million stamps and more." A medium collection contains 40-70 thousand stamps? I don't doubt that, I just don't know how someone was appraise that many stamps. Seems like it would take more time than it would be worth, and that's just a medium size collection.

 

Great information Nick, hopefully heirs and family members are given accurate information ahead of time and understand what stamps are of substantial value and which are harder for a dealer to sell.

 

Nick. A useful article for heirs.

I was struck by #2 in your article and reminded of my experiences as a curator for a university special collections. A part of my duties was the solicitation and acceptance of of gift materials for special collections, i.e. photographs, books, personal papers, maps, etc. It was my experience that heirs had the most emotional attachment to 1. photos, 2. book collections, and 3. personal papers. After those three, there was less concern about giving things. I was offered very few stamp or coin collections and never solicited either. The heirs always thought there money to be had there and sold them quickly. Just as well, because giving stamp and coin collections to a university/historical society is not wise. Once given they are rarely shown or used for research and, in most cases, staff don't know how to properly care for either.

Don