Any Stamp Collectors here? need some help

[Cush]

My dad wants me to go through his dad's old stamp books just to see whats there and maybe get some rough estiamtes on prices. Any reccommendations on price guides, or maybe any online sites?

There are both US and International stamps here. Some of the international stamps are over a hundred years old, some of these countries don't even exist any more (or just have new names).

I was a sports card collector, so I'm pretty clueless when it comes to stamps.

I have a ton to go through, & my dad didn't even bring all of them over. Lol

thanks

[ProudGerman]

1. Why not go to a pro

Its likely there is more than a few thousand dollars worth in this collection, why not have a professional go through the collection? That way you'd get an accurate estimate of the value, and if you decide to sell he can probably find you a buyer.

[Cush]

2. nah

Not sure if they're that valuable. My grandfather sold his most expensive ones ($5,000+) a few years before he died

[Don_G]

3. You Might Check With Your Library First

To see if they have a Stamp Guide you can check out. Shouldn't have to be a current one to give you a rough idea of the value and cheaper than buying a new one that you won't have any further use for.

[Superfly]

4. Get one of the Scott guides

That's what I've used to catalogue all my stamps in an excel spreadsheet. The Scott indexing system is the one by which all others are measured.

[dwckabal]

5. A few years ago, I considered selling

my collection. I boughta book, entitled Top Dollar Paid: The Complete Guide to Selling Your Stamps

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0882190229/qid=1068423583/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/102-2445131-4962538?v=glance&s=books

Basically he says that dealers buy collections, not individual stamps (unless they are extemely rare). So if the collection still has some stamps of value, you may get good money for it.

[mlawson]

6. 3 factors: CONDITION, quantity issued, and demand.

Condition is far more important than the others. If a stamp is torn, thinned, glued to an album page, or dirty, the value approaches zero, unless the item is EXTREMELY rare!

Quantity issued: many stamps over a hundred years old were issued in the BILLIONS. Some issued ten years ago were issued less than 100,000. Unfortunately, Scott Catalogues do not give you quantities (or much else important, IMO). But a competent dealer will know.

Demand. Some stamps from certain countries have little or no demand, regardless of quantities. Examples would be Uruguay, Romania, etc. A dealer also knows which countries are 'hot' at present.

If you think a dealer is offering you a price too low, get a second opinion. Do not begin the conversation with, "I don't know anything about stamps", or "These are so old, they MUST be valuable'.

Good luck.