How do you all approach a collection for sale?

I did not think of the APS connection, as I am not a member myself, but I'll keep that in mind.

As to your comment about what my challenge is, I absolutely agree. She doesn't know me from Adam, so I'm sure it will cross her mind that I might be trying to take advantage of her. I was just recommended to her by a good friend of mine that she trusts, because my friend knows I collect. I feel bad that she apparently doesn't have a family member to whom she could hand the collection off.

The lady did return my initial contact yesterday, and we exchanged a few texts. She told me that's she's a bit overwhelmed at the moment, but that she would get back to me in about a month. So, we'll see what happens if she calls me back. I'm hoping it's a mainly US collection. I can judge it better, and maybe make her an offer if it's material that I can add to my own collection.  And I'll take along my Scott catalog, so she can see that I'm not trying to take her, and that the collection is probably not the windfall she or her family may think it is.  I know my family thinks I'm sitting on a gold mine.  lol  

I do not know what you mean, casso,  but I just read David's issue and questions about this matter - I would not like to be responsible for another deceased person's stamp collection. If impossible to deal with the lady who will be in "depression" for awhile and unable to take some decisions, I would introduce a 3rd party for the assessment of the said collection - a reputed Stamp dealer - make arrangements for the collection (if worthwhile) to be viewed and evaluated ($).
I too am not member of APS anymore - wanted at a time to do the book thing but it is not allowed for non  US residents. As for the store, no interest but I respect this fine Org.
Good luck to David 
René

vikingeck
That was a great post and info for Dave's question, with your experiences - I do not think I could do such help and even if I have an old account on Ebay (for buying and selling Guitars - I am a musician) I never used it for selling stamps.
Thanks

René

Dave what is the difference between trading and selling on Ebay Never saw a "trade" - Thanks

René

Ah Rene I think there is a language issue here!. "Trading" does not just mean "exchanging" or "swapping" between partners .

In its widest sense Trading = buying and selling, which is what we do on ebay

Thanks for the explanation but why use both since they mean the same. Buying and/or selling
René

The situation can get dicey.  We get approached in our local club.  It gets complicated if someone is looking for assessment of value or valuation.  There can be an inherent conflict of interest if you give a valuation and then offer to buy.  Of course it depends on the formality of the situation.  We usually tell the 95%+ who show up that it is a invaluable accumulation best given away to a youngster.  Of course we also make some direct offers for smaller lots.  The larger collection are the difficult situations.

So, an update on my original post. The lady from the original post contacted me over the weekend, asking me if I was still interested. I'm going to visit her later today after I leave work, and look over what she has. While talking to her yesterday, I asked her what she ultimately wished to do with the collection. Her response was, "Get it out of my house." She also told me that her out-of-town adult children have warned her to be careful and not let anyone take advantage of her. I assured her that I had no interest in doing that, and she has the word of my friend who gave her my name originally that I can be trusted.

She said her husband had been collecting for a long time, but I'm not holding out hope that he has any buried treasure. I'll have to see the older stuff to determine that. I asked for an idea of some of the material, and the first thing she said was, "Oh, he has a lot of gold stamps!" Oh boy. She seemed genuinely disappointed when I informed her that those aren't going to be worth much...maybe fifty cents to a dollar apiece of she's lucky, and that I really don't have any interest in those. It sounds like he was also pretty good about picking up new issues. She mentioned a lot of forever stamps. I told her those will be best used as postage, but we'll look for anything special. So, I'm curious about what she has, but I have no illusions about what I'm going to find or if I'll get my hands on it cheap. I'll have an update after I pay her a visit.

Good luck daveg28 on this new adventure ! 

René

Report time. I just got home from the lady's house. I can see why she feels overwhelmed. Her husband has binder after binder after binder of basically every sheet of stamps back to about the mid 1990's. Most in multiples of 3 or 4. Still in the plastic packaging they came shipped in the mail. I told her that that was bad. He also had one of every USPS year book going back twenty-five years, stamps included with each. And he had a copy of the USPS stamp guide from every year as well. So, tons of recent material. I told her that it wasn't anything I needed, unfortunately, as I had it all, too. I did say there's a few sheets I need, and she said I could make a list and come back and look for them. The fellow also collected the dreaded gold replica stamps. She was sure these were valuable. I had to break her heart and tell her they are nothing but gold leaf over cardboard, and that each cover MIGHT fetch fifty cents to a dollar, if she could find a buyer. Invoices we found showed he paid about eight bucks apiece.   I lost count how many of the 'official' binders there were of those. At least ten big binders. It was overwhelming.

I asked how long he'd been collecting stamps, and she said at least as long as she'd known him. So I asked where the old stamps were. She had a binder full of a smattering of plate blocks from a handful of prexies to a few in the early 70's. Nice, but nothing exciting, except the prexies, because I like them. She gave me the plate blocks for my time and advice I'd given her. There was a small box of old stamps, most of them damaged and beat up. I started to look through and I began to find a few British Commonwealth and French stamps I liked amongst the bad stamps. She gave me the box. Finally, as we were digging through binders she was pulling off shelves, she handed me a mailing tube. It contained the press sheet of the 2000 space exploration stamps (5 sheets, various face values, holograms...you know the ones). I expressed my interest in that, so she gave me that as well. I kind of felt bad for taking that, but I'm not completely sure what it's worth. But I figure it is good payment for my time and help I gave her. She was grateful, and told me I could come back with a list. I did tell her that there's a local stamp show coming up end of the month, and I'll ask around about what she has.

I kind of wonder if she held the old stuff back from me. If the guy had been collecting that long, there had to be more. Maybe someone advised her to hold back the Columbians or the Scott 1 and 2. Who knows. I have a feeling that I'll be hearing from her again, because she knows now that she can trust me. Can anyone tell me more about the space exploration press sheet? I might frame that, don't know.

Try the deep freeze trick - sometimes works for me to separate stuck stamps. But test it on a cheapie, first. Leave them in the freezer overnight.