BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please

Subject: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 31 May 15 - 07:01 AM

I volunteer at a charity shop, and we were recently donated a big bag of old stamps.

There are literally thousands of them. Being no philatelist, I'm not sure what to do with them.

I'm spending my day sorting through them. Most are British, some recent, but a lot from the '50s and '60s which may be worth something. Googling one at random gave a £4 price.

I have neither the time nor inclination to try and sell them individually in the shop or on eBay. Any suggestions?

Also, some of them are just bog standard, fairly recent ones. I recall certain charities used to want those. Is that still the case?

Thanks,

Ed

Subject: RE: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: Jack Campin
Date: 31 May 15 - 07:18 AM

Do you have another volunteer at the shop who could take this on?

I work in a charity shop and we had a ten-year accumulation of them to sort out - the previous manager hadn't wanted to do it. Mostly in albums, they filled a stack of removal boxes eight feet high, there must have been a few million. So we paid one of the staff to take two weeks off work and stay at home with his flat carpeted with stamps looking them up on the web. It made us a few thousand.

The oldest ones were obvious. Less obvious were the first day covers, which can be worth a lot more than you'd think.

Subject: RE: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 31 May 15 - 07:41 AM

I'll never forget Uncle John's stamp collection. When he died, some relatives got excited - after all he had been collecting for years - but my father (his brother) reckoned there was little of real value. (I know he collected stamps until say about 20 but he's more experienced in Norfolk token coins and postcards).

I can't remember exactly how it worked but I think the end decision was to take the lot to an auctioneer they trusted who would know how to split things into lots.

Subject: RE: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 31 May 15 - 08:02 AM

(Just chatted with Pip. We think the rumoured expectations were at least in the 10s of thousands, my fathers pessimistic view was around 1K and the auction result was in the 2-3K range).

Subject: RE: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 01 Jun 15 - 05:40 AM

Hi Ed - unfortunately, I doubt if the stamps as you've described would be worth all that much, even if there's a large quantity of them. My advice would be to randomly pack them into bags of 100 or 200, and sell them for a quid each. Even then, they might not sell, but that I think might be the best way for you and the charity unless someone is inclined to put a lot of time and effort into it.
Best of luck, Kenny

Subject: RE: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: Will Fly
Date: 01 Jun 15 - 06:12 AM

Just one comment: as with old vinyl, condition is everything for stamps which might have some rarity value. Even just one bent or lost perforation on a stamp can make a huge difference in value. If you don't have the time to sort through in detail, then taking the lot to an auction house - perhaps a specialist one - is good advice.

Subject: RE: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 01 Jun 15 - 01:36 PM

Thanks, everyone.

Whilst being no expert in these things, I think that you're dead wrong, GUEST, kenny.

Many aren't worth much, but if sites such as gbstamps.co.uk tell me that certain stamps are worth £5 to £10 quid each, who am I to disagree?

Subject: RE: BS: Any UK Stamp collectors? Advice please
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 01 Jun 15 - 07:10 PM

Well, you did ask for advice, Ed, and without any more details about the stamps in your possession, I still think my advice is good, but go ahead, and the best of luck to you. Very happy to be proved wrong if the charity benefits - do let us know how you get on.
Actually, purely out of curiousity, which stamps do you have which are worth £5 - £10 ?