Stamps, Coins, Oddity
Hello looking for any advice & direction to go about becoming a seller I have a Lot of stamps roughly 20,000 MNH and Used years from 1800's to current date, sheets, souvenir sheets, FDC,s, Gold Replicas, etc, for Coins I got a lot also and wonder how big a interest they be on here got as follows in Mint Unc Condition and Circlated Wheat Penny's 600+ from 1909 including 1909 VDB upto 1958 used and Mint 50+ 1943 Steelies, Indian Penny's 20+ Various years from 1800's to 1908 Various conditions, Canadians Cents/ centennials 10+ , Buffalo Nickels 60+ Various conditions and dates and a few dozen no dates perfect for a side project jewelery makers love um, also got 25 & 50 cent bicentennial quarters, $1 Presidential dollars and $1 Sacagawa dollars, Gold Plated Penny's, Gold Plated State Quaters, Gold Plated Bicentennial Quarters, Gold Plated 50 cent pieces JFK, Gold Plated Jefferson Buffalo style Nickels, Gold Plated Original Buffalo Nickels, few Silver Jefferson War Nickels, 1 Silver gram coin, 20 1 Ounce Bullion Mint Uncirculated different designs, 10+ Ancient Roman Coins Various years and Rulers and more, oddity got lots of Gold plated random designs of smalls stuff like swords, ships, anchors, cats, dogs, birds, fish, plants, religious, and many other designs and stuff along those lines all they above if any one can give advice and or direction to go about this please let me know and I appreciate any help got a lot of work ahead of me no doubt!
Comments
On the topic of "gold replica stamps", they are basically worthless. They were a scam created by "Franklin Mint", sold over priced to people who weren't stamp collectors as something that "collectors will really want later", and they aren't even made with gold... (as it turns out). They have 0 value to stamp collectors, you might be lucky to find someone who actually collects the "gold replicas", and maybe get $10 - $20 for it.
The other stamps, singles, sheets, etc. yes, this is the place. If you don't know what the material is that you've got (are the world wide? or does it focus on US?) if it's US, get a copy (recommend eCatalog) of Scott's (that's not me) Specialized Catalog of US Stamps and Covers, and spend some time with it and your material. If you're unsure, you can come post some images here, and we'll try to help you (we being the Hipstamp community, we don't work for the site, but we LOVE out stamps, and helping people ease into getting value from there collections).
If you're in a hurry, you could try selling it as a collection, or if they are different countries, break them up into countries, post the photos and start your bidding at whatever you feel comfortable with. (There are 2 schools of thought on this, you can take a low start value like $1 and expect the stamp community will bid accordingly to it's value, and this can work for many things) Or you can set it at a price you're happy with, and either stick to that, or accept offers on it, until you get one you're happy with.
Beware 2 things: 1) don't post bogus stuff, or prices that aren't reflective of the material (read Hipstamps policy on this). For instance, don't list a $10 catalog value stamp on cover for $200 and call it "Rare address" or something silly like that. (We've seen it all...) 2) if you're going to list individual items, don't misrepresent cheap things as high value (for one, they will never sell anyway, and another, it just annoys buyers, and they won't buy your other material).
That's my advise without being able to see it. What you do with the other stuff.... um, pass.
One point of interest here concerning your Gold Replicas & Gold Foil FDC.. The market price of 999. gold must be $1'6 00/Ounce minimum for the cost of processing/separating the incredible thin layer of gold from the base metal.. Anything less & the Refinery/Smelter will loose money. As well, they will require a minimum ammount far greater than what you have..it is really a tough sell at any price.
You need to realize too, modern mint U.S. stamps may be considered postage.. if so, expect to receive between 40%-60% of face.
I understand I am speaking sight unseen, but 20'000 stamps might all be mission/packet material. When I worked in a Scottsdale Brick&Morter I would buy at 1cent each so I always had a box for young children to rummage.
As for auctions would love to put together a fairly nice size lot together for bidding pleasure and a few BIN listings hoping to start Next Month! Also I seen FDC with coins attached makes me wonder if anyone be interested in sets like stamps matched with the coin examples the Indian head Penny stamp got those Mint and used and the Indian head Penny got those Used n mint condition perhaps if I made something special to showcase them on for flair? Would also love to do the Buffalo Indian Nickel with Bison, Indian same as Indian penny etc
As for auctions would love to put together a fairly nice size lot together for bidding pleasure and a few BIN listings hoping to start Next Month! Also I seen FDC with coins attached makes me wonder if anyone be interested in sets like stamps matched with the coin examples the Indian head Penny stamp got those Mint and used and the Indian head Penny got those Used n mint condition perhaps if I made something special to showcase them on for flair? Would also love to do the Buffalo Indian Nickel with Bison, Indian same as Indian penny etc
Brett, when you open a store and start listing, place a link to the store in this thread, so we can have a look.
The Mint has millions of them in warehouses, so unless they are graded or errors, they are worth........$1 each
But I did get my 53 Franklin Proof to complete the set.
:::does happy dance:::
A noob question anyone know the best online site to do top to bottom research on stamps and I mean any stamp the world has to offer info like Date issued, Place of origin, Market value of used/mint etc, Rarity, History and all the other good stuff just so when I make sets/series I can 110% properly advertise!
Your best bet (and I think someone mentioned this before) is to find an old set of Scott books, if someone has a complete world set, and start there. You can get them online, but you will pay a premium for that, but if the collection is really high value, I would do it... I think the full set will run you around $450 to $600, depending on whether you get some of the specialized volumes as well. It's been a long time since I priced or looked at a full set of Scott catalogs.
Also, one thing you might try, if you have a local library near by, you may be able to find a set of Scott catalogs there, and if they allow those to be borrowed (some libraries don't lend "reference material" which the Scott Catalogs are sometimes classified as), but you could also bring some of the things in question that you're having a harder time with there, and research them at the library.
I mention this because as a kid, with $0 when I started collecting, this is EXACTLY how I used to ID stuff. And I think my library had 2 sets of Scott, one that they would lend, and one they would not (the lend copy was older).
Sometimes the "good ol' ways" are still the best ways.