OT: anyone want stamps at 10% below list?

I have a friend with a lot of stamps from a stamp collection - probably dates back to 20s or 30s - which he wants to be rid of - I dont' like using them for postage, it's just too much of a pain for packages, but I know some of you folks ship out a lot of stuff - if interested, contact me off the list - I think he would need to sell $100 or so at a time. there are lots of full sheets, 1/4 sheets, all the stuff collectors used to want - but of course there is no market for collector stamps and he will die before he uses them up as postage.
It's actually pretty funny to go to the post office with a flat rate box covered with stamps on 5 of 6 sides.... but I'm over that amusement.
I will be visiting him tomorrow, so if you catch this and respond right away, I can put you in touch
don't reply to this, get my email from my web site below and contact me off the list

Bill Noble wrote:
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This is a joke, right?
Too much trouble to go to a stamp dealer and sell them on consignment? A well done careful collection can be worth thousands more than face value.
David

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Not always. There are many collectors who sell "overcollected" stuff below face value.

rangerssuck wrote:
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Which is why I said "can be worth". The OP doesn't seem qualified to judge the value of the collection if all he sees is face value, so I recommended he get a better opinion from a dealer. Two or three of the best of his collection may be worth many times more than the value of everything else there.
Did you notice the word "may" in that last sentence?
David

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My father had the same problem. He collected stamps for many years. They never appreciated in value, so he used them for postage. He actually lost money when you consider the buying power of a dollar in the 20s and 30s compared to today.
RWL

On Jul 19, 11:15 am, GeoLane at PTD dot NET <GeoLane at PTD dot NET> wrote:
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Hence the new (in the past couple of years) "forever" stamps, which are good for whatever the first class postage rate is. These are actually not a terribly bad investment.

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no, not a joke - the dealers have plenty of stamps, so unless you have something really special they don't want them. If you want some, in reasonable amounts like I suggested, then contact me. to sell to a dealer, one would take much less, and some of these probably have some collector value to someone, just not my friend. I got rid of my collection in the 60s, but had the same issue, even as a kid - I decided not to collect, took the books, the equipment and the collection to the local dealer and he offered me $15 - I said there was $32 worth of stamps, so I got $32 for the whole lot.
Same with coins - I had $100 in very nice (but not uncirculated) liberty dollars from mid 1800s - coin dealers wouldn't pay a premium, so I spent them. (this was a while back, they may bring a little premium now)

Bill Noble wrote:
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Based on this, I conclude that you've already verified that there aren't any high value items in the collection. Thanks, but I don't use stamps much and bought enough of the new first class stamps to fill my needs for a long time.
David

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Indeed they will. Silver coinage was struck with silver valued @ $1.29/oz. That's telling you that there is 110/129 off a troy ounce of silver in a silver dollar, or ten dimes. They are worth approximately 10 times face value as scrap.
A sorry statement about the loss of buying power of our money.
Harold

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Oops!
That should have read 100/129, not 110/129.
Sigh!
Harold

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although, given the inflation from say 1965 to now, I was probably better off spending them on whatever it was that I spent them on - or even putting them in the bank - only 10X over nearly 50 years?
now, I'd sure love to find someone who wants to take $100 of these darned stamps off my friend's hands so he quits trying to get me to use them on flat rate boxes....

Bill Noble wrote: > although, given the inflation from say 1965 to now, I was probably better
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Right - a modest 7% compounded over 50 years is 32x (7% doubles every 10 years, 5 doublings is 32x).
Bob

On Mon, 20 Jul 2009 21:09:18 -0700, Bill Noble wrote:
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Have you tried taking them to the post office? I once had a "book" of stamps (about a couple bucks' worth) that had got wet, and they paid me face value for all of the stamps in the wad that were distinguishable.
Good Luck! Rich

Bill Noble wrote:
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The post office used to buy back any unwanted stamps at full face value.

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haha. I've done that with letters, but obviously not the 5/6 sides part.