Let me help market your collection

The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances; if there is any reaction, both are transformed.
...................................................................................... - Carl Jung

Just one call will open the philatelic market to you!

Almost forty years of experience in the stamp business, coupled with a continuing reputation for integrity and honest dealing, provides you with the security necessary to complete a mutually satisfactory transaction. The great extent and experience of transactions means there's very little that I haven't handled before. This expertise translates into a better deal for you. My specialty is Confederate States postal history and stamps (as a collector since 1965), but if you have another specialty, I may be able put you in touch with an appropriate buyer or broker a deal for you. I have a working knowledge of U.S., although I no longer deal in it. Foreign is not my "thing" at all. Call Trish at 1-302-422-2656

Prefer to e-mail me? trishkauf@comcast.net

Please describe what you have for sale along with the catalog value - if known - which catalog and edition, and your estimated value. Remember that catalog value is a good estimate only for difficult to obtain stamps in very fine and sound condition. Common stamps or those with condition problems sell for less than catalog.

Tell me...

how much time and money has been spent in acquiring the collection to date and from what specific sources the collection was acquired (auction, bourse dealers, etc.). If it was inherited or given to you by a friend, tell me that too. How active have you been? Are you a specialist? To what collector organizations do you belong? Describe your collection as completely as possible including major highlights. How is the collection housed, i.e., 25 specialty albums, stockbooks, glassines?

Thank you for the opportunity to help market your collection. I buy individual items too, so don't hesitate if you only have one special item or small lot of stamps or covers.

Important considerations - supply, demand, grade and condition...

Grade and condition play a large part in the evaluation of a collection, as do supply and demand - demand being the more important consideration of the two major market-driving factors. Grade refers to the centering of a stamp, and if used, to the cancellation. Condition refers to other factors that affect value and desirability. Values that are found in catalogs usually are for very fine (well centered - the grade) and sound (free of faults and damage - the condition) copies. If canceled, the cancel would be readable and well struck. Faults and damage detract from the value, as with all collectibles. Damage can include, but is not limited to tears, thins, scuffs, creases, stains or soiling, and attempts to alter a stamp such as regumming, rebacking and reperfing. Faults include, but are not limited to, natural gum creases, paper inclusions, straight edges and the like. Heavy hinging vs. never hinging is another consideration, although this is less critical on Confederate issues than in more modern areas of collecting.

Three-cent sheets and diligent research...

Bond king Bill Gross of Pimco Investments, one of the world's wealthiest stamp collectors, recounts the story of his modest background and how his mother saved 3-cent mint sheets she bought at the post office in order to pay for his college education. As others in this position have unhappily discovered, the sheets had not appreciated at all when the time came to sell. I have heard many heirs rail against dealers and collecting in general as a "rip off" after being told their 3-cent stamps were best used on the mail. Gross says his mother's experience taught him the valuable lesson of researching that in which you invest - a lesson that has made him a billionaire.

A tip for collection care...

For the storage of most collectibles including furniture, paintings but especially books and philatelic material, you must pay attention to the ambient temperature and humidity. Mint stamps are the most critical. Keeping the temperature between 55 and 75 F is best with a relative humidity of about 50 to 60%. In the winter when it is -10F outside, the air is extremely dry - the opposite when it is extremely humid. Avoid attics or basements, since temperature, both hot and cold, or dampness damages stamps. When storing stamp albums, place them in an upright position. Do not stack them one on top of another, since the weight of other books will tend to make the stamps stick into virtually worthless concreted bricks. And framing stamps or covers and putting them on the wall is an equally poor move as light destroys them, as does mounting them.

If any of the stamps are stuck together, do not attempt to separate them because you may do damage in the process. Leave them stuck together until a professional can look at them and determine whether they can be separated safely. Do not remove any stamps that have been postally used on envelopes. If the stamps themselves have a value, they can have an even greater value when left on an envelope. Leave the stamps in multiples intact, whether canceled or unused, since they are sometimes more valuable as blocks or sheets than singles.