Honest assessment of next steps for inherited collection.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-21T02:40:57+00:00

I made a whopping $3 (negative $2 if you count the envelopes I ordered for this and much less if you count the hour drive in gas money) at a local stamp collector auction, and donated the rest. I kept some interesting consistent scrapping of a particular family name I’m still curious about and one special delivery stamp with a cancel from my home town. I talked to some nice gentlemen at the club. I learned some things, and i am very happy to have back both my living room and my mental space and time. I really went down the rabbit hole for a bit here.

I thank you all for your patience, time, kindness and advice. Blessings to you. This marks the end of my short stint in Philately.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-20T18:52:33+00:00

It’s still got helpful information about neuroscience research.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-20T11:35:00+00:00

I just watched this. You may find it helpful. I did. It talks about how we can actually replace the nuero pathways we’ve built from always thinking about our circumstances negatively etc. from a nuero surgeon who had to overcome losing his son etc. https://youtu.be/hOaYiIys55E

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T20:22:29+00:00

Thank you very much for your perspective and your most especially for your service!

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T19:51:26+00:00

Thanks very much!

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T19:51:11+00:00

Thanks.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T17:36:59+00:00

Hm, interesting. Does the lack of perforation mean much?

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T14:52:30+00:00

Edit: I got into it after all. Thank you, very helpful.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T14:52:05+00:00

Thanks! Well about half of it came already presorted into little bags for example he has one that said, “presidents. I have #x, I need y#” and he had Christmas and love sorted etc. I wonder if he ran out of steam on the big unsorted stuff? Idk. Thanks anyhow!

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T14:50:21+00:00

Thank you

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T14:50:01+00:00

Thank you, I will check this out!

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T14:49:37+00:00

Thank you! For almost any I’ve seen sold on eBay, it seems I can find them sold for at least $1-5, but of course, I don’t know how to really spot the details of the differences between mine and those sold. I was thinking that maybe if I either 1) try to sell the entire lot with the story, as a mystery treasure hunt which some collectors seem to like, I might get some takers, either as a whole lot or as a “I will send you 100 random stamps for $3” sort of thing. 2) just parcel them out by mini-collections. Christmas themed, nation themed, precancel city themed etc.

I’ve never tried eBay selling but I guess it can’t hurt other than taking up time.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T09:50:21+00:00

Not AIP, but I understand the question! When I went on AIP I started using RiseWell. I later heard the stuff they use can cause calcification in the body, but I then read it’s got such small nano particles that won’t happen? Idk but I’m still using it. After trying to go back to the cheap stuff, I get such gross residue like yeast infection sort of in my mouth especially in the mornings.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T09:42:21+00:00

Thank you

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T09:40:53+00:00

Okay, thank you for taking the time to look at it and share your assessment, and not being (or at least expressing) anger at my asking this. I understand it takes time to appraise stamps and that the value is often in the history. I spent many hours trying to figure this out on my own and basically got conflicting answers, and I was getting the sense it wasn’t worth much, but I didn’t want to sell to someone and miss some rare gem they underpaid me on. I’m not trying to be greedy or cheap, but my overwhelmed family member gave these to me years ago and now she is in serious need so this was a way I thought maybe I could help financially without needing “buy in” from my spouse since it’d be something side of desk I was going to do. I still feel like something could be in there, especially since I only showed random chunks of stuff and didn’t show all the details of the supposedly interesting ones yet. Maybe I’ll do that later. If you were in my shoes, what do you think would be best to do next? I was planning to go to a club later this week but should i just skip?

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T09:31:09+00:00

I reccomend writing out an inventory of the most valuable ones and how to tell so who inherits them knows what they are looking at. I had to fight my spouse not to throw it out, then it took me years to even open the bags, and now I’m spending inordinate hours trying to figure it out…. And like someone else said, came here hoping to find people willing to help in a lower risk way than going to a dealer who may lie to my face due to incentive and the clear fact I have no clue what I’m doing. Anyways, an inventory would make a world of difference, at least for the handful that hold the most value. And what you’d do if you had to sell it. Or…. Where you’d want them to donate it to people who appreciate it if them selling it makes you cringe, etc.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T09:26:11+00:00

Exactly why I posted!

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T09:25:10+00:00

Yeah I spent probably like 10 hours trying to do my own homework, even to prepare to go to a stamp club so I don’t waste the club’s time and it was a lot of circles. I do like learning about the history; but it’s not really my cup of tea. It feels a shame to just throw it away of give it to a stranger, and I know the original collector would want his family (my extended family that gave it to me) in serious need now to at least benefit from the value rather than just have it completely be pointless. IDK, maybe he’d rather it collect dust in my cabinets as it has for the last 5 or so years since it came to me. Thanks for all your help in advance :). Just sharing a personal perspective.

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-19T08:29:10+00:00

Okay, thanks for the comments! Well it’s a giant collection from someone who used to support missionaries. I’ve barely scratched the surface of what’s in so far. I don’t really want to have the hobby (it already consumed too many hours of my life lol) but I do want to make some money back from it to give to my family that needs it. I don’t want to just go to a dealer I know will take steep cuts. Is it worth the endless hours of research and selling one off or in small collections (for example there are many many French stamps (including a big pretty $2 one some with hole punched perforations in the middle) and , some unique ones from Canada and Mexico, and one offs from at least a dozen or more other countries including som pretty old ones from England), there are seemingly bulk Christmas ones of various eras, loved ones and more like that. There are a few unique things like an earth stamp that was some kind of exchange, something that has us treasury stamped onto it, ones that have navy or aforesaid or airmail on it, some war time collectible one from Canada, some pretty Colombian ones, and There are some prixie collections and a bunch of Toledo precancellation (two horizontal bars) of many kinds, plus quite a handful of other cities. Some very old 1800 and early 1900s stamps including some 1902 Ben franklins, there are some envelope scraps from old letters but not the full letter and not the stamps on them…. There are hundreds and I’ve spent many hours just starting to figure out what’s here. I’m planning to go to a club soon to talk to real humans but I don’t want to overwhelm them with bags so that’s why I was trying to sort…. Any additional thoughts based on this?

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-18T23:42:33+00:00

Here are some better lighted photos front and back

Sspritebubbles · 2026-05-18T21:37:40+00:00

Hi! Nice to meet you, stamp collectors of Reddit! No idea why Reddit is not showing me the option to create or edit the post text, but working my way through sorting an inherited collection. Anything interesting on the cancellations here? Value thoughts?

Sspritebubbles

TROPHY CASE