old coins stamps

laurob

we have been left a number of coins/stamps by my late father in law but don't know what to do about selling them,as we don't want to be ripped off. CAN YOU HELP?

Thrugelmir

If its a sizable collection, consider auctioning them through a specialist auction house. They will guide you to their market value.

Otherwise start researching ........

Peelerfart

laurob,

I know nothing about coins

but I know a little about stamps.My advice is go to the local library and get a copy of Stanley Gibbons World catalogue to get an idea of how much they are worth. IT WILL TAKE YOU TIME.
Hopefully you're late F in L was methodical and they are all in an album, then it shouldn't be too bad. If they are in a box then it will take a while.

In my experience people collect these over a long time maybe even a lifetime,I think it's worth the time to find out what it's real value is.

musehead

You can get catalogues which will guide you as to the value of old coins, but the info is all avaliable online. Check this website:

http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/values/

I used to collect them. The value is very strongly correlated to the condition of the coin. You can find other guides online which will show you how to grade what condition they are in.

For example, one of my coins is a 1797 copper Twopence produced during the reign of George III. I estimate in the scale fine/very fine/extremely fine/uncirculated that my coin is in "very fine" condition. This points to a value of £45 as per the link above. If it was "extremely fine" it would be worth £280, uncirculated £800!

kayleigh

I know nothing about coins - but have broken up collections of stamps before and sold on ebay.

Your going to need to find if there is anything of value in the collection before deciding if it is worth looking at.

If it is mostly modern (as in last 50 years) - the value is going to be limited.

If you have stamps (only talking GB) from the last 1800 and early 19th century - you might be sitting on a few quid.

Do any of the stamps have SG numbers next to them? Or indeed any sort of number? (I am hoping for your sake they are in an album). If so - let me know a few and I will tell you what the current SG (Stanley Gibbon) rate is and what you might actually get for them. Again - this is only for GB.

Like coins (mentioned above) - the catalogue value is not what your going to get in "real life". Have a look on ebay - if the stamp is at all tarnished the value will drop massively.

i.e. if the SG value is £100 - in the real world - you would pay a dealer half of that if good condition. Most are not perfect i.e. centering on the paper, anything not perfect, etc - I generally aim for 5-10% of catalogue value. A quick search of ebay you will see stamps "valued" at £200 - selling for under £5. It really is all about quality.

Your going to find that stamps which look identical to you are going to very in price - sometimes by a lot - i.e. different watermarks, slightly different shade, etc so if you have stamps of interest - your going to need to get help to maximise your return.

Some stamps your going to think are valuable (penny red or penny black normally get people excited) - they can be picked up for a couple of quid for more common stamps.

Type in penny black into ebay and you will see what I mean - some sell for a tenner - others for thousands - I dare say to most people they look identical.

So - for starters - you need to find out what you potentially have.