30th October 2014
‘How much are my stamps worth?’ & ‘How do I get my stamp collection valued?’ are questions that we hear on a daily basis, the answer is that we offer a free expert stamp valuation service and suggest the best way of selling stamps to achieve their correct market price.
Why go to a stamp expert when you have a stamp collection for sale? The reason was well illustrated this week when a customer left us a modest looking early Hong Kong used collection for valuation. While going through the collection, my eagle-eyed colleague spotted that one of the stamps, an 1863-71 30c mauve had an error referred to as ‘GKON damaged at foot’. When the stamps were printed in sheets there was a small area of damage to the plate, with the result that every stamp in the position row 9, column 5, suffered ink loss from the lower part of ‘GKON’ in the inscription "HONG KONG".
Though difficult to spot, this is a particularly clear example of this fault and means that a stamp catalogued at £5.50 can be identified as a stamp catalogued at £600, resulting in a very happy customer. We hope to be offering the stamp in a future auction.
So, the answer to the question ‘How do I get my stamps valued?’ is, ask the experts, there is more to stamp valuations than meets the eye!