I have collected stamps off and on since 1963, when I bought my first penny stamps from a tiny store in my hometown of Barberton Ohio. Over the years, I accumulated thousands of stamps and covers, created collections for family members, and narrowed my focus down to a few topics and eras.
Sadly, young people have not replaced us old-timers in the hobby. As a result, many collections show up in estate sales because families are not interested in keeping them. While stamp dealers will buy albums, they are generally only interested in rarities and not whole collections.
Even if the family doesn't want to keep their loved one's collection, they know how much sentimental value it holds and hate to give it away. An estate sale can be the answer.
An estate sale company with knowledge of philately can appraise your collection and give you an idea of what you might expect to get from selling it. When I prepare a collection for a sale, I pull out the noteworthy items for special attention and pricing. I group together other items into logical lots. I estimate the value of general collections in albums and the whole album accordingly. While there are fewer stamp collectors today than ever in the past century, there are still folks buying certain types of stamps and even whole collections just for the fun of sorting through the stamps for hours on end.