Buying
Every week I am contacted by collectors and families of collectors regarding philatelic material they have for sale. You are probably reading this because you already know of me (I'm one of the biggest dealers in the UK) or you have found me via a web search.
I am asked "do I buy stamps and stamp collections"? The general answer is yes. After over 47 years as a full time stamp dealer and 60 plus years a collector I have to buy my stamps from somewhere!
At initial email contact people seldom say where they are located! Please, in your initial email tell me where you are and give me a phone number! Sadly if you are on the other side of the world it might be better to contact someone local unless you have something quite exceptional. It's a lot easier to deal with people here in the UK!
Contact by email is fine - Please give me a phone number - but won't get us very far because we will still need to have a chat on the phone if you are in the UK about what you have for sale and to make a plan if we are both happy to proceed. I'm going to ask you some questions so please have the collection handy when you phone.
I appreciate that if you are the collector you will be aware about what you have and the approximate value so the task of selling will be a little easier. However, if you are disposing of a collection of a loved one you might have no idea about what the collection is or the value. This is not a problem.
I will ask you easy questions, that you will be able to answer, about what you have in front of you. Based upon what you tell me I will rapidly get a feeling for what you have.
If it seems what you have is of interest, then you will have to send the package to WESCOTTS located in Torquay here in Devon. We will chat about how to do this in detail - it's really easy - but I will say here and now that the package must be sent by Recorded or Special Delivery. WESTCOTTS are a huge firm of accountants with 17 regional offices here in the South West of the UK and for some years they have been agreeable to accept my mail and packages.
If you are in Devon or can find an excuse to visit me in Devon then we can meet in person by arrangement. In normal times I visit London every few weeks so by arrangement a meeting in Central London could also be possible.
So the big question is what do I buy?
I'm afraid that stamps torn off letters over the years and thrown into a shoebox have little commercial value. However if the stamps are still on the envelopes there just might be some value.
British First Day Covers from the 1970's, 80's and 90's with hand written addresses are generally not of interest. Unaddressed FDCs are!
I'm not currently buying odd "PHQ" cards. These are the large post cards that have a stamp design on them. Whilst I'm not a keen buyer a near complete collection of the cards might be of interest.
I cannot buy "School Boy" collections.....this is the kind of collection started by a child containing odd random stamps off the mail and packets of 100 different. These never result in anything of value.
What I'm interested in is offers of collections of stamps that contain complete sets of stamps of all countries but in particular Great Britain and from the British Commonwealth. Even European and foreign countries are of interest. The material you have might be a collection in an album(s), stockbook(s) Cover album(s) mint unpostmarked stamps, booklets of stamps, presentation packs etc etc.
Once in my office I will value your material quickly and accurately. I have been doing this for years - in the late 1970's I was a buyer for Stanley Gibbons so I have seen a lot of stamps in my time. Once I have arrived at an amount I will contact you by phone or email and if you are happy with the amount a cheque is in the mail the next day.
I hope the above has given you some general guidance about selling your stamps.
Please call me for a chat about what you have.
I'm very approachable and easy to deal with!
Rowan
01803 294 209
