There may come a time when you need to find out how much your stamp collection is worth. Depending on where you live, there may not be a company near you that you could trust to do an appraisal of your collection. If such is the case you can locate a company online that can do an appraisal of your stamp collection. You just have to make sure the company is a reputable one.

There is no hard or fast rule available to determine what an individual stamp is worth. A newer stamp could actually be worth more than an older stamp due to any number of reasons beyond your control. In order to properly appraise a stamp collection, you need to have more knowledge and experience than most beginning collectors have.

When you have your stamps appraised make sure that your stamps are not harmed in the process of removing them from your stamp albums. You should do your best to protect your collection. This will help to preserve the value of your stamps.

Stamp collection appraisals can be tricky to do. Most stamp collections consist of common cheap stamps that will never be worth more than their current stamp catalog value. You can do your own appraisal if your collection consists of common stamps. Granted it will be time consuming but well worth the trouble.

Now if your stamp collection consists of some stamps that could be considered rare or semi-rare you will need to find an appraiser that you can trust. You will need to do some research to find a reputable appraiser.

Again there is no easy path to finding a reputable appraiser. You can consult other members of your stamp club, look online, and check to see if there is one near you, if you live in a larger metropolitan area. Check out some of the professional stamp collecting organizations. They may be able to recommend some experts.

Once you get your collection appraised, don’t be surprised that it may be worth a lot less than you anticipated it to be. There are different ways to value a stamp’s worth. If a stamp dealer is doing the appraisal, he is going to be more interested in the wholesale value of the stamp as opposed to the retail value. After all a stamp’s true value is what another party is willing to pay for it.

For cheap common stamps, stamp catalogs list a minimum value for them. The rarer stamps will be worth more due to their condition, collector popularity, and the supply of them available to be acquired.

Stamp collection appraisals are a very time consuming effort. You will want to make sure that the appraiser is not charging you any outrageous fees in the process. Check out the appraiser’s reputation to see if there are any complaints about his work. Don’t be afraid to ask for some references.

There are many sites on the Internet that offer stamp appraisal services. You are going to have to do some in-depth research of your own on whether to engage one of these companies to appraise your collection or to even decide if your collection is worth being appraised.

You may not realize that one of the stamps in your collection is worth more than you may have realized. On the other hand, most of your stamps will be worth a lot less than you hoped for. A little research on your part will help to determine if your collection is worth being appraised.