The reason why a fine stamp collection with substantial value embracing almost any philatelic category will realize more when sold by a good auction house is explainable in a simple arithmetic lesson.

The important and valuable parts of a collection, that is, those singles, sets, covers and blocks, etc. that have individual scarcity and more demand than supply, seldom constitute as much as fifty percent of the total catalog value involved. In other words, almost every collection includes a high percentage of low-and medium-priced items that are readily obtainable from many dealers.

The choice pieces in the collection can be sold by any method for a good price. They, in a well run auction, reach the cream of buyers and thus they bring a level of realization that will please almost any vendor but then, what of the balance of the collection which, in point of proportion of catalog, is very important?

In auction selling, a huge marker for country collections, remainder lots and odds and ends exist so that the unimportant and somewhat overlooked balance does its share to bring the total net realization to as much as fifty percent more than can be obtained by an outright sale.

It is true that it takes three or four months to sell through auctions, but isn’t it worth waiting for so much more handsome a return?