Where do you start with an inherited collection

With preservation: clean nothing, wash nothing, iron nothing, re-mount nothing. Then sort by type of object and photograph everything as it is. Decisions come only after an inventory.

How do you tell whether anything is valuable

Identify the items by catalogue number and year, then check the scarcity signs of that field: print run, variety, condition, completeness of a series. Value comes from the specific variant, not from age in general.

Should you sell straight away

No. Selling the whole lot quickly is almost always the cheapest outcome, because a buyer prices at the lower bound. Better to list the collection, identify the strong items and decide in parts.

You inherited a collection: what now

Q: What must you never do

Clean coins and badges, wash paper, iron creases, soak stamps off covers, write on the backs, or keep everything in a bag under a rubber band. Each of these reduces value irreversibly.

Collecting · 3 September 2026

Rule one: improve nothing. Do not clean the coins, wash the paper, iron the creases or re-mount the stamps – almost everything that feels like tidying up reduces value irreversibly. Inventory first, identification second, and only then a decision about what to do next.

Pigment Box, 1200 – Cleveland Museum of Art. Image source

The order of operations

Preserve as found. Move the boxes away from sun and damp. Rub nothing, tape nothing.
Sort by type. Stamps, coins, banknotes, badges, postcards, labels – one pile each. The shape of the collection appears at this step.
Photograph. Overall shots plus close-ups of anything unusual. Photos carry any consultation without sending originals.
Write an inventory. Type, quantity, years where visible. This is the basis of any conversation about price.
Identify the items. By catalogue number and year: stamps, coins, banknotes, badges.
Decide in parts. Strong items separately, common material separately. Selling everything as one lot is nearly always the cheapest option.

What never to do

Clean coins and badges: patina and the original surface are part of the value.
Wash or steam paper, or soak stamps off covers.
Iron creases flat.
Write on the backs in pen or pencil.
Keep everything bundled under a rubber band: it tears edges and leaves dents.

How to store things properly is covered in the guide on storing paper collections.

Judging whether anything is valuable

Value comes from the specific variant, not from age: a small print run, a variety, a printing error, a complete series, a condition with no signs of use. Mass issues of the 1960s to 1980s are the most common find in a family box, and they are worth very little. That is fine: the interest of a collection is often not the money but the time you can see through it.

What you can do for free

Check your items against the open archive: stamps of the world, coins and banknotes, badges, postcards. Mark what you find in your personal album – the inventory then builds itself, and the gaps become visible.

Quick answers

Where do you start?

With preservation: clean and repair nothing. Then sort by type and write an inventory.

How do you tell what is valuable?

Identify by catalogue and check the scarcity signs of that field.

Sell right away?

No: a single lot is almost always cheaper than selling in parts.

What must you never do?

Clean, wash, iron, soak, write on, or bundle under a rubber band.