I wish I'd spent more time with my Mum, back in the day. I flew across the ocean and stayed with her for a week twice a year, and we were always very close friends. But still... I should have stayed longer, each visit.

Now, a generation later, I wish my son would stay longer with me, each visit. I feel the way Mum must have felt. Sigh... "Good parents" teach their kids to be independent, and to cope with whatever problems they encounter. Indeed, we take delight and pride in their independence. But still...

Anybody else?

I was fortunate that due to changes in work, and realization my parents needed help, I moved back to where they were (both were 89, and passed away at 91) and that two years made me realize I should have spent more time with them as an adult. I would also fly to UK three times a year to check on my favourite Aunt who was in her 90s- was never able to convince her to come live with me.

In the supermarket last week I was greeted by a stranger - I thought - who gave me his name and reminded me that we used to play cricket together, back in the day. At least thirty years ago, maybe forty. What a lovely surprise! We laughed about the time when we (our Club's Seconds team) had beaten our betters in a one-day match, and the sports-page headline in the local paper next day read "Greenies Two are Number One!" We both remembered too, that our seniors watched carefully ever afterwards, to ensure that any of our lot showing signs of decent talent was immediately taken up into the No.1 team.

He and I may never bump into each other again. But who knows?

I put your main theme in blocks, there. And I doff my hat to you for your realization. I wasn't as understanding. I suppose six years at boarding school - aged 11 to 17 - made me both more independent and more likely to assume the parents were independent of me. My Dad died with cancer when I was 24 and living overseas; I did fly home to help Mum cope with the situation; but she insisted that I go back to London when she felt she could cope. Which I did, after two months at home. Looking back, I should have had the wit to disobey her and stay longer. She lived another 25 years. I visited once or twice a year, but it should have been more often.

I had a similar assumption for years but finally it dawned on me the difficulties my parents had when they were in their 80s. The Aunt I referred to lived until 108, and while it was quite an expense to fly to UK three times a year to check on her, the neighbors were a great help who would keep an eye on her.

When Linda died, her Will left her extensive stamp-collection to a local friend for the Cayman stamps, and the rest of the collection to a relative in Australia. I phoned the beneficiaries, but each one said "What a kind thought; but I don't want them". So I have them still. Like her photo albums they will probably end up with our grandchildren in Norway - or their children, not yet born! I wonder if the hobby will make an international comeback some day. Sigh... I can only hope.

The hobby - described as "the king of hobbies and the hobby of kings"- is slowly dying in terms of number of collectors, let alone more serious philatelists. My children certainly have no interest, and unless a collection has a proper valuation, little value to most collections. Few stamp shops any more, even on Rue Drouot in Paris has less stamp shops,Much done on ebay now for buying and selling. Adhesive stamps are terrible for collectors. Basically stamps before 1940 have more value, however 1890 to 1930 was the heyday of counterfeits. A Scott or Stanley Gibbon catalogue often found in libraries can give rough idea on value.

Here in Grenada, beautiful stamps depicting nature are a big business still for the postal corporation, Tourists still seem to like and buy them. They actually dont put glue on the back any more, which is best given our climate, the post office provide the glue as needed.

The new collectable seems to be bank notes. The eastern caribbean central bank keeps on.printing small batches of high value notes which people collect, and so they never enter circulation, which is very smart - reduces the money supply a bit, its literally printing money for them. In 1975 i think, the queen visited, they produced 2 coins, a 10 dollar in silver and a 500 dollar in 24ct gold. They only made 100 of the gold coins and gave them all to ministers etc but here every so often one goes on sale. I bought one 15 years ago for about 1500us, i believe they are about 3 times that now.

I like collecting bank notes, unfortunately my Wife doesn't and insists on distributing them all over the place!

One year my all-boys boarding school put on the play "The Admirable Crichton". The storyline told of a small upper-class-English household group, shipwrecked on a desert island, with Crichton the butler ruling the roost because he was the only person who had a clue what to do. Lady Agatha was one of the three sisters who hoped to snare him in marriage; and I was Lady Agatha. I still harbour a deep resentment at having to do such a thing, at the age of sixteen. And I still wonder why on earth a drama teacher at an all-boys school would choose a play with female characters. God only knows! Naturally enough, we stage-females were extremely self-conscious. This was the 1950s, in the most conservative state in Australia, for goodness sake. Looking back: our director must have been a skilled persuader indeed, to keep us rehearsing for weeks without any of us drifting quietly off into the night.

It's probably too much to hope for, but is there anybody else here who suffered such an awful indignancy?

Here's one for the "Back in the Day" file... I'm trying to persuade an old friend of mine (we went to school together 70 years ago) to write about the four years he spent travelling overseas in his early twenties. He and a Japanese friend he met "on the road" hitched from Europe to Singapore, then flew to Japan, where my friend drifted around for some months before going home to Brisbane. He has never told any of his grandchildren about that adventure. I don't know his family at all, but can't believe the grandkids wouldn't be interested. His stories might encourage them to go out on the road. I even gave him a rough idea of how he could start his reminiscences. No luck! Has anybody else had family members who kept mum about their pasts for no good reason? My parents never went overseas when young, or even travelled much in their home state of Queensland; but I wish I had asked them more about their parents (my grandparents). It seems a shame to let their information die with them.

Morpeth, you might be able to help me here... How does one go about getting a collection valued? My family collection is in a dozen or so albums, and a plethora of envelopes and plastic bags. I expect Stanley Gibbons would turn its nose up at bulk like that arriving in themail. But the only alternative I can think of is to bundle it all up and deliver it myself at one of its offices. I'd be very grateful for your suggestions!

Without knowing a bit more I can only give some general comments.

You are right generally prestigious firms like Stanley Gibbons not too interested on typical average collections.

Amy stamp store or auction house or philatelist/serious collector can usually at a glance can have a rough idea of what the potential interest might be. Generally USA best place to seek to sell general collections; France or Germany too focused on higher end/quality issues, UK sometimes good for high end value stamps or British commonwealth/British stamps, but USA a wider market. If at your local library there is a Scott Catalogue, it can give you a very rough idea of stamp values.

The value of stamps relate to demand, which can relate to rarity, quality of stamp, trends in collector demands, and nature of buyer- problem with general collections is time taken to appraise. usually what happens a stamp store will pay based on the value of higher value stamps, and everything else just fluff- unless they are an active value seller, or if they auction the stamps, a rough idea of what they may auction for. stamps before 1940, higher denomination stamps, air mail stamps, stamps before 1900, or stamps that for some reason or trendy or have some particular rarity, is what i would tend to look for.

for example as a rule of thumb stamps from before 1900 have more value- but many of which were counterfeited or re-printed. for potential higher price stamps often one pats for an appraisal certificate.

for example i had a certified stamp which the experts held there were only 12 in existence from 1912, it had a catalogue value of over $1,000 - however top stamp firms like stanley gibbons would only consider to place in auction; and of the collectors of the tamps of that country, perhaps out of a population of 70 million, may there would be no more than 1,000 buyers, and in reality 200 who were members of the specialized stamp collectors of that country (and most were actually not in that country but were in UK,france,germany, and a few in usa.

country or type collections easier to value/sell.

trends matter- for example French Antarctica once were in vogue, with economic growth the Chinese market was hot, i suspect in recent years Indonesian stamps have increase in value.the British 19th century Penny Black stamps or early US airmail stamps in vogue.

here are a few links. the last is a company called Don Lewis - generally you can ship the collection to them, and they used to operate they might offer a low cash purchase option, but more likely place in their auction. the first two links are to companies probably not interested- as without pictures or a description of what is in collection, probably too much time involved for them to appraise collection. i haven't used don lewis for over 10 years or so i do not know what their terms are these days but i had good experience with them- last time i used them i sent 5 collections- two sold, one they bought for 20% of values, two didnt sell in auction and they mailed back to me.

another option is to pay a stamp appraiser- which would at least give you an idea.

if i recall you are in Cayman , I do not know if there is a stamp store there, Cayside Galleries might have someone familiar with stamps.

i am guessing many of the stamps are Cayman Islands stamps- if so you could look online to get a rough value impression.yu can look at ebay UK to get an idea. look for any unused stamps in the collection that are unused prior to 1960, then prior to 1952.

if you take several pictures of what comprises the collection, that can help in finding auction house that will accept- because the mailing cost can be expensive. for example when i was more active, just seeing the type of albums a collector used told me a lot of what the value of a collection might be.

if you think there is some value the other alternative is someone willing to put the whole lot for auction on ebay for you, generally they would need to take several pictures, post a reasonably accurate description, then process and ship if there are any buyers- but usually you would have to pay upfront ( i know someone who might do for $250 plus a commission on sales, located in the US)- but that might be more than you would receive in auction.

the other alternative is to donate to a charity- some charities accept stamp donations, which in some jurisdictions can be taken as a write off against taxes.
Chapter 7: How Can I Sell My Stamp Collection? (apfelbauminc.com)

We buy stamps (and how to sell yours easily) | Warwick & Warwick (warwickandwarwick.com)


Country Collections - Stamp Collections

Cayman Islands - Postage stamps (1901 - 2023) - Page 1 (stampworld.com)

Stamp Cayman Island | eBay

If you spend an hour looking at the collection, then at ebay this might give you some idea of value, there may be some gems in the collection, but usually not fr a casual collector- hence why i zero in on age of stamps.

i understand probably all too much bother.

Morpeth, it's very kind of you to take so much time and trouble explaining my options, and I truly appreciate that. You've given me a lot to think about. My son and his girlfriend will be visiting me in a month or so, and I'll hand the problem over to them. Cheers. GB

Why not donate them to the Queen, sorry - the King. You may even get a sword placed on your shoulder.