Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Apart from some UK mint, virtually all my stamps are used and preferably not cto. However, currently working though my accumulation of Austrian issues it would appear that many are full gum with circular cancels, either favour cancel or cto.
I have recently looked on many sites for French pre-cancels in used condition, something that should be easy to find, no, amazing number of sets in mint condition but very few used and certainly no sets. Yes I appreciate that I could purchase mint and soak off the gum but probably more expensive way to gain the issues. Where are all the used ones?
Are dealers hoarding all these mint stamps, or is it collectors who have had new issue subscriptions, in the latter case presumably these will start to reduce prices as we get older and collections start to flood the market.
Just my thoughts on what seems a slow day on our site.
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In my little ole humble opinion, You are describing a problem created by all of the confections philatelic agencies are baking up and peddling, but no one is actually USING them postally. They are issuing stuff that has almost zero chance of being used for a legitimate postal reason. It is a bit sad that almost the ONLY way to actually obtain a cancelled copy is to get a CTO or courtesy cancel or soak stamps off FDCs. This is another of the reasons many collectors are setting cut-off dates for their collections.
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Here in Thailand finding the latest definitives used is very hard. I've taken to including stamped self-addressed envelopes where I am expecting a company shipping document or signed invoiced to be returned. Almost all commercial mail has metered or labelled stamps.
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Have you ever wondered why many people, myself included, only collect to a certain date? (1936 in my case).
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As far as I know, over here in the Netherlands dealers used to have large stocks of mint stamps as a result of the period when it was thought stamps were the next best thing if you wanted to get rich quickly (1960s-1980s). They sort of tried to manipulate the market by reducing the supply: there were plenty of stamps, but since no-one was selling, the prices stayed rather high. Later that started to change, for different reasons. The investment hype ended, so only the real collectors remained and the rise of the internet meant that controlling the market was no longer possible. One could buy stamps from anyone anywhere, so slowly but steadily more and more dealers started to dispose of their mint stock. I suppose something like this has happened all over the world.
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It would be interesting to know who is buying all these issues. In the heyday, I wonder how many customers the new issue dealers had. They must have had a carry a large stock. The industry seems to have almost died out due to collectors passing away, soaring costs for new issues, and dwindling number of dealers willing to stock. As estates and dealer stocks get broken up, they enter the market. They may be resold in bulk so not immediately broken down. There is another business of breaking them down into smaller lots.
Despite the face value, stamps cost little to produce so that is not an inhibitor for many countries. I get address labels from charities that equal the quality of modern issues. I am sure even if postal admins sold stamps at deep discounts few would actually do there postal duty so again no risk.
I like mint especially for engraved stamps.
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You’re right, Al. Cancelling stamps and selling them as CTOs is the big way postal administrations have sold millions of stamps at a fraction of face and still made money because they cost so little to produce.
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There are millions, maybe billions of dollars of unused US stamps out there. All bought as misguided investments, from the 1930s to date. It started because early US issues started to appreciate and everyone got on the band wagon. I know of one person who bought one post office pad, 50 sheets of every commemorative in the 1950s! And that's why relatively nothing USA 1940s to date is worth anything. Many more available than the market will ever absorb.
I buy postage for my eBay business at 60% of face value. One lot had 50 plate blocks of the Apollo-Soyuz issue... guess that was a great investment. It appears some of what I got was a liquidated dealer stock with 10-25 singles per issue.
My late sources are selling me full mint sheets, higher values 22 cent through 39 cent issues... including the peel and stick stamps. One lot had a bunch of souvenir sheets... sets of presidents, even the 1976 Bicentennial sheets. I wind up putting multiple stamps on each envelope, not only for the savings... 58 cent postage costs me 35 cents, $1.30 international costs me 78 cents, but the customers enjoy getting these on their mail.
In my own collecting, I'm actually pleased that the stuff is this cheap! I collected as a kid from 1966-78 and now I have been able to buy every stamp I ever wanted... singles, plate blocks etc. Do I care that it won't ever be worth anything? Nope. Having them and paging through my albums makes me happy.
My albums currently only go through 1977. I am planning on adding more as I go but I doubt I'd ever go later than 2000. I just saw the USPS announcement for the Buzz Lightyear commemoratives! Nope, don't need 'em!
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I like to look at what I refer to as the "Unintended Consequences" of an action. I have felt for years that the burgeoning plethora of new issues perpetrated on the market by the various Postal Authorities has had a negative effect on the hobby of philately. Gone are the days of the infinite detail of the engraver's art with many current issues looking like somebody's selection of poor holiday photos.
I know that I, along with many of you have a cut off point for virtually all of my collection's topics. Sheer volume of newer issues has dictated this by not only the cost but then cataloguing as well. So many issues seem to range from the obtuse to borderline ridiculous.
We lose members in our junior club for various reasons and cost is certainly one of them. Even members who specialize have issues with accessing material, postage costs and the like. Others who show up for a meeting or two seem to be overwhelmed at the sheer volume of material and we never see them again.
Unfortunately, as some of you have already mentioned, new issues are a ready cash cow for governments that they cannot seem to resist.
I guess all we can do is hunker down, be as supportive as we can to fellow collectors and carry on.
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"Gone are the days of the infinite detail of the engraver's art with many current issues looking like somebody's selection of poor holiday photos."
Things change as times move on! I remember back in the good ole days, very old collectors would scoff at the mid sixties commemoratives as Sunday comic sheets... and the only good commemoratives were the old one color engraved ones. As a kid back then I thought the new stamps, which were can we say pop artish, were well cool. And I still look back fondly on those 1965-68 issues in my books.
So here we are today looking at all these pop culture issues and scoff at them! I'm not a fan of the stamps of late, but maybe the general public likes them. And that's who the USPS is aiming at converting into collectors.
My model car friends use the old car series and I've received a lot of the Hot Wheels set on my mail. One day I was at the post office and a lady in front of me picked out the booklet with ice cream cones because they looked neat! So maybe we've just become those very old collectors!
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Whilst perusing some of the current offerings, here and elsewhere, I'm struck by the sheer volume of unused stamps available. Many in sets and presumably purchased really only for resale at some future date.
Apart from some UK mint, virtually all my stamps are used and preferably not cto. However, currently working though my accumulation of Austrian issues it would appear that many are full gum with circular cancels, either favour cancel or cto.
I have recently looked on many sites for French pre-cancels in used condition, something that should be easy to find, no, amazing number of sets in mint condition but very few used and certainly no sets. Yes I appreciate that I could purchase mint and soak off the gum but probably more expensive way to gain the issues. Where are all the used ones?
Are dealers hoarding all these mint stamps, or is it collectors who have had new issue subscriptions, in the latter case presumably these will start to reduce prices as we get older and collections start to flood the market.
Just my thoughts on what seems a slow day on our site.
Login to Like
this post
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
In my little ole humble opinion, You are describing a problem created by all of the confections philatelic agencies are baking up and peddling, but no one is actually USING them postally. They are issuing stuff that has almost zero chance of being used for a legitimate postal reason. It is a bit sad that almost the ONLY way to actually obtain a cancelled copy is to get a CTO or courtesy cancel or soak stamps off FDCs. This is another of the reasons many collectors are setting cut-off dates for their collections.
Login to Like
this post
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
Here in Thailand finding the latest definitives used is very hard. I've taken to including stamped self-addressed envelopes where I am expecting a company shipping document or signed invoiced to be returned. Almost all commercial mail has metered or labelled stamps.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
Have you ever wondered why many people, myself included, only collect to a certain date? (1936 in my case).
Login to Like
this post
Approvals
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
As far as I know, over here in the Netherlands dealers used to have large stocks of mint stamps as a result of the period when it was thought stamps were the next best thing if you wanted to get rich quickly (1960s-1980s). They sort of tried to manipulate the market by reducing the supply: there were plenty of stamps, but since no-one was selling, the prices stayed rather high. Later that started to change, for different reasons. The investment hype ended, so only the real collectors remained and the rise of the internet meant that controlling the market was no longer possible. One could buy stamps from anyone anywhere, so slowly but steadily more and more dealers started to dispose of their mint stock. I suppose something like this has happened all over the world.
Login to Like
this post
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
It would be interesting to know who is buying all these issues. In the heyday, I wonder how many customers the new issue dealers had. They must have had a carry a large stock. The industry seems to have almost died out due to collectors passing away, soaring costs for new issues, and dwindling number of dealers willing to stock. As estates and dealer stocks get broken up, they enter the market. They may be resold in bulk so not immediately broken down. There is another business of breaking them down into smaller lots.
Despite the face value, stamps cost little to produce so that is not an inhibitor for many countries. I get address labels from charities that equal the quality of modern issues. I am sure even if postal admins sold stamps at deep discounts few would actually do there postal duty so again no risk.
I like mint especially for engraved stamps.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
You’re right, Al. Cancelling stamps and selling them as CTOs is the big way postal administrations have sold millions of stamps at a fraction of face and still made money because they cost so little to produce.
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
There are millions, maybe billions of dollars of unused US stamps out there. All bought as misguided investments, from the 1930s to date. It started because early US issues started to appreciate and everyone got on the band wagon. I know of one person who bought one post office pad, 50 sheets of every commemorative in the 1950s! And that's why relatively nothing USA 1940s to date is worth anything. Many more available than the market will ever absorb.
I buy postage for my eBay business at 60% of face value. One lot had 50 plate blocks of the Apollo-Soyuz issue... guess that was a great investment. It appears some of what I got was a liquidated dealer stock with 10-25 singles per issue.
My late sources are selling me full mint sheets, higher values 22 cent through 39 cent issues... including the peel and stick stamps. One lot had a bunch of souvenir sheets... sets of presidents, even the 1976 Bicentennial sheets. I wind up putting multiple stamps on each envelope, not only for the savings... 58 cent postage costs me 35 cents, $1.30 international costs me 78 cents, but the customers enjoy getting these on their mail.
In my own collecting, I'm actually pleased that the stuff is this cheap! I collected as a kid from 1966-78 and now I have been able to buy every stamp I ever wanted... singles, plate blocks etc. Do I care that it won't ever be worth anything? Nope. Having them and paging through my albums makes me happy.
My albums currently only go through 1977. I am planning on adding more as I go but I doubt I'd ever go later than 2000. I just saw the USPS announcement for the Buzz Lightyear commemoratives! Nope, don't need 'em!
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.
Approvals
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
I like to look at what I refer to as the "Unintended Consequences" of an action. I have felt for years that the burgeoning plethora of new issues perpetrated on the market by the various Postal Authorities has had a negative effect on the hobby of philately. Gone are the days of the infinite detail of the engraver's art with many current issues looking like somebody's selection of poor holiday photos.
I know that I, along with many of you have a cut off point for virtually all of my collection's topics. Sheer volume of newer issues has dictated this by not only the cost but then cataloguing as well. So many issues seem to range from the obtuse to borderline ridiculous.
We lose members in our junior club for various reasons and cost is certainly one of them. Even members who specialize have issues with accessing material, postage costs and the like. Others who show up for a meeting or two seem to be overwhelmed at the sheer volume of material and we never see them again.
Unfortunately, as some of you have already mentioned, new issues are a ready cash cow for governments that they cannot seem to resist.
I guess all we can do is hunker down, be as supportive as we can to fellow collectors and carry on.
2 Members
like this post.
Login to Like.
re: Mint stamps, sales and auctions
"Gone are the days of the infinite detail of the engraver's art with many current issues looking like somebody's selection of poor holiday photos."
Things change as times move on! I remember back in the good ole days, very old collectors would scoff at the mid sixties commemoratives as Sunday comic sheets... and the only good commemoratives were the old one color engraved ones. As a kid back then I thought the new stamps, which were can we say pop artish, were well cool. And I still look back fondly on those 1965-68 issues in my books.
So here we are today looking at all these pop culture issues and scoff at them! I'm not a fan of the stamps of late, but maybe the general public likes them. And that's who the USPS is aiming at converting into collectors.
My model car friends use the old car series and I've received a lot of the Hot Wheels set on my mail. One day I was at the post office and a lady in front of me picked out the booklet with ice cream cones because they looked neat! So maybe we've just become those very old collectors!
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.