Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Discussion - Member to Member Sales - Research Center
Last month some really great items from an equally great collection that is being parceled out caught my attention at a top auction house that specializes in Scandinavian material. One item I really need/want for my collection was listed, so I was ready to bid strong for it. There were other great items for sale, too, and I figured that if I didn't win the one item I had my eye on (which, conveniently, was the first item being offered for DWI), I'd simply scoop up one or two of the other items I had my eye on. I purchased items from this particular collection in the past, so was familiar with the quality being offered.
The bidding for the first item was nuts. Oh, well, on to the next lots. The bidding for the other material was also exceptionally strong, which, on the one hand, pleased me as it indicated that my collection had increased in value a but, not that I plan on selling anytime soon, but still nice to see. When it came to the one item I really wanted, the bidding was nearly 20x the estimate. 20x!!!! Granted, the item was fantastic and deserved strong bidding, but my heart kind of sunk as the price realized indicated that the really challenging stuff I'm hunting for is likely going to cost (a lot) more than I am willing to pay at this point in time. Might be time to sell extra material to help offset the rising costs of acquisitions...
Last week I bid in an auction that I've had modest success with over the years as a stamp I really wanted was listed. I had a mint copy of the stamp variety, and this was a really nice cancelled copy. There were also several really nice examples of bi-colors with really low starting bids that I thought I'd bid on to see if I could pick them up cheap to either flip/trade, or perhaps use in other parts of my collection if I ever get around to designing and printing my own pages. Back to the auction...I picked up the item I wanted for a price I was more than happy to pay. It wasn't a bargain, but was less than I had prepared to pay. If it had been listed with the house for last month's auction, it likely would have hammered for considerably more. I also won 5 of the other 6 stamps I bid on which were all very nice examples, and I didn't pay much for them -- far lesser examples are listed on e*** at much higher prices. Hmm...
Last, but not least, I just struck a great bargain with a well-known dealer in Sweden. This particular item is a showpiece for a DWI specialist, either in a collection or in an exhibit. Not that it is terribly expensive, but that it is so difficult to find in great condition. I have two nice examples as single stamps, but this trumps them both as it is a strip of 3 having the stamp with the variety in the middle. Great centering and color, but it had been listed on his website for years. So I sent him an email, politely mentioning that the item had been listed for years, and asked what his best price would be for it, stating that I had a couple of singles and that this piece would be a great item for my collection. The next day I received an email from him with a price quite a bit lower than anticipated, which I promptly accepted and paid for. Yay! Very happy!
All of that being said, I am always more excited to dig through 102 cards, scan e***, Hip, Delcampe, etc. as nothing makes me happier (philatelically) than sifting through a pile of "ordinary" stuff and adding hidden gems to my collection!!
How are things in the areas you specialize in?
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Laeding
I'm a seller, mostly Canada and provinces. I've acquired some very nice mint and unused(IMO) from auctions last several months. Enough to have inventory for many stamps I'm listing. I have found the selling to be spotty. might have a week with a dozen stamps going out, followed by a week of zero sales. I have only been selling not quite a year, so I really don't know if what I'm experiencing in "normal".
Sounds like you have made some great buys. Can you post a pic of that strip of 3? Love to see it.
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Hi, @Bigcreekdad!
I'll scan it and post this week, maybe tonight if I get a chance to! Thanks!
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I haven't done much with my collection the past few years -- have a business to run and kids in school involved in various sports, with the elder of the two looking into colleges. Being a collector of the Danish West Indies, I have found that prices for material have typically been "all over the map" the past 10-12 years, with better material being "somewhat strong," but good deals to be had. The market for better DWI material seems to have firmed up quite a bit, or has it...
Last month some really great items from an equally great collection that is being parceled out caught my attention at a top auction house that specializes in Scandinavian material. One item I really need/want for my collection was listed, so I was ready to bid strong for it. There were other great items for sale, too, and I figured that if I didn't win the one item I had my eye on (which, conveniently, was the first item being offered for DWI), I'd simply scoop up one or two of the other items I had my eye on. I purchased items from this particular collection in the past, so was familiar with the quality being offered.
The bidding for the first item was nuts. Oh, well, on to the next lots. The bidding for the other material was also exceptionally strong, which, on the one hand, pleased me as it indicated that my collection had increased in value a but, not that I plan on selling anytime soon, but still nice to see. When it came to the one item I really wanted, the bidding was nearly 20x the estimate. 20x!!!! Granted, the item was fantastic and deserved strong bidding, but my heart kind of sunk as the price realized indicated that the really challenging stuff I'm hunting for is likely going to cost (a lot) more than I am willing to pay at this point in time. Might be time to sell extra material to help offset the rising costs of acquisitions...
Last week I bid in an auction that I've had modest success with over the years as a stamp I really wanted was listed. I had a mint copy of the stamp variety, and this was a really nice cancelled copy. There were also several really nice examples of bi-colors with really low starting bids that I thought I'd bid on to see if I could pick them up cheap to either flip/trade, or perhaps use in other parts of my collection if I ever get around to designing and printing my own pages. Back to the auction...I picked up the item I wanted for a price I was more than happy to pay. It wasn't a bargain, but was less than I had prepared to pay. If it had been listed with the house for last month's auction, it likely would have hammered for considerably more. I also won 5 of the other 6 stamps I bid on which were all very nice examples, and I didn't pay much for them -- far lesser examples are listed on e*** at much higher prices. Hmm...
Last, but not least, I just struck a great bargain with a well-known dealer in Sweden. This particular item is a showpiece for a DWI specialist, either in a collection or in an exhibit. Not that it is terribly expensive, but that it is so difficult to find in great condition. I have two nice examples as single stamps, but this trumps them both as it is a strip of 3 having the stamp with the variety in the middle. Great centering and color, but it had been listed on his website for years. So I sent him an email, politely mentioning that the item had been listed for years, and asked what his best price would be for it, stating that I had a couple of singles and that this piece would be a great item for my collection. The next day I received an email from him with a price quite a bit lower than anticipated, which I promptly accepted and paid for. Yay! Very happy!
All of that being said, I am always more excited to dig through 102 cards, scan e***, Hip, Delcampe, etc. as nothing makes me happier (philatelically) than sifting through a pile of "ordinary" stuff and adding hidden gems to my collection!!
How are things in the areas you specialize in?
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re: How's the "Market" in Your Collecting Areas?
Laeding
I'm a seller, mostly Canada and provinces. I've acquired some very nice mint and unused(IMO) from auctions last several months. Enough to have inventory for many stamps I'm listing. I have found the selling to be spotty. might have a week with a dozen stamps going out, followed by a week of zero sales. I have only been selling not quite a year, so I really don't know if what I'm experiencing in "normal".
Sounds like you have made some great buys. Can you post a pic of that strip of 3? Love to see it.
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re: How's the "Market" in Your Collecting Areas?
Hi, @Bigcreekdad!
I'll scan it and post this week, maybe tonight if I get a chance to! Thanks!
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