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Glen Stephens
Monthly "Stamp
News"
Market Tipster Column
August 2008
What is "SUPERB
USED"?
|
I often get asked how does one accurately value older stamps, that are in far better than usual condition. It is a complex answer, and there is no real tried and proven formula to be honest. As the rest of this column will hopefully explain in a little more detail. My big speciality is Superb Used Kangaroos. For near 30 years I have kept arguably the best stocks in Australia of these issues, and my 5 gradings I set up in magazine page ads in 1980 are still the ones I use, and are regarded by many as very accurate. No other dealer offers such a choice, and most do not have the stock to even contemplate doing so, even if they took the time to sort them apart. Leading Melbourne dealer Richard Juzwin repeatedly asked me for assistance with providing examples of each grade for his last pricelist, where he lists 4 grades for used. Sadly I was overseas and tied up with other things, and did not respond in time, despite a few reminders – my fault. I use these five grades for every Roo and KGV head – 1. Spacefiller. 2. Average Used. 3. Good Used. 4. Fine Used. 5. Superb Used. All are priced accordingly. Often what I sell as “Good Used” is regarded as “Fine Used” or even “Superb Used” by others who handle less copies than myself. Or who grade less precisely than I do. Many dealers have three prices for Kangaroos on their lists – “MUH”, “Mint” and “Fine Used”. Anything on hand with a cancel on it often magically qualifies for the latter grade, if that is all they have! One thing you learn for sure if you deal in this area for decades is that for every truly SUPERB used Kangaroo, there are generally several hundred ordinary copies. Try finding a SUPERB used 2/- Brown third watermark for example. I can sell you a “nice” looking example all day long for $30 apiece. I have probably 50 of those on hand. And a few 100 less than “nice” copies. Yet only about four REALLY great looking examples. This stamp does NOT exist CTO from the Specimen packs, so that very handy source of supply is not available to us. |
27 Million were sold
|
Why so scarce? Who knows. The ACSC tells us there were near 27 MILLION of this stamp sold, over 8 years. You’d think stacks of them would be around in top grade. They are not. And bear in mind there are 6 totally different major shades recognised by the ACSC for this watermark alone. So for the true collector with an eye to top quality, you could spend several years just sourcing this stamp alone in top grade for all 6 shades. This kind of “Holy Grail” quest has kept many of my clients, and myself and many other dealers very busy for decades. It is the “fun of the chase” factor, and the very real challenge involved. These 2/- values were used on parcels, and most got well and truly “clobbered” by the postal staff at the time - and/or mangled or scuffed or creased or torn in transit. Now ask me for a SUPERB 1913 2/- Brown First Watermark Roo and no problems. Only 960,000 were issued of that watermark, but I can always find you a superb one like the 6d blue shown nearby ….. as such nice looking CTO copies are out there. Even the choice “VFU” collections of Roos I offer on my Rarity page are tough to fill for a stamp like this 2/- Brown Third Watermark, as we have many factors to take into consideration. |
Take your pick
|
This series often had “fluffy” perfs which most collectors do not like. (See the nearby photo, central stamp for an example of this.) Heavy and/or smeary parcel cancels are of course the biggest issue, as well as soiling, toning, and poor centering. See the photo of the three x 2/- Browns nearby. The central one was a “trade-in” to me this week from a client who bought it off ebay as “fine used – light cancel”. It is by my conservative grading - level two in a 5 grade scale – i.e. “Average Used”. He paid $32 for it on ebay. Double a stamp dealer price. Many collectors of course are perfectly happy with such an average stamp – it has no thins or creases, and my price for that grade is $15. Or less than half the ebay “bargain” level. The two 2/- stamps on either side are from stock, and are top end examples for this stamp. Forget abut $30 ….. in this grade we are talking around $70 each. So from the central stamp at $15, to the right hand stamp at $70 we have a wide spectrum of condition .. and price. Very much like buying a used car. The one-lady-owner, always garaged, low kms, versus the ex-Taxi with 500,000 kms! You get what you pay for in life. |
WHAT is superb used?
The funny thing with “Superb Used”
is that all collectors have a VERY different definition of
it. And in different continents they most especially do.
Looking again at those three x 2/-
Browns nearby, most Australian collectors if given the
choice of the left and right stamps at the same price, would
select the RIGHT stamp, as in this country most
folks prefer light corner cancels. Every American would also choose the
right hand example as with their micrometers they’d say it
is better centered. Americans do not care about perfs or
cancels in general. It is all about centering, centering
and centering. However if you show these same 2
stamps to any German or Swiss collector, they would nearly
ALL select the left hand stamp, if priced the same. As it
shows a clear unframed, upright dated cds, of “DROUIN –
VICTORIA - 18 DE:16”. There is not a continental European
collector alive who would choose the right hand example is
my guess, as no date or town is discernable. And they also
greatly dislike “CTO” corner cancels. And remember that no “fake” modern
cancel will likely ever appear on this stamp. Hinged mint
this stamp would be $300++ with this centering and perfs.
Even with NO GUM it would sell for around half that – or way
above VFU price. And that price differential has
always been there. My point is that no-one would likely
EVER have applied a fake cancel to an unused 2/- Brown.
Even in my 1965 ACSC this stamp was priced more than twice
as much mint as used.
Post Office “CTO” The
6d Blue 1913 First Watermark
illustrated nearby, many
would regard as “Superb
Used”. It
is a “CTO” copy, that the
Post Office sold in little
packs for £1. These
included all 1913 stamps up
to 5/- with this crisp 1913
Melbourne half circle
cancel, and then the top 3
values to £2 were
hand-stamped “Specimen”. A
few MP and VIP presentation
sets also were done, which
is where the 3 high values
CTO originated with the same
cancel, and a similar
Melbourne corner
cancel, and some even have a
CTO Brisbane cds ex PO
Archives. This
Specimen pack sale continued
right up into the Decimal
currency period, and stopped
in about 1970. The lower
values to 5/- always being
light cancelled (mostly
corner cancelled apart
from the 1913 Roos) and the
top 3 or 4 values were
overprinted “SPECIMEN”. This
6d CTO Roo is now thankfully
listed in the ACSC as such.
So a “normal” used 1913 6d
blue is now cat $20, but a
CTO example like this is
catalogued at $75. Why? As
only about one in 100 copies
on the market are CTO. And
just having the CTO cancel
does not guarantee a nice
copy - on any value.
The PO staff in that
era sadly did not
select well centred
sheets for the CTO
and SPECIMEN
overprints. Nor did
they tear them apart
carefully. Many are
absolutely woeful in
BOTH respects!
This means the BULK
of the crisp CTO
copies existing are
badly centred and/or
have poor and torn
out perfs (by the PO
staff) and/or have
doubled or ugly
over-inked cancels.
I’ve handled
probably 1,000+ of
the 1913 CTO’s over
the years, and I’d
guess only 5% of
them are graded
“very nice”.
I have about 20 of
this 6d CTO stamp in
stock, and the one
shown is about the
best. This one I’d
price at $100 and
the others down to
$30, based on how
off centre or perf
pulled they are, or
how toned/rusted.
At $100 it is the
same price as the
current Australia
Post “2007 Annual
Album”. In 10 years
time I know which
one will prove the
better buy!
However the 1913 5/-
First Watermark used
(SG 13) is nearly
only found in CTO.
ACSC lists CTO and
postal used equally
at $A200 which is
totally absurd.
Near every used copy
in albums is CTO,
and a very fine
postally used
5/- 1913 is a true
Kangaroo RARITY.
Even the superb $A7¼
million Arthur Gray
Kangaroo collection
did not possess one
postally used
example!
If anyone is looking
for my Tip Of The
Month – buy every
postally used SG 13
you can lay your
hands on at today’s
silly prices. You
will thank me one
day.
I said that about
the 5/- Bridge for
decades, and the
market has finally
caught up on that
one.
Re the 1913 5/-
First Watermark
used, if you phone
20 dealers you will
NOT find a superb
postally used
one at ANY price –
trust me. Please
don’t phone me – I
haven’t had one in
stock for years.
I ALWAYS had a lot
more of the used 5/-
Second Watermark in
stock, and always
have had, yet it is
priced retail at
twice the SG 13 …
madness.
Memo To Geoff Kellow So
Memo to Geoff Kellow ACSC
Editor ... like the 5/-
Bridge, postally used at
$500, and CTO at $300 is
about right for this SG 13
stamp too – in my view.
Indeed even the current $200
5/- Roo “CTO” price is
currently way too low, as
they are not especially
plentiful at all. $300 for
a reasonable looking one is
about the right level. And
around $400 for top grade.
And again I stress this is
not an ad - I do NOT have
any for sale. The
ACSC tells us only 2,169
sets were ever sold of the
1913 Specimen packs, so SG
1, the ½d green Roo CTO (ACSC
cat $25!) is equally as
numerically scarce as the
5/- ... indeed both are
about equally as scarce as
the 1913 £2 Specimen – Cat
$525 hinged and $2,250 “MUH”.
So
some serious price
adjustments need to be
looked at for the next
edition on these 1913 “CTO”
issues.
Every value from ½d to 9d in
CTO should have exactly the
same ACSC price – say $100
each. The 1/- should be a
little higher as it is
basically the only source of
the now SG listed inverted
watermark, as most 1/- CTO’s
are inverted. Hence a world
demand exists for just that
value more than the others.
The
2/- and 5/- clearly deserve
to be higher still at $200
and $300, as they are
generally the only way to
source acceptable looking
“used” copies for even
simplified collections.
Getting confused about how
dealers price their used
pre-war Australia? Good!
Here is the exact OPPOSITE
situation just to confuse
you even further.
Your Choice.
Post Office Vandals
|
Nearly the entire supply of 1932 5/- Sydney Harbour Bridges in collector hands today derived from these Specimen packs. See the photo nearby. To find a nice contemporary 1932 dated POSTALLY used 5/- Bridge is a near impossibility. My guess is 99% of existing used Bridges are corner CTO - like the copy shown nearby. They sell for about $A275 each – and up to $350 for really top examples. The other 5/- Bridge stamp shown next to it is commercially used, with a clear “16 JUNE 1932” date. To many collectors this “heavy” cancel is FAR less desirable to the corner CTO one next to it. I will list the “heavy” cancel up at about $550 on my Rarity page soon, and it will sell in days. Why? As so few 1932 postally used dated copies exist. |
Rarer than you think.
|
I have been typing that reality for decades, and the wider market is now finally starting to agree it seems. Other than those soaked off tatty or damaged Bridge opening covers from March, almost no other 1932 clear dated copies exist. The ACSC has even caught up, and now prices postally used at 70% MORE than the CTO ones! A slightly inferior centered 1932 dated copy to the one illustrated here fetched $A535 at the last Prestige auction. However stamp collectors at large are often slow to catch on. Ask most Australian collectors which of these two illustrated 5/- stamps they’d prefer in their collections, and the vast majority would choose the CTO example, despite it being worth about half as much by today’s informed market! Oddly, these Specimen packs NEVER sold well in their 60 year history, and for most of them, the intact contents are worth way into 4 figures. Even the Navigator set 4 shown nearby was on sale right up until Decimal currency in 1966. Most of these packs seem to have been bought by “senior” collectors and given to kids as gifts. Young Billy or little Jessica, who might like a set of current stamp for their collection. They were light and easy to mail, and were about the size of a greeting card, so as birthday or Christmas gifts they seemed especially popular. I often see a full set of Specimens roughly hinged into kid’s albums with those horrid thick yellow Woolworth’s type hinges that never peel off. Or worse still, are often LICKED onto the pages – as all stamps had full gum of course. |
Getting near $1,000
|
The set of 4 x 1963/5 Navigators “Specimen” set shown nearby is getting up near the $1,000 mark retail. But buy ONLY from reputable dealers who will guarantee them, as a lot of forgeries are starting to appear on ebay etc, from the couple of “fly-by-night” sellers who seem to forge everything imaginable. www.stampboards.com exposes much of this faked material, and who is offering it, as does the American site www.scads.org – (the latter however mainly after they are banned.) Check both out carefully if you are considering buying ANYTHING Australian perforated OS, or overprinted with ANYTHING, on ebay. |
Dozens Banned off ebay
|
Dozens of these sellers and con-men have been closed down by stampboards sleuthing, which is noted and passed on by APTA and others to ebay management. Very often other successful ebay stamp sellers are the ones to quietly report the shonks to ebay, as they recognise these “bad apples” hurt them, and the hobby. However if you have been unfortunate enough to buy a “bargain” from these crooks, you are often holding an expensive fake, and the only recourse is to sue a shut down ebay account, owned by a totally fake name, at a long deserted PO box. Good luck. Buying this type of material from a real stamp dealer, you are pretty certain they will be there to contact in a year - or indeed a decade’s time. Many of these ebay sellers are banned within a month or so after ripping of “bargain hunters” for $50,000 or so with fakes, forgeries and fantasies. And curiously many large established ebay stamp sellers with huge turnover are members of absolutely no stamp dealer bodies, who can intervene in any cases of mis-describing. You do need to ask yourself – WHY? You have no trade recourse whatever to buying dud material off these sellers, some of who have long records of selling highly over-described and deceptively described material. Often over-charging the very often unsophisticated ebay “bunny” new buyers, via their lot wording. One large seller of Australian stamps has been declared “Not A Registered User” by ebay several times in recent history, and consistently and knowingly misleads about the alleged “retail” of his often over-described material. He frequently overstates “retail” by double or treble what real dealers readily offer it for, in the same grade. Google the ebay handle of anyone you are planning to bid with on ebay, and you may often get a great surprise. |
“Superb - retail
$150-$200"?
|
The 4d Kangaroo mint stamp shown nearby was offered on ebay recently by a seller called “stampcollectorboz” who truly has perfected the art-form of outrageous over-description. This is a really horrid stamp. It is woefully off-centred, and has the entire top left corner ripped off - as all here can see. It is a mint spacefiller - at best. His usual trick is to photograph terribly centred Roos on a white background, as it does not show as badly centred that way. Check his well centred ones – they’ll likely be on a black background! Retail for GOOD copies of this 4d Roo from reputable dealers like Richard Juzwin is $A125. As Richard clearly says on his price list - for poorly centered copies “deduct 50%” .. so this would cost $62.50 top retail, for an off-centred sound mint example. With also a totally torn off corner, AND way off-centred, real dealers like Richard, or me, or indeed any large dealer, would generally take $20 or so for such an obviously defective 3rd grade DOG … and would be delighted to see it vanish from stock forever at that price. This was ebay item 290233154384 and was described in the lot heading by "stampcollectorboz" as “MLH SUPERB” and he goes on with more total fiction – “This is a super copy of this difficult stamp - MARKET RETAIL FOR THIS STAMP $150~200”. |
Worth 10% of ebay claim
|
As I have stated, REAL retail, from established reputable, stamp dealers for this spacefiller, is about 10% of that absurd claim. This nonsense was pointed out on stampboards, but the auction still continued, and some clueless ebay bidder called “dc10red” paid $69 for a stamp actually worth maybe one third that figure. One can only assume this total fiction as to the alleged “retail” price influenced him and other 3 bidders? And that is what angers those in this business – and many collectors and other conservative ebay sellers. I have no issue with sellers accurately describing material, with a sensible start price, and if buyers THEN pay such silly prices ... well the blame lies totally with the buyer. However this “stampcollectorboz” has over quite some time consistently mis-described much material – often starting it at very high prices, and that is what many take issue with. He listed up this 10/- Kangaroo shown nearby, with a clear hinge mark in late May, for a START price of $US899.99 (Lot 290231342623) stating it was “SG43a 3rd Wmk MNH SUPERB” - and misleadingly stating it had a catalogue value of $A3,200. |
Total ebay nonsence
|
This was nonsense of course, as blind Freddie can see it was hinged. Stampboards.com member David Benson pointed this out. The seller’s own scan was darkened to show the clear rectangular hinge mark, and the pencil writing on the gum – also conveniently overlooked in the glowing description! So "stampcollectorboz" then cancelled that auction on May 22, exactly when this was raised on stampboards, and the same day re-listed it with a different lot number - 290232679340 – same description – to hopefully throw folks off the scent, one can only guess. |
“Superb MUH”??
|
So here we have someone who surely knows full well the stamp has been hinged, has been advised publicly the stamp is hinged (using his own photo to prove it!) reacted quickly to that advice, and yet still states it is “MNH SUPERB” - and still starts it on ebay at near $A1,000. This is bad for the hobby, as when some ebay bunny eventually buys this type of thing, and tries to re-sell it to a real dealer, he will likely get offered half – or even less than half what they paid. |
This hurts Philately
|
Those folks then stay out of stamps forever. And bad-mouth the hobby to all their circle of family and friends and workmates for years. If this 10/- was offered as “mint with hinge mark, and pencil notes on gum” with a sensible minimum bid, then market forces prevail as to final price, and I have no issue whatever with that at all. ebay is a great thing for the stamp market, if sellers offer material correctly described. It brings in a lot of buyers, and encourages them to collect new areas. On cheapie lots there is not much financial harm possible, but when stamps like the above in the $1,000 type arena are badly mis-described, the ebay buyers can stand to lose serious money. When super experienced ebay sellers with many thousands of stamp lot sales, consistently and deliberately fib about alleged “retail” and centering and condition, it helps no-one …. most especially themselves in the long run. If they keep doing it, I will keep writing about it, and stampboards members will doubtless keep exposing it to a global audience. The solution seems simple to me. Sellers like him often come up with some nice material – offering it without the fictional retail will still see it get fair prices, and no-one will have complaints then. |
Guess the price!
Getting back
thankfully, to
real stamps with
correct
descriptions,
this one
illustrated
nearby caught my
eye at the
Prestige Auction
sale in
Melbourne on
July 11.
Stamp is the
Tasmania 6d
slate-violet
Chalon, SG 48
unused with no
gum, with large
margins as you
can see.
Clearly a most
attractive
stamp. A gem.
Truly SUPERB.
(Some ebay
sellers please
take note!)
So back to the
theme of this
month’s column -
how does one
value such
items? A little
like the superb
used Kangaroos -
it all comes
down to eye
appeal, and a
keen knowledge
of how many
similar copies
are out there.
Usually with
Australian
States,
collectors want
to pay a
percentage of
Stanley
Gibbons. Often
for imperfs,
only 20% or 30%
of Gibbons is
paid even for
decent looking
pieces.
This Tasmania
stamp is
catalogued Mint
by Gibbons at
£350. Many
collectors would
try and buy a
nice looking
example like
this for say
half cat - or
around $A400.
This one was
invoiced out for
a tad under
$A2,500 when all
the buyer
add-ons and GST
were included.
It attracted
some great
bidding, and
went way above
the auctioneer's
estimate, and
goes to show
that collectors
will pay for
quality, when
that grade is
seldom
encountered.
Three Times Gibbons!
It also
illustrates
a point I
often make
to
collectors -
the lack of
gum does NOT
make a lot
of this
classic
imperforate
material
"worthless".
This one got
well over
THREE times
full Gibbons
- and has no
gum!
Again this
is an area
where
"knowledge
is power" -
and having
no gum can
often
be a warning
sign.
Colleague
Simon
Dunkerley
recently
wrote a
multi page
expose on
some clown
bleaching
the
daylights
out of many
Australian
States
stamps with
pen cancels,
and offering
them on ebay
as "Mint".
Netting
$10,000s in
ill-gotten
gains off
totally
clueless
buyers, who
trustingly
seemed to
believe they
were buying
genuine
“Mint”.
Postal or Fiscal?
Early Tasmania in particular one
needs to be careful with, as stacks of the imperfs had
non-postal (or “fiscal”) pen cancels. However until October
1863, any pen cancel on early imperforate
Tasmania (and there were many) must be POSTAL and not fiscal
- confused? "Knowledge is power”! Another good
reason to buy off real dealers who know their stuff. All
three of the Tasmanian imperfs shown nearby MUST be postal
cancelled, as the cancels are before 1863. To read the full detailed story on
these, go to stampboards.com and use the in Forum “search”
function for the word TORQUAY for the full discussion.
And whilst mentioning surprising prices at
the July 11 Prestige auction, the 1/- Green Western Australia swan
illustrated nearby certainly fits that bill. This stamp was a hinged mint 1861 SG 46 -
the rough perf 14 to 16, catalogued at £1,500. If I had it in
stock, I'd have been absolutely delighted to get $1,000 for it, as I
personally think it looks a little ugly and rat nibbled.
I have no clue! However my own knowledge of WA mint is
clearly way out of whack. This rather ordinary looking thing
was invoiced at many times estimate, at over $5,800 if a local
buyer secured it, as it was a dreaded "T" lot, upon which full
10% GST is applied to the hammer price, as well as the 15%
“Buyer Commission” on top of that. Indeed the Western Australia prices
across the board were mind boggling, from imperfs right though
to the Commonwealth period, and to revenues and railways - so
check with your bank manager if trying to buy WA material in the
future!
Imperf or Roulette? An 1862 WA cover with a 6d Green swan to
Victoria with a crease, and a missing back flap, and no unusual
markings or postmarks whatever, you'd think was no really big
deal. The July 11 sale catalogue called it "imperf"
but weirdly gave the SG number for the roulette. However no
great difference, as both are in SG at near the same value used
- £550 and £600. In the small catalogue photo it looked
like the cheaper imperf to me. Anyway, the invoice for an
Australian bidder on this, as it also was a dreaded "T" lot, was
$A6,325, over 6 times the pre-sale estimate - and
MILES above the full SG on cover price "x 4" for either the
imperf or the roulette. Weird how such a pedestrian cover gets
that kind of price, but I repeat again .. Western Australia is
all its guises is RED HOT right now.
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GLEN $TEPHEN$ Full Time Stamp Dealer in Australia for over 25 years.
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