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Glen Stephens
Monthly "Stamp
News"
Market Tipster Column
September 2009
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Please take a very close look at this cover below, that sold
recently at Prestige Auctions in Melbourne. There is nothing unusual about the stamp. The date of the cancel - Christmas Eve 1912 ... is not relevant to the price it got. Any other date would have achieved about the same result. i.e. it is not First Day of Issue etc. There is nothing unusual about the recipient or the address. I'd have left it in the $1 junk box, if it were in my stock. |
So what did this sell for ?
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On www.stampboards.com I ran a guessing poll, asking members to vote on the following -
“What did this ordinary looking 1d 1912 Vic letter sell for? You are guessing the auction invoice price.”
1. Around $A4 2. Around $A40 3. Around $A400 4. Around $A4,000 5. Around $A40,000 6. Nowhere even close to any of the above.
Please take a guess at one of these BEFORE you click on the thread link below, or read down further, and see how accurately you guessed!
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On stampboards, only 21 of 51 votes on the Poll were correct. www.haizoo.notlong.com shows the result of the poll, and discussions of rusted bullets etc!
One of the Canadian members posted that the top star on the cancel was engraved upside down.
Another Member from Norway posted that error may not be so odd, assuming the cylinder was engraved at Krag's workshop in Kristiania, Norway, on the opposite side of the globe!
The auction description for this cover said -
"1912 cover to Hawthorn with 1d pink tied by a superb strike of the rare Melbourne "boxed flag" Krag continuous-machine cancellation, the flap removed otherwise superb.
Ex Purves & Hugh Freeman, who advises that only a couple of other covers are recorded and they are defective. One of the great rarities of Melbourne postmarks, and of world machine cancels.
It was in use on a trial basis for at most three days in June and December 1912"
As I always have said - "Knowledge Is Power" in stamps. A week or two back I'd have left this cover with a missing flap in the junk box, so we all learn something new each day!
The answer is, this cover was invoiced recently by Prestige for well over estimate at around $A4,000, when the commissions and extras were tacked on.
It goes to prove that a good eye, and some knowledge, and a good memory, can be VERY rewarding in stamps.
I have no doubt that based on this article, other examples of this cancel will turn up, from readers who had no idea it was scarce or valuable, and have one reposing in their collections. |
Challenge to NZ post
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Well known New Zealand stationery manufacturer Croxley has launched its own postal service to rival New Zealand Post.
Croxley, a 100% owned subsidiary of US-based multinational stationery giant Office Max, says it aims to corner 10 per cent of New Zealand's mail market within three years.
But it will face an uphill battle against New Zealand Post, which has easily maintained a virtual stranglehold on mail in the decade since it lost its postal monopoly under Government legislation. |
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To provide its new service, Croxley will rely on New Zealand Post to deliver its mail under an interline agreement, leaving it effectively at its larger rival's mercy.
Croxley has registered as a postal operator, in competition with NZ Post, and will offer a full range of stamps and pre-paid envelopes under the company's new “Croxley Mail” brand. |
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National Network
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At present, Croxley already makes and distributes New Zealand Post stamps and envelopes through a variety of national retailers including Office Max, The Warehouse, and Whitcoulls.
Croxley New Zealand MD Joe Naus said he expected most of those retailers would switch to the Croxley product, giving it almost five per cent of the National market straight away.
“The move will offer New Zealanders more convenience, as our stamps and envelopes will be sold through a wider range of retailers than currently provided by state-owned postal operator - NZ Post” Mr Naus said. |
Part of the new set of 6
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The first set of six Croxley Mail stamps to be issued feature a series of photographer Paul Green’s landscape images, photographed under the moonlight at Muriwai Beach on Auckland’s west coast.
“People are often surprised to learn the photographs, with blue skies, were taken at night under full moon. It’s the night element that makes them look slightly unusual.
On one hand, it’s a realistic interpretation of what’s there, but on the other it’s quite surreal” Green said.
Apologies for the rather poor quality images of the 2 stamps, but my various attempts to contact Croxley Mail in NZ for better scans failed to get a response!
In 1998, the ‘Postal Services Act’ removed New Zealand Post's statutory monopoly on the carriage of letters, opening up the market to full competition. This came into force |
NZ deregulated in 1998
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The Act deregulated the New Zealand postal market by removing New Zealand Post's monopoly on delivery of the standard letter.
Under the Act, anyone can process and deliver mail, at any cost, as long as they registered as a postal operator with the Ministry of Economic Development. |
Range of existing private post labels
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There are currently over 25 individual postal operators, including New Zealand Post, registered on the Ministry's register of postal operators.
The Act requires every postal operator to identify the mail they carry by marking items with a 'postal identifier' – a stamp, marking or impression that is unique to each operator, and clearly represents to the public which operator has carried the item.
As you can see from a sample of “stamps” postally used shown nearby, they look near identical to many NZ post recent peel and stick emissions.
A STACK of operators who failed to make the grade, and whose permits have been removed - are listed here along with the current ones - www.ahvahhuo.notlong.com |
Papua Powers On
A $2,760 cancel
BOGA means BUCKS! Likewise the nearby
“GIRA” cancel on a normal 2½d blue, also with a barred ‘BNG’ cancel
believed applied in Boga ... that sold for even more money – and with postage
cost, was invoiced for a tad more than $A3,000. The common ½d Green
Lakatoi, with a rather blurry “KIMUSI” cancel sold for over $A1,000 - on
a $100 estimate etc
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