Subscribing to New Issues

[youpiao]

(I split this off from the Costa Rica thread. - Ted)



Oct 2, 2018 15:53:02 GMT -5 zepherusbane said:




Related to the subscriptions, I need to do some research for the countries I am interested in before deciding whether to subscribe.



The first one I looked at was Japan which looks to be prohibitively expensive. I stopped counting the cost so far in 2018 after going over $200. They have issued sheet after sheet and the year isn’t even done yet.



I will have to check out all the main focus

Oct 2, 2018 15:53:02 GMT -5 zepherusbane said:

Awesome! Thanks for the follow up.



Related to the subscriptions, I need to do some research for the countries I am interested in before deciding whether to subscribe.



The first one I looked at was Japan which looks to be prohibitively expensive. I stopped counting the cost so far in 2018 after going over $200. They have issued sheet after sheet and the year isn’t even done yet.



I will have to check out all the main focus countries listed in my signature (of the ones still issuing stamps) to see what I would be up against.

countries listed in my signature (of the ones still issuing stamps) to see what I would be up against.

[youpiao]

zepherusbane I downloaded the Scott Worldwide Stamp Cost Chart for 2016. You can find it here:

www.linns.com/content/dam/amos/linns/yearly-cost/yearly-cost-of-stamps-2016.pdf

It gives the stamp count and total face value (in local currency) for all the stamp issuing countries.

[youpiao]

zepherusbane Of the countries shown in your signature, the only countries I find with reasonable new issue programs (reasonable, for me, being no more than $50 a year) are Republic of China, with a total 2016 face value (in US dollars) of about $36, PRC at $15, India $15, Panama $16, Philippines $47, Singapore $39, and South Africa $24. Argentina was at $60 for 2016, but their currency has fallen by 50% against the dollar since then, so they might be much cheaper now.

[janstamp]

youpiao,  I see in the list:  China People's Republic 2016 Face value $ 97,50 -  Catalogue value $ 30,70.   - Isn't that a bad ratio: you have to pay 97,50 dollar to receive stamps that are valued in catalogue for about 1/3 ?  
I suppose the reason for this is the artificially low exchange rate for the yuan.  

[youpiao]

Oct 3, 2018 3:13:29 GMT -5 janstamp said:

youpiao ,  I see in the list:  China People's Republic 2016 Face value $ 97,50 -  Catalogue value $ 30,70.   - Isn't that a bad ratio: you have to pay 97,50 dollar to receive stamps that are valued in catalogue for about 1/3 ?  
I suppose the reason for this is the artificially low exchange rate for the yuan.  

Face Value, on the chart, is shown in the nation's currency, while catalog value is in US dollars. 97.50 RMB is equal to about $15, and Scott typically quotes catalog values, for new issues, at double the face value.

Ted

[zepherusbane]

Oct 3, 2018 2:02:49 GMT -5 youpiao said:

zepherusbane Of the countries shown in your signature, the only countries I find with reasonable new issue programs (reasonable, for me, being no more than $50 a year) are Republic of China, with a total 2016 face value (in US dollars) of about $36, PRC at $15, India $15, Panama $16, Philippines $47, Singapore $39, and South Africa $24. Argentina was at $60 for 2016, but their currency has fallen by 50% against the dollar since then, so they might be much cheaper now.

Thanks for looking those up for me and for linking the cost chart, I needed to look at something like that and I hadn't realized there was something already out there to make it easy.  

It looks like some of those might be worth doing, I was worried that many of them would be very expensive.  It's both good and bad that I like to collect almost everything, but I've been focusing on Asia a lot lately. 

I too would prefer to get things going with a starter collection or kiloware and usually would prefer used stamps in general to save costs, but it's harder to get used these days for new issues and I always seem to miss a bunch.  Souvenir sheets don't get used as postage much either, and are much less expensive to buy when they are new than to wait and buy from a speculator later.

[mourningdoves]

Oct 3, 2018 1:54:32 GMT -5 youpiao said:

zepherusbane I downloaded the Scott Worldwide Stamp Cost Chart for 2016.

Sooo, Ted... how's your Djibouti collection progressing? For a mere $2,867.50, you can have a whole year's worth! By contrast, Japan barely cracks four figures. A lousy $1,001.55 - what a bunch of pikers, huh?

Argentina is less than expected, unless they were just having a bad year that year.

[janstamp]

Oct 3, 2018 6:38:40 GMT -5 zepherusbane said:

Oct 3, 2018 2:02:49 GMT -5 youpiao said:

...........  Souvenir sheets don't get used as postage much either, and are much less expensive to buy when they are new than to wait and buy from a speculator later.

Souvenir sheets don't indeed get used as postage, but here in Belgium they are certainly not less expensive to buy when they are new. On the contrary: if you wait some years you can buy sheets in auctions or in stamp-clubs for half the price they were sold at their date of issue.  If you wait 10 year or more, you can find them for 25% or less.

Just the market: every year more supply (with collections of deceased collectors) and less demand (lack of new collectors)

[zepherusbane]

Oct 4, 2018 9:13:19 GMT -5 janstamp said:

Oct 3, 2018 6:38:40 GMT -5 zepherusbane said:

Souvenir sheets don't indeed get used as postage, but here in Belgium they are certainly not less expensive to buy when they are new. On the contrary: if you wait some years you can buy sheets in auctions or in stamp-clubs for half the price they were sold at their date of issue.  If you wait 10 year or more, you can find them for 25% or less.

Just the market: every year more supply (with collections of deceased collectors) and less demand (lack of new collectors)

Interesting. I had experienced the opposite with some areas I collect but possibly my examples were edge cases and I should re-examine it.

To be more specific, I noticed this in several cases with US, South Africa, and Singapore.

[mourningdoves]

Oct 3, 2018 4:27:21 GMT -5 youpiao said:

Face Value, on the chart, is shown in the nation's currency, while catalog value is in US dollars. 97.50 RMB is equal to about $15, and Scott typically quotes catalog values, for new issues, at double the face value.

Ted

I'm curious: do Chinese stamps have extremely low face values? It seems to me that the PRC has bazillions of new issues in the monthly Scott/Linn's updates, and I always assumed it would be expensive to keep up with them.

[youpiao]

Oct 4, 2018 17:33:56 GMT -5 mourningdoves said:

Oct 3, 2018 4:27:21 GMT -5 youpiao said:

Face Value, on the chart, is shown in the nation's currency, while catalog value is in US dollars. 97.50 RMB is equal to about $15, and Scott typically quotes catalog values, for new issues, at double the face value.

Ted

I'm curious: do Chinese stamps have extremely low face values? It seems to me that the PRC has bazillions of new issues in the monthly Scott/Linn's updates, and I always assumed it would be expensive to keep up with them.

The standard 1.20 yuan face-value stamp equals 17c US. The typical stamp issue is a set of 4, either all 1.20 (total 70c us) or 2 1.20s and 2 1.50s (79c US). The reason it seems there are so many PRC stamps in the Updates is that PRC is not updated very frequently, and when it is they cover many months' worth. The latest Update, in the October Linn's, covers 8 months worth of issues comprising 52 stamps total. Those 52 stamps (which include several souvenir sheets at 6 yuan face value, or 87c) have a total face value of 84.90 yuan, or $12.36 US. Projected over a full year, that would be 127.35 yuan, or $18.54 US. 

The North American agent for China's stamps is Unicover www.unicover.com/SBS_96C5.htm
When I was subscribing to China's new issues, they were available at fave value plus shipping and handling. I notice now, that Unicover now charges "just pennies more than you'd pay at any post office in China!" I have no idea how many pennies they charge. Technically, that statement would be true if they added a mere 17c more than you'd pay in China, but that would mean you're paying double face value.

For someone looking to collect new issues, I would heartily recommend China. Most of the issues have subjects of historical and cultural relevance, and they are are very nicely designed and produced. A few years ago, China Post hired Scandinavian engraver Martin Morck to train 10 engravers, in order that they could carry on the legacy of fine engraved stamps, and Morck himself has engraved some issues. 

[janstamp]

zepherusbane,  To give you an example:

At the monthly auction of my stampclub next thursday they propose 9 souvenir sheets issued 2008-2009, with a face value of € 46,37. The start-price is set at € 12 and i expect it will not go higher than about half the face value.    These stamps are still in use, so most buyers don't buy  to include the sheets in their collections, but buy the sheets to use the stamps on letters and parcelpost. 

[zepherusbane]

Oct 5, 2018 10:41:04 GMT -5 janstamp said:

zepherusbane,  To give you an example:

At the monthly auction of my stampclub next thursday they propose 9 souvenir sheets issued 2008-2009, with a face value of € 46,37. The start-price is set at € 12 and i expect it will not go higher than about half the face value.    These stamps are still in use, so most buyers don't buy  to include the sheets in their collections, but buy the sheets to use the stamps on letters and parcelpost. 

Seems like I should find a source like that.

I do not typically see stuff like that on eBay.

Unfortunately I have not found any stamp clubs closer than a couple hours away.

[kacyds]

I have never seen US recent/modern sheets sell less than face value. I have been to a couple of local stamp shows and all the sheets I have seen were more than face value. The dealers base there price on Catalog value.

As for a local club, I use to go to the monthly meeting, but I have never seen any US recent sheets being offered.

As for buying mint stamps, I have seen many lots on eBay, selling modern stamps for less than face value, but no sheets were included.

[janstamp]

Update: the 9 souvenir sheets issued 2008-2009, with a face value of € 46,37 and start-price of € 12 were sold last evening for € 20. With the auction-cost that makes €20,3, less than 50% of the face value.