When you don't organize/document your collection...

[khj]

I've really enjoyed thumbing through collections and viewing them online over the decades. I later noticed I developed a knack for spotting premium/unusual items, which has come in quite handy, as most of my current collection was acquired through dealers trying to do a "quick flip" of a collection/accumulation/estate. Some of them are only interested in getting their quick 10-15% and don't put too much effort into analyzing messy/undocumented collections because of the labor involved.

When you go to that great stamp vault in the sky, and your heirs (who are of course more than glad to finally get rid of your stamps) try to peddle off your collection to a dealer, the top reasons why they get only pennies on the dollar are:

1. It's actually worth only pennies on the dollar. (great majority fall in this category)
2. It's really disorganized, so nobody (not even the dealer) can quickly tell what's in it.
3. It's semi-organized, but you made no effort to document the financially valuable stuff.
4. You didn't build up your knowledge base nor follow up on the current market trends, and didn't even realize you had some valuable stuff.

In this thread, I'm going to show some stuff that I acquired in "flipped" or "semi-flipped" (items removed, but the dealer still missed some valuable stuff) collections. Some of the items I saw in the photographs. Some of the stuff I spotted as I went through the collection after I received it. Either way, had the collection originally been better organized, documented, or understood, the heirs could have easily received 2x-10x more from the dealer. I'll limit myself to $50+ items that are actually a little difficult to acquire at a low price.

[khj]

The first "find" I will discuss was a UN new issues face value lot I purchased last month. Most of the UN market has dropped like a rock in the past decade, so of course the lot was originally put up for sale at under face.

Still it remained unsold. Why? Besides the fact that most of the UN market is over-saturated, it was:

-- disorganized (just about everything tossed loosely in a box, so some items clearly damaged)
-- completely undocumented
-- dealer saw there was some nice items with minor premiums and highlighted them, but the dealer probably didn't realize some of those items had jumped considerably in price in the past 5 years and were now major premium items!

I saw the latter premium items in the listing & pictures, inquired, and the dealer was more than happy to shave off another 15-20% off the price just to get rid of the box.

So the next few posts will show some of the better goodies (which were actually in the listing pictures!).

What caught my eye were the personalized postage issues. I hate them. So did many collectors. So they were shunned. Which means few dealers/collectors had them. Now, the few UN collectors who are left want them because the catalogs list them. But there's not enough supply to meet even the dwindling pool of UN collectors. As a result, a few of them (not all of them), now have catalog values into the 3-figure range.


United Nations New York #857a(26Nov2003), 4x5x37¢ Greetings from the United Nations New York City, dated 2003.
2017 Scott catalog mint = $200
2018 Scott catalog mint = $160

[khj]

This personalized pane has not actually been assigned a Scott number, but is mentioned and priced in the footnote. It really is a face different set of stamps, because the new year date "2005" is prominent in the design under the stamp denomination. It was sold only cancelled, so as far as I know, no mint examples exist in public hands.


United Nations New York #857av(2005), 2x5x37¢ My Visit to the United Nations New York City, dated 2005.
2017-2018 Scott catalog CTO = $110

[youpiao]

Nice finds, k. It pays to be well-read, informed philatelist. I assume this was off a certain well-known auction site. Do you ever buy lots from Stamp Auction Network auctions? Bulk lots and collections never come with pictures (on the ones I follow, anyway).

[khj]

I almost never buy off eBay. <<1% of my purchases are off eBay. I am almost always outbid, so I'm just wasting my time.

SAN is a good grouping of medium-to-large auction houses. Unless you are trying to get the cream-of-the-crop material, you should avoid the large auction houses (both buying/selling) because the auctioneer commission is unbelievable -- only the highest quality/demand material will sell at high enough to compensate for the commission.

Some of the medium auction houses on SAN are well worth the shot, although with some of the auction houses it is really a hit/miss. You are right, not all the auctions on SAN have a lot of pictures, but some do. I drop an auction house pretty quickly if my return/reject/disappointment rate exceeds 10%, and I've dropped more than a couple on SAN.

Right now, I pretty much avoid SAN because of the competition and the added commission cost, and just buy directly from the auction houses I already have a relationship with. Many of the medium-sized auction houses that originally charged 10% commission upped it to 15% when they shifted to SAN. Why should I pay an extra 5% for something I was already doing? Some auction houses are willing to do the quick-flip if it can avoid them having to produce a listing (or even re-list) an item. Develop a relationship with the auction house, and you'll find many of them quite flexible.

Beware of the ones that rely on their "reputation"; you will find the customer service at some auction houses severely lacking the more they rely on their "reputation". Michael Rogers was one of the more refreshing exceptions. Quality auction/listings, and always willing to talk with customers and non-collectors alike.

That's just been my experience. Others may have a different take on this. Bottom line -- do what you feel comfortable and happy with!

[khj]

United Nations New York #884a(3Mar2005), 2x5x80¢ Greetings from the United Nations, sculptures at the UN, UN 60th anniversary.
2017-2018 Scott catalog mint = $350

[khj]

Same stamps, but different pane margins and labels for commemorating the philatelic exhibition Riccione 2005. This pane has not actually been assigned a Scott number, but is mentioned and priced in the footnote.

United Nations New York #884av(20Aug2005), 2x5x80¢ Greetings from the United Nations, sculptures at the UN, Riccione 2005 Philatelic Exhibition.
2017-2018 Scott catalog mint = $160

[khj]

This face value lot is the "gift that doesn't stop giving". It's really unfortunate that the original owner didn't document/realize what they had.


United Nations New York #907c(21Sep2006), 2x5x84¢ sculptures at the UN, 2006 Berlin Stamp Show.
2017-2018 Scott catalog mint = $160

[khj]

As the personalized panes caught on, the later issues generally have lower catalog values. Collectors trying to get hold of the smaller supply of earlier personalized panes are driving up those catalog values.


United Nations New York #931a (1Jun2007), 84¢ UN emblem, Peaceful Visions.
2017 Scott catalog mint = $55
2018 Scott catalog mint = $45

[khj]

United Nations New York #938a (14May2007), 4x5x41¢ UN Headquarters NY
2017 Scott catalog mint = $80
2018 Scott catalog mint = $67.50

[khj]

This pane has not actually been assigned a Scott number, but is mentioned and priced in the footnote.


United Nations New York #939(14May2007), 90¢ UN emblem {1st printing, wide spacing between “U” and “N”}.
2017 Scott catalog mint = $90
2018 Scott catalog mint = $60

[khj]

Similar to the pane in the previous post, this pane has not actually been assigned a Scott number, but is mentioned and priced in the footnote. The one shown below is the 2nd printing, which is actually “face different”. In the 2nd printing, the spacing between the “U” and “N” is slightly narrower. Seriously? It bothered someone enough to re-design the stamp?!? But they did change the margin designs!


United Nations New York #939v(14May2007), 90¢ UN emblem {2nd printing, narrow spacing between “U” and “N”}, The Future in our Hands.
2017 Scott catalog mint = $90
2018 Scott catalog mint = $60

[khj]

This pane was originally assigned a Scott catalog number, but the listing was removed in later catalog editions and mentioned/priced as a footnote. The reason given by Scott editors is that they believe this pane was not sold at the UN post office in Vienna. But obviously, collectors bought them anyway, and apparently some dealers/collectors think they are of good value...


United Nations Vienna #408a(1Oct2007), 5x65¢ World Space Week
2017-2018 Scott catalog mint = $120

[Dorincard]

A philatelist recently declared to me that (all) the personalized stamps are "worthless". Hmm...☺

[darkormex]

Mar 18, 2018 15:44:37 GMT -5 Dorincard said:

A philatelist recently declared to me that (all) the personalized stamps are "worthless". Hmm...☺

I think it is worth noting that the Scott catalog disagrees with this individual. Postally used, on-cover examples are pretty pricey, at least in the catalog. I don't know how much of a market there is for this material yet, but I hang on to all covers with personalized postage and squirrel them away for the future.

[khj]

Mar 18, 2018 16:49:34 GMT -5 darkormex said:

Mar 18, 2018 15:44:37 GMT -5 Dorincard said:

A philatelist recently declared to me that (all) the personalized stamps are "worthless". Hmm...☺

I think it is worth noting that the Scott catalog disagrees with this individual. Postally used, on-cover examples are pretty pricey, at least in the catalog. I don't know how much of a market there is for this material yet, but I hang on to all covers with personalized postage and squirrel them away for the future.

I'm with darkormex in terms of hoarding. In general, I don't "collect" personalized postage, but I will accumulate anything "interesting" or "catalog premium" that falls into my lap.

Financial value is in the eye of the "owner" and "buyer". If nobody is willing to buy it, then the financial value is purely in the eye of the "owner". My guess is that "philatelist" considers personalized postage "worthless" possibly because he has no interest in collecting them.

Disregarding catalog value, and even though I don't actively collect them, I find personalized postage quite interesting and some of the personalized postage quite innovative. If you have seen and enjoyed the personalized postage on some of Dorincard's maximum cards, I can't fathom how someone can consider them worthless unless they simply despise print-on-demand postage. To to be honest, many decades ago I used to think covers were "worthless", but I was simply looking at things from a very narrow set of parameters.

It is my personal opinion that the catalog values for these personalized UN postage are highly inflated, and will eventually come down to something reasonable/realistic. This has been a real problem in the past few decades with the Scott catalog when a very small number of dealers control the market in a small area and also contribute to setting the catalog prices. At the risk of sounding like I'm making accusations, I think it is too tempting to set the catalog price based on how much profit you would like to make, rather than setting it based on what the typical collector is willing to pay.

I will note that some of the values have dropped in the 2018 Scott US Specialized. I will update the prices this week, as I have one more "unexpected" item from this accumulation to post.

[BasSWarwick]

Great thread! PLease keep posting.

..........I had some UN somewhere, but I'm pretty disorganised so they could be anywhere. Have to do some digging

[khj]

Got tied down unexpectedly today. Need to get some sleep first. I'll see if I can post the final premium item from this UN lot after I wake up and have my .

[youpiao]

Quick, someone delete this thread and let's watch khj go crazy wondering what happened, when he comes back to post.

[khj]

Mar 21, 2018 11:25:47 GMT -5 youpiao said:

Quick, someone delete this thread and let's watch khj go crazy wondering what happened, when he comes back to post.

I finally get to use the BAN button...

k