What Do I Infer By Catalogue Prices?

I have recently re-started stamp collecting after a period of about 50 years! I am trying to specialise in NZ stamps.

I have received a catalogue which shows every single NZ stamp ever issued. Alongside each is a catalogue price for mint and used.
Now this is exactly as I remember Stanley Gibbons catalogues being in my distant past.

In this catalogue is an order form for stamps in that book.

Is the implication that each and every stamp is available at the catalogue price or, as I presume, that their stock is a subset so if I order something I may be told that they don't have it?

Secondly, as I seem to be paying fractions of the catalogue price for stamps that I am acquiring, what is the reality about these prices?

Comments would be welcome so that I can understand better.

Hi ackeiyword,

Catalog prices are essentially guidelines to what you would be paying for a stamp. Depending on the condition and rarity/scarcity of a stamp one would expect to pay less, or more, than the stated catalog value.

If the NZ catalog has an order form than you can expect to pay the catalog price for a very fine mint stamp or a lightly cancelled used stamp. I am assuming that somewhere in the beginning of the catalog the stamp condition for the prices stated is detailed.

For instance, the Scott catalog has such a section and in some cases, within the catalog body, there is a statement to the effect "The following prices below are for never hinged stamps". Therefore, a hinged stamp price should be less than a never hinged one. However, if a stamp is scarce or rare then the price would probably more than that stated.

Jerry B

Hello ackeiyword, and welcome to SCF! Believe half of what you see and none of what you read (is that right?).

I collect KGV Empire material and I rarely, if ever, pay more than 30% of CV. Gibbons is my bible, but it is, after all, a price list. It's far more realistic to check dealer's retail prices, and halve them, in my opinion.

From my understanding of how these things work, the prices in catalogues are arrived at by asking dealers of stamps what they have recently charged for an example of a stamp in very fine condition.

The parameters for condition are, as Jbcev80 says, usually stated in the front of catalogues. Slightly different for mint or used and also different depending on year of issue.

The nicer a stamp looks to a collector who is used to seeing lots of different stamps in different conditions, the higher the price. Rarity does of course affect price also.

Some of the price is the dealer's overhead which is including his expertise and the quality of trust you and others place in his opinion and reputation.

For some issues, depending on which catalogue you have, there may not be as detialed a description of all the different varieties or permutations of that particular stamp. For instance, the colours or shades, the rarity of certain cancels on used, the papers used, etc, etc.

If you are collecting covers or postal history you get into different fields again, cancels, envelope papers, usages in vertain times, certain places or via certain modes of transportation, ship, rail, etc.

Nowadays I think of catalogues as a general guidline to the stamps and any more detailed information is to vbe found on websites, detailed monograms or specialty literature of many sorts, some hard to come by. Again here also, depending on how much of a philatelist as apposed to a stamp collector you feel like becoming on certain days.

The fun of it all is an important part of stamp collecting.

Catalog prices are a general guide. Most dealers sell stock at 50% of catalog or less unless there is high demand for the item in question (because of popularity, high quality, great condition).