Stamp Worth 500.00?

khj,

That made me laugh out loud! I agree, this stamp is responsible for ruining a 30c... dang.

It's important to remember, just like khj said, that these were printed, then pressed, then gummed, then perfed.

As far as the stamp itself goes, that's a creased and horribly centered pig IMO, if it were me, for $500 you can pick up a reasonably attractive and fault free used copy, truthfully, if I had to buy a 24c 69 I would save up, be patient and buy a really nice one and pay a fair price for it. I may be nutty but I have my reasons...

First, never forget that if you're just collecting classic US stamps, the truth is, there's probably less than twenty individual classics that are actually rare. Most of these are rare only in relative terms. No, 62bs aren't growing on trees, but they are rare in that there's a TON more #68s out there and a TON more #65s than #68s.

I collect 24c 61s, in my specialty exists one of the only truly rare classic stamps, and, IMO, the only truly rare ungrilled 1861, the Blackish Violet. Every other ungrilled 61 is easy to find, some of them are spendy, some tend to come poorly centered, but given, say, 6 months and a huge budget, I could get a gorgeous copy of each stamp in the series, and truthfully, it probably wouldn't take me anywhere near that long. I'm talking 85-90 gradewise, and your pick, OG or Used and fault free in both cases.

So, the fact is, a really nice 24c 1869 is actually an easy stamp to find. Does a perfectly centered "Jumbo" remain elusive? Yes. But a nice VF-XF fault free copy? Yup, I bet I could do some online searching and find one tonight.

So here's where my ramble is going... when and if you do ever have to sell your stamps, stamps like that piggy unused 24c will be virtually unsalable and if you can sell it, expect to GIVE it away unless it's an invert, or has some insane cancellation, etc. Meanwhile, spend $6-700, maybe even $8-900 and buy a gorgeous used one with a ***_RECENT_*** PF Cert. Ya know what? You'll have an investment. And when and if you do ever want or have to sell it, you'll be able to sell it easily and for a good price. Someone that I trust once said to never buy an item (Richard Frajola on classic covers) that wouldn't stand on its' own as a single lot in a major auction house. And with stamps like this, I think that's also a good rule of thumb to use.

For $10-20? Yeah who cares, buy a filler for now, it's not that much money, but on pricier stuff? Don't do it, it's a bad financial move. 10 years ago when I was gobbling up plating copies of the 24c 61s, I was buying common shades for $75-150 each, these were VF or better stamps. 10 years later these are $200-500 stamps. The VG ones back then were $25-30 stamps, today they are $50-75 stamps.

I'd rather see you slow down a little bit, buy a lot less stuff but buy nicer stuff once you get into the higher priced items. You're not doing covers, you have the luxury of being patient, I don't. I recently missed two covers that I truly needed for my collection, neither were super nice condition-wise. One was to Burma, with the premium it broke $20,000, I couldn't swing it :( The other was a cover to Sierra Leone, another VERY rare destination. I didn't love it and it had manuscript cancels, so I bid less than I could have. I lost it. And in hindsight I may not have another shot at a 24c 61 going to Sierra Leone before I retire. And I'm 35.

You buy a so-so 5c A Grill, or 10c Z Grill, not a so-so 24c 69.

Just some advice... not trying to come off like a jerk :)

Bill

billw2 thanks for your advice..

first, I do collect covers, not just FDC's but others...
I am not a rich person by any means so at this point get some zeppelins or high value columbians is out of my means.
So how many of the 24c 61's DO you have? my 61 collection only has 6 stamps in it..
a nice 63, 65, a fine copy of a 69, 2 68's, 1 used 1 mint and a 73. so if you got extras,lets talk.