Information Needed.

Hey guys. I'm a complete stamp idiot that knows more about breathing underwater than any value of stamps, however, a few years back my mom purchased some stamps from a "fly by night phone salesman" (I know...not too bright). The company she bought the stamps from went out of business (figures) and I told her I'd see about gathering some information about the stamps she holds. Would anyone be able to give me some insight on these stamps and perhaps if they might be worth the value she paid?

She's paid a total of $6,000 for all the stamps. Any information and whether or not she's been scammed is appreciated. She emailed me the images of all the stamps in her collection and here they are:

I think she mentioned that she has paperwork that claims the authenticity that this stamp was taken to the top of Mount Everest


Misprint


Perf Shift


Misprint.


Perf Shift


Perf Shift


Perf Shift


That's about all the info I have. Thank you for any help and insight.

Except for the first one these seem to be printing and perforation errors or EFO's (Errors, Freaks and Oddities). These are collectible, though since I personally do not collect them I could not speak to the value. Yet if you have listed all of the stamps she received it does not seem to have been the best of deals. I await an expert in this field to further elucidate.

Various errors can command some decent numbers especially if at the right auction . Generally the perf shifts arn't all that rare or valuable but the one your not sure what is wrong is a good example of printing error but if this is all she has your suspicions of her being had may be true. Now the mount everest depending on who was on that expedition and just how much the certificate can back it up may raise an eyebrow at auction but even with a cert they may have sold 100's or 1000's of them. Hope theres more .

Something doesn't sound right here,
I kinda doubt what you are saying.

Your mom paid $6000 without checking the validity of the purchase?
I am finding that hard to swallow, sorry.

Not an expert, but...

The most valuable item among those you showed is probably the Captain Noel label for the 1924 Mount Everest Exposition. A canceled on piece example would fetch $50+ retail, and a full cover $100+. Your example is neither canceled, on piece, nor on cover, so I expect it to be worth less than $50. The certificate, unfortunately, doesn't mean anything (my opinion) as any company can issue any certificate to say anything.

The other stamps are just printing freaks, in the lower half of the $10-$100 range, depending on how badly a person might want it.

I'm sorry, but if those are all the stamps, she won't even come close to getting her money back.

I did a search, and it turns out Keijo (aka scb) has a blog on the Mount Everest cinderella!

http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/...st-stamp.php

Why go elsewhere?

It was on SCF all the time

https://goscf.com/t/7729&whichpage=2

Rod's posts don't get enough respect around here...

k

$6000 for those? thats it? did she get anything else?

The Everest stamp is relatively common. I picked up a nice used copy for 10p at the Charing Cross Collectors Market in London last year.
It had the correct Red cancel too.

Mint copies are a bit more, but not horrendously so.

Londonbus1

The problem with EFO's (Errors, Freaks & Oddities) is that there is no reliable source to gauge value. Most wind up on auction sites and are sold to the highest bidder. If a collector wants the item bad enough, they will pay a premium above what "market value" would otherwise suggest. If it's a minor perf shift or something not that desirable, the value may be little different from a perfect stamp of the same type; on the other hand, there are some significant errors that command a good premium.

I just did a quick web search of some perf shift and color errors on US stamps. Generally speaking, most perf shifts seem to go for between $40 and $50; the color shifts are commonly in the $100 to $150 range; a few (not many) go for more, primarily due to rarity and/or desirability by collectors.

Even if one were attach a generous $100 average to each of the 7 EFO's scanned above, that would come out to $700 in value (which is probably averaging 10% to 12% of what was actually paid for them ... and I doubt the secondary market would even support that high of a figure.)

Bottom line is that it seems to reflect a significant loss no matter how you figure it.

It's a shame there are unscrupulous people out there that will sell anything for fast $$$ to unsuspecting victims. However, I suppose the same holds true if you buy a used car sight unseen, or an antique of whatever kind, etc. Anyone can promise you the world, it's up the buyer to be on guard. To use a couple of cliches: It's all "buyer beware" and "knowledge is power" to separate a good deal from the bad.

they're definately cool and I'd love to have them in my humble little collection but not for 6K!

C_lake, I can only conclude that an unscrupulous seller took advantage of your mother and I am sorry that it happened to her. There are too many heartless people out there thinking of schemes to take advantage of anyone with some extra cash.

Yes unfortunately as I continue to research these stamps on the internet it's hard to get a point of reference from any which direction. It looks like all these EFO's are near worthless as there are plenty out there.

@ Rod222: Doubt it all you want. My mom said "Hey I had the money at the time and I thought it was a good idea". Not like I'm trying to sell any of this to you. Just trying to get some insight is all.

I think she told me she paid $925 for the Everest stamp and around $800-ish per for each of the others give or take. I did some research on the Everest stamp and it has an exotic history behind it.....but.....there are lots of them out there so it seems.

I'm starting to think also that my moms little stash might be worth around $100 bucks for them all. I'll keep checking out there. Thanks guys for all the info. If anyone can shed some more light on these stamps it would be much appreciated. Oh I also found out that she had no letter of authenticity for the everest stamp. She just told me that the salesman told her that they took a sheet of 100 stamps up with them on the climb and only 11 made it out. Implying that this stamp was 1 of the 11.

Here are some Questions for some of the experts out there:

Is a misprint more than a perf shift?

Are Perf shifts worth more if they are unseparated?

Where would be a great reliable source for information on any particular stamps origin?

(Afternote: I learned that the lantern stamp is called the Iron "Betty" Lamp)

Thanks guys!

*supercringe* Just goes to show that one should study before buying.

yes me personally, I'm an avid world coin and bank note collector. I also cringed and knew she'd gotten swindled. I always live by the rules:

-only buy something you can examine first.
-know more about the item you're buying than the person selling it to you.