The Top 25 Most Popular US Commemorative Stamps

I'm not sure I ever saw this list before, but I recently found this data buried in an old postal blog and thought I'd post it. These stamps are defined as "most stamps purchased, but never used" ... in other words, pure profit for the USPS!

Never mind Presidents or Patriots or Professors or Poets, according to this list, the stamps that sell the most are the animated cartoon characters and sports/entertainment figures:

Yes, USPS has produced this list many times over the years. I also remember some of the follow up articles in Linn's and other places when they first started doing this. When pressed to explain how they arrived at those figures, USPS stated they were merely estimates, but could not explain what method/model they used to arrive at those estimates. Each stamp is not barcoded, so there is no way for USPS to accurately determine if a purchased stamp is actually used, or if it might be used in the future.

Some people, including myself, believe USPS has severely overestimated retention rates, and don't take these numbers seriously. The numbers themselves don't make any sense, so I'm not surprised that USPS is billions of dollars in the red.

Consider #2, Wonders of America, which was issued in a quantity slightly above 200 million stamps. I don't believe for a minute that over 40% of those stamps are in public hands -- and that's assuming a complete sell-out.

Many of these retention rates are 33%-50%, and I don't believe them for a minute. Furthermore, if the retention rates are truly that high, then USPS has a pretty hefty liability in unused postage that is still in public hands.

Bottom line -- I've never trusted "estimates" from USPS. They tend to be off by a billion or so.

How would they even know exactly what stamps were never used? I could see them knowing a dollar amount but not individual stamps

Imo "Legends of the West" error sheets are way over priced considering 150,000 + were obtained by collectors. From what I've experienced in the past 40 years, these "every collector has some sheets" will eventually be priced around the $10 mark.

The only thing that would lend credence to the estimated retention rates would be the rate at which the cost of mailing a letter increases. For instance, the USPS could compare the total number of stamps sold during a period of time (commens and definitives) and compare that to the actually number of first class letters mailed. Once the rate changes, whatever the difference was could be used to estimate the percentage of stamps retained. But that assumption is based on the flawed idea that a stamp will only be used during that time when it's face value is the current first class rate. We know differently, of course.

Interesting topic ...

I vote for the 1183 & 1548 #3000 K (Popeye)

Looks like the top 25 TO NOT collect if your thinking of appreciating in value.

I guess there's another aspect to this, too, as to "how" the USPS came up with the above figures in correlation to the total number of stamps issued.

Take for example the Bugs Bunny Stamp (#23 on the above list) which the USPS claims 44.1 million were purchased. When checking the Scott Catalog, the total number of stamps for that issue was only 37.8 million, so how can the number of stamps purchased exceed the printing?

Same thing for the Legends of the West (#19 on the above list) which the USPS claims 46.4 million were purchased. When checking the Scott Catalog, the total number of stamp for that issue was only 20 million.

Perhaps the Scott Catalog is listing the overall number of sheets of the stamps issued and the USPS is breaking it down in terms of total number of sheets times total number of stamps in each sheet?

Not sure exactly how or why, but it seems to me something doesn't quite add up right.

I must be an outcast -- I do not own 1 stamp on that list.

Maybe Scotts has actual numbers sold/ availiable vs actual number printed. Have to wonder when there are recalls on issues that apparently get destroyed-- Does Scott update with number actually printed or number actually regularly availiable on the market. 40 million printed-30 million sold did the other 10 million get put in the archives or destroyed or still floating. This must have been really difficult before bar coding.

Good point. Most people don't realize the numbers Scott gives is not always the number printed. In some cases, it is the number distributed. In some cases, it is the number sold...

Scott mentions this in the header in the section "Quantities Issued".



You have to interpret the numbers based on the actual Scott catalog number definition. In this case, #3137 is a full pane of 10. Therefore, the actual number of stamps is 10x that quantity. Regardless, I still don't believe the retention rate is that high.

Where are the Muppets?