1940 FDC National Defense

Your thoughts/comments about value appreciated.

Jim

In the long out-of-print "old format" Planty FDC Catalog, the covers from top to bottom are:

#899-78 designer unknown 3x
#899-17 C. Anderson 1x
#899-99 designer unknown 3x
#899-17 C. Anderson 1x
#899-28 designer unknown 3x
#899-17 C. Anderson 1x

Due to the similarities to the three "unknowns," my guess would be that they all came from the same designer. If there's anything on, or in, the covers that identifies the source, then you have a significant find, perhaps not price-wise, but in the overall attribution. Their catalog value was about 3 times a normal FDC. Anderson cachets are quite common, and worth the same (1x) as the most common cachet.

Mellone lists the "unknown" cachet as #2 (Thermographed). The C. Stephen Anderson cachet as #17. Both are considered relatively common cachets from that period.

The Scott Catalog lists all of the National Defense Covers (1c, 2c & 3c) at a value of $7.00 per cover. On the secondary market, 25% of that value is more likely to be the resale value, suggesting that they may be worth possibly $1.75 to $2.00 at best. The sloppier handwriting (as opposed to typewritten addresses) could likely diminish that value even further.

In fact, a good monitor of the value of these covers is what is listed on ebay. Right now several of these covers are for sale at a BIN price ranging from $3 to $8, and NO BIDS on any of them, suggesting that they are either overpriced or way too common to garner much interest among collectors.