Scott's Catalog

I have the 2012 Scott's Specialized Catalog but it is lousy for getting current values for Sheet Stamps. What do you folks use to learn the values?

You typically have to use the Scott catalog and calculate the value of a plate block and the value of the remaining single stamps to come up with a "sheet" value.

Alternatively, I have an old 2009 HE Harris & Co. US/BNA Catalog. They list catalog prices for sheets, in addition to FDC, Plate Blocks, MNH and Used. The problem is their prices are often over-valued compared to Scott so it doesn't correlate very well.

Take, for example, Scott #978 as a common mid-1940's 3c commemorative stamp with a face value of a sheet of 50 at $1.50: Scott lists the MNH values at catalog minimum $0.20 and a plate block at $0.60. So using Scott figures, a sheet of 50 stamps has one plate block valued at $0.60 and 46 single stamps valued at $9.20 for a total sheet value of $9.80. On the other hand, HE Harris lists that stamp as a plate block for $1.25 and the singles at $0.35, so based on that formula HE Harris' total comes out to $17.35, however they provide a separate value for a sheet of 50 at $12.50, which is about 28% below their single stamp values.

Fast forward to more current issues that are typically cut into panes of 20, but with plate blocks in all four corners, and Scott does now list "Pane of 20" values, but it works out exactly the same as if you calculated the unit price of each stamp. To use Scott #4408 as an example, the face value is $8.80 ($0.44 x 20 = $8.80). The "Pane of 20" value is $18.00, which is based upon four plate blocks of 4 ($3.60 x 4 = $14.40), plus four extra single stamps ($0.90 x 4 = $3.60).

It really just comes down to applying a bit of extra math to come up with the figures you're looking for.

The disconnect in this valuation methodology is that a plate block of 4 is valued less than the four single stamps that comprise it.

For most of the common post-1930s issues, you will probably get a more reasonable approximation of value if you add the plate block price to the face value of the remainder of the stamps on the sheet.

The most accurate gauge would be to search the completed sales on ebay, bidstart, etc., as a majority of the more common sheets typically sell below their face value.

It really comes out pretty close.

For a sheet of 50 3-cent stamps, to use the method of face value of 46 stamps ($1.38) + plate block value ($0.60) = $1.98.

To use the Scott catalog method of (1) plate block ($0.60) + 46 MNH stamp value ($0.20 x 46) = $9.20, comes out to a total catalog value of $9.80. Since most re-sellers would discount common US material to perhaps 20% of Scott catalog value, that would come out to $1.96.

We're talking a difference of merely two cents between each calculation. Hardly worth the value of having stored the stamps over the past 70 years.

So Wt1 what your really saying is Plate Blocks are worth almost as a total what a full sheet is worth. Does a plate block have to have the Numbers on it to be an actual plate block? I have several sheets and have been tempted to just break them all down into plate blocks. But some wouldn't have the numbers on them. Just the selvege. So then the ones without numbers would just become plates and not actual plate blocks. Am I correct in thinking this way? Would that change the value on them if they didn't have the numbers or use Zip Code or Mail early in the Day?

Plate Blocks, by definition, is with the plate numbers only. The stamps without plate numbers would be merely blocks (with or without selvage) and it really wouldn't matter if the selvage was kept with them or not. Value is a relative thing, though. Plate Blocks (in theory at least) are worth a bit more than a block of stamps without the plate number, but in today's market and with plate block collecting interests dwindling, many have taken to selling off plate blocks or using the mint stamps for postage, as they were made in such vast quantities that there is minimal value above the face value of the stamps themselves. Using the illustration shown earlier, the plate block of four 3c stamps would be "valued" at $0.60, but if you used the calculation that most re-sales would be at about 20% of catalog value, that would reduce the value of the common 3c plate block to $0.12 (face value). In other words, the premium placed on that item is nearly insignificant.

When the ZIP Blocks came out in the mid-1960's, they were a minor collectible, too, purportedly worth a fraction more than a block without the ZIP Code logo, but most collectors abandoned that specialty when the ZIP Code logo was removed from the selvage of stamps in the late 1980's/early 1990's.

Likewise, the Mail Early in the Day blocks were another minor collectible, but in blocks of six, therefore they were valued slightly higher by virtue of the fact that there were two extra stamps in the configuration. That, too, fell apart as a collectible when the Mail Early in the Day text was eliminated from the stamp selvage. Mail Early in the Day blocks did not really catch on as much of a collectible, as the larger configuration of six stamps, plus selvage, resulted in larger storage requirements, larger mounts and took up more space in albums for what amounted to a minor premium in value over the same block of stamps without the text.