Scott 2274A - Special Occasions

So, I have a hole in my collection for Scott 2274a, the Special Occasions stamp from 1987



Well, as my family was driving to the grocery store, we saw the stamp store was still open. I sent the wife and kids into the stamp store and told my wife to get me a booklet while I ran to the grocery store.

I came back out, loaded the car and we went home. Then my wife tells me "I didn't know the thing was going to cost $20!" I was floored.

The thing goes for $5.00 on ebay, and I was willing to pay a few bucks more than that for the convenience of having it now, but $20 seems outrageous.

I don't really want to return it, since it was bought properly.

Every retail stamp store I shop at in my area all use the Brookman catalog at their selling price. I've never seen anyone negotiate a price. Is this common with other stamp store? The isn't as high as Mystic ($26.00), but its still more than I expected to pay for these stamps.

Look at it this way: The $5 BIN price on ebay adds $2.62 shipping, so the final price would have been $7.62 and you'd wait a week or so for it.

While the local stamp dealer overpriced the item, by paying $20 for it now you got your immediate satisfaction to fill a void in your collection and you probably paid to keep that rare thing known as a bricks and mortar stamp store open a bit longer.

Many people will pay a premium for getting an item then and now and not having to wait for it. That seems to be the situation in your case.

All I can say is enjoy the stamp (and the story that goes along with how you acquired it) and move on to your next philatelic acquisition.

After all, how many other things can you say you enjoy as much that cost "only" $20?

I need to hack a Mystic page to keep the stamps together. I have the time to do it this evening, so I wanted them right away. The dealer asked me today if I wanted to split any upcoming imperf sheets coming out, so there is value there.

I guess my real question is, did I get overcharged compared to other retail stores? Do other stores use Brookman as their pricing guide?

How are the perforations on that booklet? Any separations at the folds? As I recall, the pane from the booklet was folded at two places: above the bottom Congratulations stamp and between Best Wishes/Happy Birthday and Love You, Dad. The folds make the paper very weak at these locations. If you have no separations, $20 may not be so bad after all.

Cheers, Robert

There is no separation. The booklet was still sealed when I got it. The perfs are weak. I'm getting it into a stamp mount ASAP.

I wouldn't pay Brookman prices unless I had no other option as you should be able to find a dealer selling at 80-100% of Scott, and Scott is lower than Brookman ($10 in this case).