What Is This 1893 Columbian Commemorative Set?

Hey Everyone,
Been a long time reader and first time poster. So today I bought at a local sale these 1893 Colombian stamp set. Its scott #230 - #237. They come in a nice album on this nice sheet that has air tight sealed plastic hinges stamp holders. Only these are glued to the albums sheet. I illed one corner back very carefully and I do see the original glue on them. It is in an album from the Postal Commemorative Society in this nice black album. Now I have an older guide but the difference between CV for MH or MNH is $518.75 vs. $1287.50 Does anyone know if this is just an album that someone used with a nice sheet to frame in or is this from the name of the society? Also, if its from them do they use hinged or NH stamps in their commemorative albums? See the scanned image

let me know if You need a better scan I have a 600 dpi in the raw at 5mb

Thanks for everyones help in advanced.

Joe

Welcome to the Stamp Community Family!

I don't know how much I can help with your questions, but let me give it a try.

First, the Postal Commemorative Society is one of those firms that typically attempt to sell overpriced goods to the non-collector population by placing ads in non-philatelic magazines and the like.

The stamps in question were a product of the Postal Commemorative Society back in 1983, I believe. They are genuine stamps, but are only a "partial set" of the lowest value denominations.

As has been reported on other websites, the quality of the stamps is fair at best, which greatly affects market value. The stamps are not particularly well centered (an important indicator of value in early issues) and there have been reports from those who actually removed the stamps from their sealed plastic capsules, that the stamps are often found to contain thins and other similar damage which diminishes resale value considerably.

As best as I can tell, the stamps used in the collection are "seconds" at best and the value of the stamps on the secondary market would only bring a small fraction of "catalog value", since the catalog generally values the stamps in VF condition. In fact, my 2011 Scott Specialized Catalog suggests that the values of the stamps in VG to F condition are only about 25% of the value of the stamps if they were in VF condition.

A nice enough collectible as it stands, but for those who seek out the best possible examples of these issues, money is often better spent in acquiring better quality material from other sources.

I did check a few ebay listings for these Postal Commemorative Society Columbians and some are offered at a BIN price of $400 to $500, but with no indication that anyone has even bid on the items at those prices.

Thanks Glad I final made the plunge and joined. Yeah I knew the centering was off, but being an avid Canadian Coin and stamp collector I didn't know if good centering examples was hard to come by. So it sounds like this is the company who charges Stanley Gibbon's prices, but gives you the McDonald's quality stamps. Hope they have went out of business. I honestly picked up these cheap at a local thrift shop so I'm not in hot water.

Thanks Again and I look forward to learning more.

Welcome josephswagner, that is a great quote!

Years ago my well meaning sister-in-law gave me one of those colorized $2 bills, thinking it was valuable. I never let on that it was only worth 2 bucks.

Yeah sadly many family members don't understand our hobbies and would be better off giving us the money and let us make informed purchases. I think thats why companies like this exist to take hard earned money from well meaning gift givers or newbies. I think you see it any collection base though and it the nature of the beast. Glad I could bring a laugh yakboomer and thank for the welcome. I guess I'll put these on ebay and see what they do. :)