Odds At Having That Special Classic

Who has not thought about finding that special million dollar classic?

So what are the odds? In a nut shell not so good.

Here are the numbers on a few of the special ones.

#80 / 80a 4 available to collectors Current Value - $250,000
#81 7 available to collectors Current Value - $200,000
#82 4 available to collectors Current Value - $1,000,000
#85A 1 available to collectors Current Value - $3,000,000
85D 5 available to collectors Current Value - $650,000
85F 2 available to collectors Current Value - $2,000,000

Of course another one could turn up however for now these stamps are among the most hard to get.

For each of those 1,000 or 2,000 were issued. Why so few? I do not know how large the printing sheets were, but that would mean only a few sheets were made?
I am by no means an expert on grills, but are these rare stamps not just nrs. 76, 71, 65, 68 and 77 that got grilled?
Final question: how can you see that a grill is authentic and that some clever bloke did not just take stamp 65 (1,800,000,000 issued) and make a few dents in it?

Jan-Simon

First it is very hard to duplicate the real grill. Though many have tried for over 100 years. Second you would have to send it off to be certified.

So for the more expensive grills you would want to buy one that comes with a certification.

Hello Jan-Simon.....

Most fake grills look very different from real ones. Also, with so few real #85-89's with certificates any claim of a new find will be examined very carefully by everyone that has a chance to see it.

The grilled stamps with very low totals are just the known number of each. They were, in most cases, printed on sheets of 200 or 400 and after enough test samples were acquired the remainders were distributed for general use with the idea that the fact that they were somewhat different really didn't matter to the general public.....just after the Civil War paper supplies were extremely low so waste was kept to an absolute minimum.

Most stamps that were used on mail were just discarded like most envelopes even today, but there are almost definitely more just sitting in collections and dealers stock unidentified and waiting to be discovered. Beginners and intermediate collectors up to now, were very unlikely to discover a scarcer item because they were/are buying mostly from established dealers.

BUT.......now that there are sellers on-line from just about everywhere that are not established, experienced dealers the possibility of discovering something special that sat in grandpa's old collection for many years is very possible, many collections are passed on to children and grand children who have no idea what they have and are now trying to sell them on-line.......but don't believe anyone that claims they're selling an untouched/unsearched collection (unscrupulous sellers will claim anything) it's possible, but unlikely.

Enjoy the hunt......

Could more stamps show up? I would say yes and I would bet there are many of them sitting in a few family bibles in the homes of non stamp collectors.

Just think if another Z grill(85A) would show up. What would the market place do if a few dozen were to come out?

There was a guy just a few years back that was making more than enough grill stamps and selling them on ebay. For a knowledgeable collector the difference between those and the real ones were easy to figure out.

A more interesting grouping of stamps are the 1975 reissue of the 1961-66 regular issues. Just try finding unused blocks of these stamps. They are in the market place but they are considered great rarities.

I don't know just give me a Scott number with a dash (-) in place of the current value then I just might have my retirement money.

You're absolutely correct .....
I've seen the same descriptions on coins and stamps lots , I believe it as much as I believe the fools on Home Shopping Network claiming how good of a deal everyone is getting.

yes...people now say anything just to sell a particular product