Did You Notice?

has anyone noticed that the US has been coming out with a lot of high denomination stamps lately? Is it a sign of inflation (considering the govt has been printing a lot of money lately).

Here are some of the stamps I have received lately:

Hi Johnstamp,

If I am not mistaken, the stamps you show are older stamps. I would have to check to be sure.

Londonbus1....USA stamp dunce

it may be old...but maybe its just a coincidence or something...but I received a lot of these lately...maybe its only now that they are being used

JB Moore.....1965-81 prominent americans seriers
Bret Harte and J.Hopkins.....1986-94 Great Americans

Londonbus1.....learning

thanks...must be a coincidence then...people must be using old stamps to save maybe

Londonbus1 is correct, all of them were issued in the latter half of the last century. If I ignore the varieties, the basic stamps were issued as follows

$5 Moore in 1966
$5 Harte in 1987
$1 Hopkins in 1989

Some who do a large number of mailings, like myself, save some money by purchasing large postage lots at a discount off face value. We use up the those high-denomination stamps rather than just letting them sit there year after year.

Since the Prominent Americans series of the 1960s (i.e., $5 Moore) and onwards, the dollar value definitives ($1, $2, $5) are fairly common in both mint and used. The used priority mail (and up) rate stamps are the ones that usually command a premium. Because of their larger size, those eagles/shuttle stamps are easily damaged in the mailstream and are not that easy to get in good condition with a clean postmark. More than 75% of the ones I receive in the mail are usually creased or damaged in some way.

John:

Here's one row of one page from my Album. I think about 1992-3; they are Scott #2543, 2544, and 2544a



And below them on the same page are Scott #2590 and 2592.



I think I purchased all (or most) of these from the Fulfillment Center, so I paid "only" face value -- $22.65

KirkS

I don't have pics or my catalog here, but what about all the $10+ issues of recent years. A plate block collector could go broke!

Many of did, and that's why many of us dropped out of US plate block collecting by the 1980s. It's been a steady stream of bloating, starting with the Huck press, then Andreotti Gavure press, then combination (A) press...

The decision to put one plate number per stamp selvage, along with the rotating selvage markings, are interesting from a production/knowledge point of view, but the long-term result was a mass-exodus of us from plate block collecting. Only in the past 2 decades was I able to get back into plate block collecting, but I only worked on certain issues.

nice stamps kirk!

Parcel mailing costs have reached such a point that a starter/base value of a $5.00 stamp is needed on most p-ackages if you want to use stamps for postage. An important consideration, especially when mailing to other collectors.

Thanks, John.

Craig; speaking of parcels, did you see the photo Harry posted in https://goscf.com/t/4345

Talk about an expensive mailing!

KirkS

look at how much this one is

Image: usaeagle.JPG
8.07 KB

Have you seen the prices stamp dealers charge for the high face value stamps? Out of sight. They are not necessarily out of my price range, but if I am going to spend that much money, I want something 19th century, or early 20th.