Olympic Stamp Collection?

My father has an olympic stamp collection, that has a stamp, and something else from every single country that participated in 1998 (I think).

It's in 3 massive blue colored volumes.

I don't currently have a picture because they are a few states away, but he was asking me questions as to their worth.

Does anyone know their value?

Welcome to Stamp Community Forum, Sebba!!

As you may have guess, really hard to tell you without pictures.

I'm just guessing, but it sounds like you have a commercial product. To be honest, that usually means the actual resale value is less than what the original subscriber paid for it. There are some exceptions.

It will depend a lot on whether they are mint or canceled stamps, partial or complete sets, and how complete the collection really is.

We'll wait for the pics...

k

Yeah I'm really kicking myself for not taking pictures.

I can describe them as best as I can.

It is three big complete, perfect condition volumes containing stamps from every single country that participated in the 1998 olympics, as well as something like a post stamped postcard (or something like that) in there with it.

I can't find any other set like it anywhere. I figure if it was a mass production collection then I would surely be able to find it some place on the internet?

From what I understand, my father received it when he worked at Motorola in Russia. According to him they were selling for $900 (maybe more?) at the time.

I'll try to find some more information.

It sure sounds like khj is right on. It sounds like the Postal Commemorative Society, Readers Digest, Marshall Islands, etc. patent 'slick' collectibles we see so many people disappointed by in the after-market when they can only muster an offer which is usually way below cost.

I finally had the chance to see the collection again and get a little more information about it.

I was told there was only 100 sets made, and they were all sold in Russia at $1000 a set. It's a 1894 - 1994 100 year set.

Here are the pictures:





Every country looks like that. There is an envelope never touched, with a stamp above it. All perfectly post marked etc..

I don't know if this is relevent, but there on the introduction page for every country it is in two languages, French and English. There is also a page in Russian that I can't read, but it explains the set. I think there was the same thing in English too I just didn't look for it.

The entire set is complete looking just like the above picture(s).

I have been looking around the internet and I cannot find a single set like this.

Anyone?

I could be mistaken, but I don't believe there is any market for these. A stamp dealer would not buy them.
You might be able to get $20-$50 from a collector on ebay.

What gives you that impression?

My opinion is based solely on experience with similar products produced by the Postal Commemorative Society, the "Gold Replica" collections, etc. There is simply little or no demand for these products in the secondary market and thus they have little market value as intact collections. The mint stamps are likely very common and catalog at less than a dollar, maybe 50c each. The souvenir covers, although attractive and interesting to look at, have no postal significance. Their value is that of a canceled-to-order (CTO) stamp. I don't know exactly how many stamps and covers you have. If you break it all down and have mint stamps and souvenir/CTO covers with a total catalog value of $250, you might be able to get $50 for it.

That may be true, t360, although it is possible that collectors of Olympic material -- that is, non-stamp collectors who collect Olympic material -- may pay more than that. Don't forget, this set as a whole commemorates the 100th Anniversary of the modern Olympic Games.

However, as has been said, this looks like it was a subscriber set. Whether it was a limited edtion, I don't know, because there are no logos on the binders telling exactly who it was that put it out.

I can tell you this was not a subscriber set. Only 100 were produced and they were given to the contributing companies. One of which was Motorola, and my father was general manager of the Russian headquarters.

If you ever found another set like it, even just by google, I'd believe that maybe it was mass produced crap. But I can't find anything like it.

The only logo it has on it is the printers name from Turin Italy.

In the beginning pages, it says how it is the only collection of it's kind.

It would be impossible for anyone on the forum to be able to give you an accurate value on this collection.

A stamp or a collection's value lays solely in what someone is willing to pay for it. There are no "retail" values for stamps, a stamp's catalogue value is based on how it's been selling throughout the year. Sometimes they go up, sometimes they go down, but it's all driven by what collectors are paying at the time. The same with any collectible.

Rarity has little to do with it if collectors aren't interested. To give an example, take a 1912 Victoria Australia £1 KEVII mint stamp. You could pick one of these up for a few hundred. Now take a 1913 £1 Australia roo, issued just one year later. A mint one of these will set you back several thousand, even though they're far more plentiful than the Vic £1 stamp. The opposite of what you'd expect, the rarer one being far cheaper. Stamps from Victoria can be as rare as hens teeth, but they're still cheap, because not many people want to collect them. If no-one's interested, it doesn't matter how rare or beautiful or expensive something was, it won't be worth much. So the fact that only 100 were produced means nothing. Nor how well produced it is.

That's the difficulty with your collection. We can't guess at what it'd be worth because as you've pointed out, there's no info at all. No other auctions to compare with. As has been mentioned above, the stamps themselves will most likely be of little value. Are they all a 1994 stamp from each country? The albums are probably worth more. I can't see any stamp collector paying much for it. I don't think a dealer would touch it either, because they wouldn't know if they could move it or not. They might offer you a really small amount.

I'm sorry I can't offer you more advice. I think WpgLwr might be right that collectors of Olympic memorabilia might be better than stamp collectors as potential buyers. Stamp collectors who collect an Olympic theme might be interested. If you listed it on ebay you might get $50 - $100, you might get no bids at all or it might go through the roof. Who knows?

Balf

This is a very good explanation of the situation. If you list it on ebay, all it takes is 2 bidders who REALLY want it, and the price could go through the roof. On the other hand, if there is little or no interest, it could not sell at all or sell for a small percentage of what you expect.

The hardest part is that there is no market to refer to other than the mass produced subscription sets that this looks similar to. Even if this is nothing like those and was limited to a small number produced, without prior sales to refer to, or current collector interest, there is very little way to gauge it's value without auctioning it and seeing what happens.

It's a nice looking set though from what I can see in the pics...enjoy it!

I have to agree it'll depend how much a potential buyer/collector would want to pay for it. Sometimes selling it off in sets vs. one big lot is more profitable, but it all depends who's looking.

OK, thanks for posting the pics. Now I have a better idea of what you have.

t360 and WpgLwr are both correct. From a stamp collector perspective, what you have is probably $20-$50 retail, and <$20 or no offer from a dealer. A dealer will not offer much for it because it is "heavy" relative to amount of stamps/covers enclosed; that makes it difficult for a dealer to sell unless it is a high demand item.

The primary interest in this item will be from collectors of Olympic memorabilia. From this perspective, you are more likely to find a buyer $50-$150 (this I have seen in a few auctions, although not this particular item).

Regarding why so much less than the original $1000 value place on it -- that is all marketing. It's limited edition, yes, but that doesn't mean it's valuable. You are correct that it is not a consumer level commercial product. It is a "gift" product, typically produced for a company so that they can give them as special gifts to important clients. It's several notches above the company logo watches/tickets... It's not unusual in certain industries for upper management and those with purchasing/procurement authority to get showered with these kinds of "gifts of appreciation".

It may have actually cost a lot to produce, given the quality and limited quantity, but that does not mean resale value will exceed the production cost. The product was not made for resale value, it was made for purpose of presenting a quality gift that has the appearance of high value.

Their true monetary value will be determined by the market place, not a catalog. You might find a buyer willing to pay $1000. We are just trying to provide a more realistic scenario. If you list it for that high, you will end up accumulating a lot of listing fees and probably will not get a sale.

These products are in fact very nicely put together. I've enjoyed thumbing through numerous similar products. Thanks for sharing!

k