Low Grade Fillers For HI Cat Value Stamps?

I am interested in opinions on buying deeply discounted but low grade examples of high catalog value stamps to increase the coverage in a collection?

More specifically buying $100+ catalog value stamps for less than 10% of reference price to provide coverage on the first page or two of a country specialty album. Example of the flaws might be a small chip missing from a corner or a few perforations clipped off...while still have an attractive presentation. A Queen Victoria stamp with $175 cat value w/o condition adjustment selling for say $13.

It may be the difference between having the stamp and not.

Of course some may want to have a pure high grade collection without diluting or poisoning the entire collection...kinda like having forged stamps mixed.

I don't like flipping through an album knowing that all the higher value stamps are either flawed or fakes. I'm not sure if only page 1 went from blank to some coverage using flaws...it's still a vintage early issue and I'm probably not buying $100 stamps anytime soon although I'm hoping they will show up in some larger and more expensive lot buys.

These types of stamps abound, so I would suggest you take your time in finding one that is of sufficiently good appearance to you.

Also, for classic Great Britain, keep in mind that the current catalog prices for used stamps are rather inflated (my opinion). Also, for 25% of catalog or less, you can get an almost sound to sound FVF stamp for many of the classic era GB. And that's RETAIL price, not wholesale price. You might want to keep that in mind as well. There's a huge oversupply of Great Britain stamps.

I have seen GB selling for big discounts in strong condition as well and I have the perception that the CAT values on GB are especially high vs. market...how about Australian States and rest of empire...similar situation?

Good feedback...thanks

i received the APS circuit books today..here are some examples..the stamps look at least FINE to me, I should have said the stamps are Great Britain scott #21 catalog 57.50..net 9.50, scott # 54 catalog 37.50..net 6.95...scott # 62 cat 60.00 net 7.90..heres one I have my eye on..scott 117 cat 47.50...net 2.75..its a fact you can get vintage Great Britain or Germany now for a fraction of catalog !

I am posting in terms of used stamps.

The earliest Australian states are difficult to get in well-centered sound condition. This is, in general, true for most of the British Empire -- but not true for Great Britain itself. Some areas the price is low, simply because demand is low.

I always use wholesale prices as a barometer of actual market conditions. There was a brief time period about 5 years ago when the Australian states was having pretty decent increases, but that has leveled off. Notably, the wholesale prices had nearly no change during the dramatic GB price jumps during that same time. Many don't realize that the early GB were printed in relatively large quantities for that time. The were more than 50 million penny blacks printed (I don't remember the exact number).

In terms of CLASSIC ERA (first 100 years) stamps, the worldwide areas that have gone up recently in wholesale pricing are not British Commonwealth. Most notably, in the past couple of years, Italian area and some Eastern Europe. Even France has nudged up slightly after more than a decade of stagnation. Good news for me, since I bought almost all my France when it was in the doldrums. The trick, of course, is to buy the stamps when that area is not "hot".

It depends on what you ultimately see doing with your collection. I can understand that it bothers you to see an empty space on a page. As silly as it seems, a prospective buyer may get an overall impression of the value of your collection by seeing obviously defective stamps such as those missing a cornerand other defects as you describe. If the goal is not ultimately to sell and you are doing it solely for your enjoyment, I agree with patience as with defective stamps the buyer is ultimately going to have an edge. On ebay for example obviously defective stamps have been sitting for sale for a long time. Some owners will not lower their price even if their inventory is not moving week to week or month to month, but others want to unload. You will have likely more than one opportunity to purchase these stamps so take your time.

I believe that set actually went down slightly in value in the 2010 catalog (not all the stamps in the set, just a couple). However, that is still a good buy.

Hmmm, maybe I should start posting my classic era duplicates for sale -- if I can ever find the time!

k

I love it when the purist or the wealthy pass on a great looking page 1 classic just because it has a fault. Sure, I'll pass on an ugly classics that looks like its been through a war, but I have some that look great even with one or more faults. Some of my faulty classics actually are more attractive than the sound ones that brought a much higher price. I mix the "good" and the "bad" on the same page and it doesn't bother me at all. The splash of color makes a more interesting collection.

My bottom line is if I like it, I don't really care what the big boys might say. I've heard over and over on this forum that enjoyment of stamp collecting should take priority over value. I couldn't agree more.

Marty

If you let these things come across your bow, you'll find lots of them, for almost no money. If you actively seek out a particular issue, then you'll probably have to pay more for it.

I generally try to avoid spacefillers, but I did acquire lots of them in the past. (Okay, once in a while I still do.) I drew/draw the line at chunks missing out of the design. Small thins and blunt perfs were no problem for me. Pulled perfs and rounded corners were tougher to swallow, but maybe okay, depending on appearance. Creases visible from the front were also usually avoided. Gum creases and hinging were and are no problem for me.

Basically, as long as all of the design was present, I'd consider it, but only for a steep discount off the normal discount off catalog. I capped my spacefillers at a buck or two, and usually only considered them for very high price items. A couple of KGV seahorses for $2? Okay. Its good practice for identifying printers and useful for a reference collection, even if they get bumped from the main albums some day.

My 2d.

Collin

Not all space fillers are created equal. You can have a stamp with a flaw, but the flaw may be invisible on a casual inspection.

I don't have a problem with flawed stamps, but do draw the line at missing portions of the stamps or too badly disturbed perfs. I had rather have a slightly flawed stamp than a sound stamp badly off center or heavily cancelled, although those might be considered flaws.

This theme reminds me of why I collect "worldwide"..there is no stress on having to buy a particular stamp..if a nice stamp comes along that lines up with my pocketbook..i squeeze off on it...