Can Someone Get Too Obsessd With A Stamp?

I was looking over Kelleher's upcoming August 11-12 auction catalog and noticed something interesting. Some collector/dealer seemed to have an obsession over the US C46 80c Diamondhead airmail stamp. Lots 1059-1063+1066 contain a total of 10,863 plate blocks of this single stamp. The total production of this stamp was 18,876,800. Divide that by 50 and the maximum total number of plate blocks for this issue is 377,536. This accumulation represents 2.87% of all the C46 plate block that could possibly exist. Since many plate blocks would not have been saved, the actual percentage of all the surviving C46 plate blocks this accumulation represents is much higher.

To top it off, Lots 1070-1072 contain 280 full sheets of C46, I assume from the same hoard.

Were they trying to the corner the market in hopes of driving up the price of their huge stockpile? That is the best guess I have.

It makes you wonder what other huge stamp accumulations are hidden away...

https://stampauctionnetwork.com//V/v8512.cfm#10

Manipulation in philately has been going on since 1840 . No reason to think it still doesn't go on .

My wife had me buy her a full sheet of the U.S. Elvis Presely stamp . Because all her friends loved Elvis. Which sounds like to her a good reason to invest in something .

Just a hunk, a hunk of burnin' love.

Will sell as discount postage. Add a 2 cent for first class mail. That would be a beautiful mass mailing.

Am more impressed with lot 1074, 143.4 pounds of US C11 material.

Edited to add, unlike the C46 with just a few limited plate numbers, the C11 produced hundreds of plate numbers, with a complete set nearly impossible to assemble and as I understand, never has been.

It will be interesting to see how much those C46 lots go for. Selling them as discount postage seems sad, but I doubt there are 18,000+ plate block collectors needing to add one to their collection.

They would look really good on a vintage-style envelope:

https://www.amazon.com/Envelopes-En...J/ref=sr_1_1

Always interesting what motivates hoarding. Maybe a rumor or "tip" back in the day about scarcity that never transpired. Or maybe there was a supposed error that someone went looking for. I think this kind of thing has more to it than "they really liked the look".

You can just substitute with a stamp with almost anything.

Actually, I suspect that a lot of these plate blocks were saved, since the stamp was issued for a very specific purpose. It was issued to mail boxes of flowers from Hawaii. And on cover usages are very often expensive today (except for FDC's). I know of a wrapper that had one example on it along with several other stamps to make up an odd rate to Europe that sold for $1200. And it is hardly alone.

C46
....................................................................................................Pl # Blks
$9203.20 face hammered for $4750.00; catalogue of $54,600.
$6256.00 face hammered for $3500.00; catalogue of $37,100.
$6547.20 face hammered for $3500.00; catalogue of $38,900.
$6515.20 face hammered for $3500.00; catalogue of $38,700.
$4864.00 face hammered for $2500.00; catalogue of $28,900.
....................................................................................................Sheets
$4320.00 face hammered for $2900.00; catalogue of $19,008.
$3640.00 face hammered for $2400.00; catalogue of $16,016.
$3240.00 face hammered for $2200.00; catalogue of $14,256.
_________________________________________________________
$88,585.60 face hammered for $25,250; catalogue of $247,480

28.5035% of face for 110,732 80 cent stamps....what a striking mass mailing those would make.
10.2028% of catalogue

C46 Catalogue pricing should reflect near face value for singles, plate blocks and sheets. Will Scott have the backbone to do so?

The bespoke C11 collection which did not sell at Boston Expo 2026, estimated at $30,000-$40,000 for auction earlier this month went unsold.

Pure SPECULATION .
As mentioned earlier their is always something that someone thinks will sky rocket in price . Right now I am seeing on chat boards all the talk about Silver going from $65.00 per oz, to $300.00 per oz . if it is not Silver it is something else ......always something is going to shoot for the moon .
You can bet this buyer of the Hawaii stamp was speculating .

Who purchased them ? Simple answer and the most logical person who can use them for postage .---- KELLEHER STAMP AUCTIONS , I know because I been getting both their catalogs and regular mailed packages for years and been getting large envelopes painted with postage stamps

According to the Internet, $0.80 in 1952 was equivalent to $10.08 today, so the speculator hasn't done very well: he spent the equivalent of $1,116,178.56 and has received $25,250.00.

And all the people who had to wait behind him in the post office queue think it served him right!