Precancels - Good Thing Or No?

Here's a question:

How does a precancel effect the value of the stamp itself or is a precancel only a precancel?

I have heard the opinion that a precanceled stamp is only worth the value of the precancel itself as listed in the precancel catalogue - usually pennies. If that were true, then a "normal" collector of used U.S stamps should avoid them like the plague, right?

Case in point - this $5 Marshall (#480):



The Scott Specialized lists its value, used, at $35.00 - I think the "Rochester, New York" precancel is about 10¢.

Any thoughts?

Al

Al, here is where the stamp worlds collide, used stamps, precancel, and others. There are multiple factors that go into valuating a used stamp. Most people look at the stamp first, in terms of identification, quality, rarity, defects, perforations, oddities, and then postmarks, precancels, and perfins. There are multiple precanels that are extremely valuable for many reasons other than the location of the precancel. Precancels add another dimension in terms of precancel font, precancel errors and oddities, location of precancel, etc.

Demand is a significant factor in market value.
Don

Nice stamp. It is ashamed it is not on a cover or piece showing how and that it was used. That could really boost its value regardless of the precancel.

The precancel Stamp Society has a catalog that lists prices for all W/F era precancels. they list this denomination at 30 $ They try to stay close to real-world net evaluations

These are known from 9 cities, with 2 others suspected but not seen in recent years. All rated at either 30 or 40 $

Thanks for all the replies folks!

It would be nice if the Scott Specialized made some mention of precancel values for individual issues or even a generalized statement whether a precancel is a "value-added" situation or a detriment. Unless I just haven't found it, all I see in there is little more than a generalized definition with no mention of the effect on valuation.

There are some people out there who seem to view them as almost "damaged" or "heavily cancelled" and don't want to acknowledge that stamps like my image above aren't worthy of the VF Used condition. I don't mean to support that view, but just wanted to point out that more clarity in the catalogues would be nice to help refute it.

I do tend toward collecting them separately and given the choice will usually pick a light CDS cancel over a precancel for my primary U.S. collection - but that's just me.

Thanks again,

Al

Al,
One must accept the Scott Specialized as the "Scott Semi-Specialized". There is no way to include absolutely everything about every stamp and cancel - and broad generalizations about precancels would likely miss the mark. Scott does mention the number of different Bureau precancels for an issue, but does not list or value the individual towns, with very few exceptions. This is where the specialty societies like the Precancel Stamp Society provide the additional detailed information through their journals and publications.

"There is no way to include absolutely everything about every stamp and cancel" ... this becomes especially true when you learn from the UN site that you can purchase UN stamps pre-cancelled. I did that for the 2009 Ghandi stamp, got one in Mint condition and another with a cancellation. I would think that supply would be less than Mint but survival rate quite high.I mean for what mailing purposes would you use a pre-cancelled UN stamp?

The Precancel Stamp Society catalog is 240+ pages and does not have a lot of bloat/extraneous stuff in it. So adding that to the Scott's listings would be problematic, particularly with how Scott's handles it's values.

For example there are 194 Bureau cancels listed for SC#597 (1923 Benjamin Franklin 1 cent coil).

The PSS does a pretty decent job of keeping up with it. One other difference is that the catalog is organized by cancel, city and state, not by stamp issue.

Either way, that is a beautiful example of that particular stamp. The centering is near perfect and the colour is excellent. I personally would expect to pay a premium over the regular catalogue price for that example. They really can't be that common, but again, what is the demand?