What Am I Missing-$1704.00 For A Prexie Tag, Seattle Wa From Flat AK 1946

I have read this type of thread here, now I need to start one.

Ebay Item number:353406065665 sold today 12 March 2021 for $1704.00.

Now I could understand $107.04, so, I must ask what am I missing?



Flat AK is not that rare of a cancel, especially the 1946 type. The PO was open from 1912-2004.
The special 2 cents per ounce gold (Only coin, bullion or dust) rate, to, from or within Alaska and okay to be registered is not uncommon.
The stamps used are common, especially on tags.

Ideas?

Clearly, all it takes is for two bidders to fight it out and you get extremely high prices. And there were only two here at that level. If someone with deep pockets wants something for an exhibit or for personal reasons, they will go to extremes to get what they want. And not saying that's what happened here, but there's always someone that will try to shill bid, gets too greedy by pushing up the bids and gets stuck with an item.

Even if you were trying to be a buyer here, does it really matter in the scheme of things? IF there are only two people looking for a Flat, Alaska parcel tag with Prexies, then the next one will go for a lot less. And I just know there's someone out there thinking it went high because it had the original string.

'Virgin Mary' toast fetches $28,000
A piece of cheese on toast purportedly showing the Virgin Mary
A decade-old toasted cheese sandwich said to bear an image of the Virgin Mary has sold on the eBay auction website for $28,000.

"A Piece of Digital Artwork Just Sold for $69 Million at Christie's"

https://people.com/human-interest/d...-69-million/

The winning bidder's 30 day history of bidding shows them to be voracious pursuers of postal history. It might have fit a certain spot in an exhibit?

I do not exhibit but I have paid multiples over market value for material that I want; just last week I 'over-paid' for a couple of HPO covers. I pay for material based upon my desire to own it and/or the intrinsic pleasure that the material brings to me. <shrugs>
Don

What you're missing is "RATES & USAGES". Early postal history usage to/from small villages in Alaska (Prexies included) -- will bring good prices..bag tags included; especially is good condition which this one is.

Brief Historical.History of FLAT, AK.
Gold was discovered in Otter Creek in the winter of 1908 and the town of lditarod developed as the supply center for lhe district. Flat began as a small mining camp at the confluence of Flat and Otter creeks. By the 1920s, it supplanted lditarod as the supply center and largest town in the lditarod district.Flat also became an important destination on the lditarod Trail, which linked the remote mining camps and towns between Seward and Nome. Tbe claim holders and large scale mining operators blocked efforts to incorporate the town and Flat was never platted. Gold mining activity focused on the creeks surrounding Flat until the 1920s, when rich gold bearing gravels were discovered under the town. Between the l 920s and the 1960s, natural disasters and several mining operators conducted large scale mining within the town, forcing merchants and residents to move their buildings. Over the years, mining activity transformed the appearance of the town.

Ninety-nine of the properties date from 1910 to 1945, including 20 properties from the 1910s, 36 properties from the 1920s, 39 properties from the 1930s, and four properties from 1940 to 1945. More than half of Flat's buildings and structures were moved ac least once due to natural disasters and mining activities, a:nd many were moved two or three times. The historic fabric that remains in Flat is a second or third generation mining camp dating from the l930s and early 1940s. The frontier street-scapes of the 1910s have disappeared. The current population of FLAR is flat --- in otherwords zero. (2010 census)

This item would have fit in many Exhibits or Collections and is highly desirable...which is why the item realized the price. The value of the item is in it's "POSTAL HISTORY!"...the Ussge Registered Mail "Gold Ore Sample" shipment to the U.S. Essay Office/Seattle, Washington and the the Rate of $ 1.78 (Registered Postage 1946 + Alaska Flat Fee Class Zone (AK->WA)+Indemnity Fee ).

Post-War Rates from 1945 through 1955 were complex and changing continually, especially between 1945 and 1948. To get an idea of a Prexie "Rates & Usages" study/exhibit, that includes shipping tags https://stampsmarter.org/learning/a...Prexie5.html

Shipping tags of any period are normally very hard to determine exact breakouts of rates,

Hope that helps.

Best,
Hal

Hal and all,

Yep, I have been struggling trying to analyze the franking on registered shipping tags for years. It is a complex calculation based on weight and distance. Registered bank tags could also be sent at insured mail rates and then there is the gold provision. Looking for a good article or book on the process to use on this calculation.

Can anyone explain how the penultimate bid was only $334.56, lower than the next three bids?
The winner sniped it at the last seconds, his only bid.

As to the bid order, last second bids are not always placed in the seeming proper listing order of lowest to highest. However for the $334.56 bid to have shown at all, it must be a "high bid" for a fraction of a second during the second known as 2:04:33. In this case it was high when placed until it was automatically topped by 6***p's several already placed bids. But since 6***a's bid came in it topped all pending 6***p's previously placed bids. Then the auction timed out before the system could re-sort the bid list from highest to lowest, top to bottom.


I rate the tag as follows:

If containing Gold coin, bullion or dust to qualify, ore did not, as the special Alaska gold rate (described in OP), there is only one:

22oz gold (22 x $35/oz= $770.00) postage 44 cents
7oz secure packaging postage 14 cents
Registration from over $700 to $800 fee $1.20

.44+.14+1.20 = $1.78 as paid on tag.

If not gold but ore then at normal 3 cents/oz first class there are three good rating choices:

Registration to $50, fee 25 cents
Ore and packaging, 51 oz postage $1.53 (allows for 1.4 oz gold in ore)
.25+$1.53 = $1.78

Registration to $100, fee 40 cents
Ore and packaging, 46 oz, $1.48 postage (allows for 2.8 oz gold in ore)
.40+$1.48 = $1.78

Registration to $200, fee 55 cents
Ore and packaging, 41oz, $1.23 postage (allow for 5.7 oz gold in ore an unusually high gold content ore)
.55+$1.23 = $1.78


Perhaps this tag will be written up in the Prexie Era Newsletter or the Prexie grapevine will explain it. Examples of the special gold rate are numerous circa 1920+/-.

Parcelpostguy, thanks for the analysis. Do you collect parcel post items from any era? Is the two cent gold rate still in effect or is there an ending date?

Is any one choice more likely then the others, or are they all fairly equally likely?

@hoosierboy --
Order No. 7721 12-18-1913 started the special Alaska Gold Rate. Likely available immediately, word may not have really gotten out until January 1914. The order shows in the Postal Guide dailies, but not until the USPOD Postal Guide monthlies until the January 1914 issue. It remains in the 1953 (annual) USPOD Official Postal Guide with no indication of termination into 1954. There my records end but it did terminate eventually. Ken Lawrence did an article (APS' The American Philatelist) on the rate one time, that should have the ending date. I have another place or two to still look as well.

As to your other question, my name is Parcelpostguy for a reason and it is not due to me ordering things by mail. I do chase 4th class matter before 1913, the red and green anything and most interesting parcel post after 1927. That includes Special handling, Special Delivery, Insured, C.O.D. and the specially approved registered parcel post for ballots going to the Senate for a recount of the 1918 Ford-Newberry senate election (Domestic parcel post normally could not be registered). Here is a Flat WWI rate cover.



@revcollector--

Special Gold Rate or lowest registration value ore rate are 50-50, the other two ore rate much less likely in my opinion without more information.

Thanks for the info. Am also looking for some official notice for the end of the gold rate. Our interests cross paths when it comes to registered parcel post items especially money shippments to and from banks mostly dealing with the federal reserve system established in 1911 if my info is correct. I have a few tags where the clerk actually gave a summary of the postage paid. A few more giving weight. Most others are challenging at best to decode.

I actually don't go after registered bank tags as those are not parcel post. What I do chase of that ilk are the parcel post insured items from banks which by order of PMG are to be accorded the handling and care of registered matter.



And for 51Studebaker (sorry about the earlier misspellings) mentioning HPO covers, here is a HPO item I am guessing is tough. Sold for more than common registered receipt. It went for low four figures if you count the two to the right of the decimal point.

Good morning Parcelpostguy,

Can you educate me on when the regulation was established allowing insured items mailed by banks to receive registered like chain of custody tracking? Also, when was this service rescended? I take it these items paid postage based on weight and distance like poarcel post items? Thanks in avance for sharing your knowledge. Russ