Prexy Single Usage Question.

I'm not familiar with these "usages"....I just purchased a registered cover with 19 ct prexy on it. I was informed from a friend that the cover has 700$ Scott value because it's a single usage on cover. If that's the case, would the same stamp used on a registered FDC have the same value or would it only have the value of 12.00 as a FDC?

The one usage is real, the FDC is mostly philatelic


Peter

The single use of a 19c Prexy is relatively scare and desirable. You don't show the dates on the cover, but if mailed from August 1, 1958 to January 7, 1963 I make the rate as 4c postage and 15c registration fee.

So philatelic mailings don't count as a usage...or they do, but just "less" value?

Reverse side with dates....

That while a correct rating for the period, is not one of the special Scott listed cover varieties wherein the non-special covers are listed at $20.00 (twenty).




That is wrong (by the way in the USA the "$" is in front of the number) as there is no Scott cover value of $700 per the 2022 US Specialized.

At $2000 (two thousand) are two ounce special delivery (non-local), local two ounce registered; Insured third class is $750 (seven hundred fifty) and 19 cents of pure parcel post is $250 (two hundred fifty). Yours is none of those.

The final listing is a single franking (solo to use the Prexie Collector term), 3 cents, one ounce, first class postage, registration of of 15 cents for minimum registration value ( 0 < $5 ) and 1 cent for unindemnified value of < $50. That means the sender registered for a $5 loss knowing the sender would eat any loss of value from a penny up to and including $50. That makes the value of the contents from $5.01 up to and including $55. The price listed for such a cover is $2000.00 (two thousand). As there is no reason to think yours in NOT a commercial cover nor that the business willing paid one cent too much (19 rather than 18 cents) using a denomination they would only have had on hand for special rates, yours is a wonderful find.

I must now go outside and pull the forms off some concrete I poured. When I come back, I will address your FDC question. Edit: I am done playing with the concrete work and have posted the balance in a new post below.

To view a nice Prexie rate usage online exhibit see here (has other 17 cent single usages)
https://stampsmarter.org/learning/a...ie_home.html
Don

And here's Gordon Eubank's Prexie exhibit:
https://www.rfrajola.com/21GE/21GE.htm

What really drives the value is the collector base and what they think is better. This Prexie collector base (current and especially past) are responsible for the popularity and drive to get solo usage covers, first for Prexies then spilling over to many other stamp series.

What carries the value are the business or commercial usage covers. In general, the FDC are covers made a souvenirs with just any stamp slapped on the cover to get the cancellation without regard to a proper rate usage.

So for your example, it is assumed that the 19 cent stamp was placed on the cover for the FD cancel, registered as there was extra postage that allowed paying a minimum registration fee of 15 cents leaving a convenience over payment of one cent. Many FDC of 18 cents and greater are registered due to the fact that is covered in the payment the stamp represents and the likely greater security and thus receipt of the FDC if it is passing through the mail and not done as a hand back. What would "prove" your 19 cent FDC would be of the high price would be the sender's receipt for registration which shows postage at 3 cents, basic registration at 15 cent and the 1 cent supplementary fee for unindemnified value.

Thus with FDCs only when the cover starts to look like a proper usage does the value start to climb. One example is the 11 cent solo paying the combine air and surface rates to Europe. Such FD covers are rare and carry a value in hundreds beyond the simple over paid domestic one ounce letter. This such cover is determined by the transit markings. Attached is an image of a cover showing the described rate. It is not a FDC, but FDCs of this rate exist but need all the transit marking to be considered as a "proper" use. I own this cover and passed on the FDC as I already owned this cover.



What further complicates this particular 11 cent usage on FDC is there are two versions of the FDC, one with out proper transit marking proving carriage to Europe and one with the proper transit marking showing actual carriage. Only the latter carries the premium price.

The best example of FDC value and non-FDC value is using the $5.00 Coolidge as an example. There are thousands of solo $5 FDCs. But there are no known solo commercial $5 covers. The closest to one is an item with a $5 stamp plus a meter strip for the balance of postage required. Depending on the day, that item sells for either four or five figures. The first true solo $5, commercial, likely would fetch between $10,000 and $20,000 perhaps more, today.

Your question also applies to other purely philatelic Prexie areas. First Flight Covers are purely philatelic and one from 1939 usually sell for a couple of dollars as they are not uncommon. However, there is one Prexie exception since the cover had a solo 10 cent Prexie COIL affixed paying the correct 10 cent (that day) rate to Botwood. What makes this item even more philatelic due to the first flight is that the first flight DID NOT follow the correct airmail route. Due to the volume of collector mail, the stops were change to larger airports in cities where the volume of mail could be handled (postmarked) without delaying the overall flight. ONLY that first round trip flight landed in the alternate cities, all other flights (at least until WWII interrupted) used the correct and intended cities for this airmail route. That said, this purely philatelic cover is valued at over $300, the catalog price of the 10 cent coil on any common cover but no where near the $2,500 for a solo on an international post card or the $3,000 for a solo on an airmail cover to the Caribbean or Central and South America. Now why is that? It is because Prexie collectors view the 10 cent coil solo as so difficult they will accept a purely philatelic item which happens to pay the correct rate and was carried to the destination plus someone was willing to pay the premium price.






See: https://www.usstamps.org/wp-content...10-2019F.pdf page 306 for the article regarding the illustrated item. The particulars of the route deviation for the first flight was overlooked or ignored by the author to avoid further underscoring the philatelic nature of this FF cover. The author did include the item in his multi gold award winning Prexie rate exhibit.

10c coil uses:
https://www.rfrajola.com/21GE/21GE_Page_28.jpg

Parcelpostguy, I was using a 2014 Specialized.....that's where the $700 listing came from...a friend sold me the cover and said it was worth the Scott value of $700 according to his catalog, I paid $20.00, went home and checked my 2014 and it said $700 .Guess I better update or something once I hit the lottery. Thanks for the info, usages are something new to me...I'm more of a Schiffspost/AEF/Polar collector. I can see usages are way to complicated without having rate info for the periods involved...for now it will be a sideline.... Thanks Again EVERYBODY for the inputs!

U. S. Domestic Postage Rates, 1872-2011 - Third Edition by Anthony Wawrukiewicz and Henry Beecher

Available from the APS as the original source and elsewhere.

You want the 3rd edition as it also covers a lot of basic US international rates as well. Tony chose to add them there rather than doing a second edition of the International book.

And yes it covers rates during the WWI period and the AEF.

As to the rise in Catalog values of prexie covers, since 2014 there have been several major Prexie exhibits and related material sold at auction with the specialized usages noted in Scott being added and the older ones being raised in value. It is an active area.

The 10 cent coil shown above and article mention was by Robert Schlesinger and one version of his exhibit prior to the 2020 sale (Rumsey Auctions) is here: https://www.collectorsclubchicago.o...prexie-1.pdf

Also see the 90 page addendum to the Domestic Rate book by Wawrukiewicz and Beecher, with tables updated through 2014 (free PDF download) here
https://stampsmarter.org/learning/Home_TonyW.html

Don

Here is one I like.

*2¢ to cover merchandise rate. ( I thought it had to not be sealed to get this rate. Back looks like it was sealed. Should be 3¢??)
*Using old and new series.
*Using 5¢ prexie to cover insurance rate. For under $5 coverage.
*Penciled in 5¢ on hand stamp to show rate.
*Boxed in Coopersberg PA. hand stamp
*Coopersberg PA SEP 2, 1955 CDS
(nothing on back)

Guess that about covers it.
Anyway, nothing to stop the philatelic presses for, but I enjoy looking at it.
pat

Here are several other sources of information about the Prexie Issues.

Rich Pederson has a website with a cover census of the largest number of each denomination known on cover, tag, or piece, all of which can be viewed here.
https://www.pedersonstamps.com/most...cel-or-piece

Rich would welcome any information about any cover or tag with large multiples near or greater than those he has recorded.

He also has a series of pages with selected solo uses of each denomination.
https://www.pedersonstamps.com/sele...ie-solo-uses

For the scarce denominations, he includes a census and illustrates those covers for which he has an image.

Bob Hehertz has a website in which he displays his collection of solo usages of the stamps in the Prexie series.
http://www.rdhinstl.info/prexies/uprexie3.htm

There is a certain amount of overlap in these two sites.

The United States Stamp Society has a study group on the Prexie Issue, and over the years has issued almost 100 issues of their publication The Prexie Era. Their back issues through early 2022 are available on the USSS website at
https://www.usstamps.org/resources/prexie-era/

Mike

MML1942 - Thanks for the additional info!! Thanks to your info, I have emailed Pederson about inclusion in the Census, awaiting a reply. These covers are not really my cup of tea.....but I hit a good one here.