1994 Bill Pickett Error - Scott 2870

paul78703, you only mentioned the "supply" side (BTW, there were 150,186 issued according to Scott). But it's the "demand" side now driving the price. Interest in "modern" US (I define that as anything post-1930) is falling off a cliff, and I don't see anything likely to reverse that trend soon.

srailkb: You could be right. At this time, the demand for the sheet is obviously pretty low. But, in the long run, if stamp collecting survives as a popular hobby, I would expect the demand to rise and the cost to rise.

srailkb: "Interest in 'modern' US (I define that as anything post-1930) is falling off a cliff."

On what do you base this statement? I have no reason at all to doubt you; I'm just curious about why you think this. Are prices for post-1930 U.S. material considered low now? I've returned to stamp collecting only recently and do not yet have a grasp of the current market.

paul78703, I've been a full-time US stamp dealer for 20 years and part-time prior to that. Probably <10% of my customer base would be interested in owning a recalled Legends sheet at $60 today. In fact, I generally don't even pull items like Scott 2870 out of collections anymore. Leaving them in (and other scarcer items like Scott 834, 1053, 3138, etc.) is the best way to move all that face...

As a general statement, I don't think anyone would argue that prices aren't lower than they were 5 years ago, which were lower than they were 10 years ago, which were lower than 15 years ago, etc. (prices on scarcer items like Scott 834 and 1053 probably peaked in the late 1970's or early 1980's).

And IMO they're likely to continue going lower. I see nothing down the road that is likely reverse this trend.

srailkb: Thank you for that information! It is really interesting to me!

How is the demand (and prices) for pre-1930 U.S. material?

Thank you.

I remember having many dozens of want lists looking for the recalled Legends pane, back when the going rate was >$150/ea! For comparison, I don't have a single want list with that number on it now.

Demand for pre-1930 is soft, but not as soft as post-1930, which is "falling off the cliff" in any quality ranges (from graded 100 to "collector grade" to scrap postage). There are several pre-1930 areas that are pretty strong now, but it's beyond the scope of a quick drive-by forum post to answer that.

Is the decrease in demand for post-1930 material simply due to a (substantial?) decline in the number of collectors? I notice that issues of Linn's Stamp News are considerably smaller than they were in the 1990's.

IMO, a portion of the decline is thanks to USPS -- needlessly issuing $100's of stamps each year, making it very difficult to collect modern issues on a limited budget, and introducing pre-paid labels (e.g. Click-n-ship), essentially discouraging people from using stamps on their mailings.

Just as a note - there is a way to differentiate most of the non-Pickett stamps in the error (recalled) pane from the same stamps in the re-issued pane. All the stamps except the four corner stamps have a red border around the stamp. In the re-issued pane, the red border is twice the width of the border in the recalled pane.

Alan

I got lucky when the Recalled Legends was offered by the PO; I put in requests for me, my now ex-wife and each of my 3 kids along with some help from friends at work. Ended up with 5 of them for 10 requests. They were selling like hot cakes in Linn's at that time, so I immediately sold 3 of them for $250.00 each and kept two. One I sold a few years ago for $125 or thereabouts on ebay and have kept one in my collection. Not a bad outcome for the one and only time I ever speculated in my stamp collecting activity...

srailkb,

I agree with you 100 percent. The post office also makes it so you have to purchase 12 or 20 stamps when you only want one. Gouging and greed.

Jack Kelley

As a collector of used US singles, I've been on the look out for a used copy of the Bill Pickett stamp (2870g). I finally found one, purchased last year on ebay from Anthony's stamps. Used copies seem much harder to find than the intact mint sheets. Value based on the sales price seems to be about the same.

One thing I learned in this is that the other stamps of the 2870 sheet are actually different in the thickness of the red border surrounding the vignette - those from the error sheet are thinner than those from the reissue sheet (scott 2869). This applies to all but the 4 corner stamps.

Matt

matttodd1: Congratulations! You have a genuine rarity!

And, as you mentioned, each stamp in the Recalled Legends sheet is a rarity. Maybe demand is (currently) low, but they are all rarities.