Stamp Exchange

I'm thinking about starting a stamp exchange based on Scott catalog value and accurate identification. As an example, the regular issues of Brazil in the early 1900s had as many as eleven varieties, ten different watermarks and an unwatermarked variety. Many of these stamps have watermarks that are easily visible simply by holding the stamp up to a bright light. For the exchange, I prefer to see stamps with easy to see watermarks.

This exchange would be for advanced collector's of the type that has interest in watermark varieties, perforation, type of printing etc. Not all collectors care about such details.

All stamps would be mounted in small booklets or on folded pages that fit in convenient envelope. Each stamp would be labeled with catalog number (sometimes with name of country as a convenience) and catalog price. As most prices don't change every year, any Scott catalog for the last five years should be suitable. Since some countries have issued so many stamps, just having the catalog number would be a useful feature and save time for many collectors. Each exchange book would, of course, be labeled with the year of the catalog used.

Every member should only enter stamps in upper grades of condition, no missing perfs, tears, thins, heavy cancels, creases. Canceled to order stamps are welcome as long as the most common stamps are avoided. Most of you should know what I'm talking about here - the common stamps that turn up everywhere all the time.

One of the problems is the tendency of Scott to price a set of stamps with only a single price. If you only have one stamp of the set to enter in the exchange, the price has to be interpolated, based on the face value of stamps in the set.

In the early seventies I ran an exchange of this type for several years and had over a dozen good and active members. One member sent in several sheets of Germany (25 per page) all labeled with the wrong catalog number, the expensive watermark variety. Others entered too many damaged stamps that had to be rejected.

Are there enough advanced collectors to support a quality exchange of this type? Are there any collectors in the Minneapolis MN, USA area willing to get together and experiment with this?

Before starting the exchange I would like to discuss the idea and get the opinions of other collectors.

Thank you,
halflizard

If you have to lead a fish to water, the chance is that it is already dead and you are just wasting your time.

I hope readers do not interpret my post as an offer to trade stamps. This would be a violation of the rules that require fifty posts and a minimum membership period. I would simply like collector's opinioins on an organized exchange and the rules by which it would operate. I will not try to bribe people to respond by offering a reward of something valuable like an assortment of one hundred party geckos.
Lizardly,
halflizard

An apple a day will keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough.

well-written clarification, lizard.

Unfortunately, I don't have any insight for you. There have been a few threads here about trading methods, but I don't think a consensus was ever reached.

Even for a "basic" trading service, the issues of condition, catalog value, actual value, etc. are tough to solve. You're talking about "advanced collectors" so I imagine there will be many more concerns.

Kirk

Halflizard,

Interesting proposition. I am aware of the different varieties due to the fact that I started to collect Brasil a little over a year ago... The only problem for me is correctly IDing the stamps that I have.... More than a few times because of the difficulty of some of the issues I have just err'd in the favor of the more available and cheaper version...

With the advent of scanners and the Internet maybe a new category on the website where people can just post e books of the stamps instead of the mailing the physical books. Then do the mailing when the interested parties come to an agreement. Probably save a lot of postage. I know that there is not much trading in the auction trade section of the website (seems to be mostly auctions and sales).

But also if one wants to send some more stamps than what was agreed upon to another member, to promote the hobby, I think that would be ok too. Being that stamps of minimal value and plentifulness might encourage new collectors to delve into a new subject or country.

I think price is a good equalizer if dealing with a more advanced collector. If one has a $5 stamp he can exchange for 2 stamps at $2.50c etc.

All in all a good start of a discussion.