Are Canadian Perfins Really This Hot ?

I was looking through completed sales of Canadian stamps to find actual retail values when I stumbled across a certain sellers lots. I think there is something suspicious about the lots as they sold for much more than I would have thought and all the lots had the same 2-3 bidders with one bidder winning every lot.

Here is a link to one of the auctions, have a look at the other Perfin lots and state if you also believe foul play is involved.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Canada-perf...047675.l2557

I don't see anything wrong here (not saying there isn't). I have also noted that there seems to be good interest in Canadian perfins recently.

Some are more rare of course, and all it takes is a few collectors looking for specific items to fill their collections. In a lot, it may be just one stamp that the buyer is looking for.

I have sold some perfins myself. Some lots go for a few dollars, some individual ones can go for $10++

Thanks Stallzer for noticing that. I also noticed the "CNR" perfins were fetching a good amount. I listed several I had with a start of 99 cents. Very few looked at them and they finally sold after relisting a couple of times. Needless to say they went for 99 cents. I'm still confused about it. Either there are perfin collectors in Canada or there isn't. If I have them listed several times and only have 5-7 views then there isn't that much activity.

This thread may be headed for the circular file, but I'll chime in on the original post.

This is an ebay seller's dream...something that two people seem to want very much. At the same time.

This seller seems to have many perfin lots, from a number of countries. And sells lots of material.

There look to have been at least 12 Canada perfin lots in March. Of the ones I looked at, one bidder won 8 or 9, the other won 3 or 4. The bidder who won the most has about 1000 positive feedbacks in the last year.

Therefore, I think it is safe to conclude that there is, in fact, a heightened interest in Canadian perfins.

That would be great news, if I was selling. Perhaps the days of picking up glassines full of 'em for a buck or two are over.

I have communicated with the vendor. He writes the following:

"This was a fairly advanced Canadian General Perfin Collection, and it has created
some rather healthy bids."

Perfins are really popular today.

Not just for the Canadian ones but for a variety of countries. However, there are some dealers charging prices that are way out of line for these and again, the word "RARE" keeps creeping in.

For instance, I saw some "BT" perfins of Canada (Bell Telephone)at a show last summer that were selling for $25.00 apiece! I had several of them that I bought for pennies apiece some years ago. I know they went up, but I don't think they are worth that much.

My opinion of course.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I have lots of perfins, from various countries and times. When I look at them, I wonder how difficult it would really be to fake one. I don't think people actually get too many perfins expertized, do you? Seems like a fun, yet dangerous place to collect.

I guess they would be hard to have expertized Partime.

I find perfins interesting. It is not just collecting the different patterns that are available but some of the larger firms had branches across a country or around the world and some of them used 'locating' pins. These were used in a different location on any given perfin and this would indicate that a perfin was used from a particular branch office.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I know there is some sort of catalog for U.S. Perfins, but is there reference material available for Canada & Worldwide perfins ? I have quite a few and I'm leaning towards keeping them but I'm struggling with the aspect of starting another area to chase.

There is the free "Perfin Handbook" for Canada written by BNAPS (http://www.bnaps.org/PerfinHandbook...ndbook.htm). It is a reference book without any prices but there is a rarity factor. You will find there all company perfin as well as the official perfin (I think that all is there).

pepere_jack..I think your link should read as below.


http://www.bnaps.org/PerfinHandbook/

Thanks for the link ! I found the Perfin guide and it's actually a free download. very nice.

Sorry... It seems that the forum added the ")." of my message to the link... The link should have been " http://www.bnaps.org/PerfinHandbook...Handbook.htm ". (http:// www.bnaps.org/ PerfinHandbook/ PerfinHandbook.htm)

No problem stallzer. Sorry for the link confusion.

I started collecting private perfins as a little side collection.It is very addictive while I collect only one of each from the different companies some collect one of each position(8) of each stamp.The going value seems to be the same as a used copy of the same stamp for MOST.I did pay almost fifty dollars for a bluenose perfin which to me was extreme but it was a bidding war.I don't have any as yet from several issuing firms.Not always listed and sometimes very over priced.IMHO