What's With The Canada Capex '78 Souvenir Sheets (756A)?

What's with the Canada CAPEX '78 souvenir sheets (756a) cataloging over $4.00 when many can't even get face value for them?

I was at CAPEX in 1978 and remember buying a wad of 50 or so of the sheets hoping they would increase in value. I have about 10 left, most of the others used as postage over the years.

If you are referring to the Unitrade Catalogue these are the "Editorial Associates" who have contributed to pricing:

1. Christopher Carmichael (Vance Auctions)
2. Robert Cooperman (City Stamps Montreal)
3. Gary Lyon (Gary Lyon Philatelist Ltd.)
4. Dwayne Miner (Miner Philatelics)
5. Mirko Zatka (Zatka Philately Ltd.)

This should answer your question.



Just saw this lot for sale at Delcampe (Fixed Price)



48c is far more realistic than the Unitrade value.

But I wonder what the shipping cost?

I knew someone who bought around $10,000.00 of these at the time and 25 years later he got less than half of what he paid for them.
If he invested the $10,000.00 over 25 years in GIC's, he may have at least doubled the amount or more rather than lost over half of it.

CAPEX '78 was a great show.

The prices for stamps back then went nuts too. There were many people from across the planet buying (or should I say 'they thought they were 'investing') stamps like they were going out of style.

There was one man at Canada Post in the massive line-up literally yelling "I want to buy that large book" over and over again, to which the postal worker sarcastically replied "It's the Toronto phone book". After that, the man in the line-up kept a low key. It wasn't too long after this show when the bubble burst and prices dropped dramatically.

There were some dealers at that show that were selling WW stamps close to catalogue value. I don't know how they did at the show, but I do know they had to sell a lot to make it pay because table fees for that show was not cheap.

Chimo

Bujutsu

I'm trying to remember the year that Scott SLASHED prices in the catalogs - ?

Doug 2222

These are the shipping prices:

US address $ 1.00
International 2.30

I've done the math. This US vendor has 5 souvenir sheets. If a US buyer bought all 5, for $3.40 US you would be getting $8.45 Canadian face value.

A Canadian purchaser would pay $4.70 for $8.45 face value.

A fair price which reflects the actual value of these sheets.

I think that may be the 1989 catalog year. I remember a dealer who advertised he was using the 1988 catalog values well after the fact.

Cheers, Robert

Hi lorddenning,

You stripped a $1.00 of the total cost for a Canadian purchaser. It should be $5.70 for $8.45 face. Still a good deal though at 67%.

- stamporator -

5 sheets @ 0.48 = $2.40
International Shipping = $2.30

I get a total of $4.70 US

Hi lorddenning,

My error. I apologize for casting doubt on your mathematics.

- stamporator -

I attended CAPEX 78 and witnessed the madness. I was not one of those who waited hours in line to buy the Canada Post CAPEX souvenir sheet. The CAPEX 78 Catalogue may explain why people thought the souvenir sheet would be a great "investment".

First the cover:



Then the full-page ad:





This was Canada's FIRST souvenir sheet!

The lineups were even longer for the limited edition souvenir sheets (10,000) prepared by the security printers who printed Canadian stamps.

Three souvenir sheets were available only to visitors of the exhibition and were restricted to one set per admission ticket! Here is the ad in the catalogue:





I couldn't believe the number of people who wasted precious time to obtain these souvenirs.

How did these limited edition souvenir sheets work out as "investments"?

This set of 3 limited edition souvenir sheets sold for $5.50 (Canadian) on ebay this past May.



What did I do instead? I enjoyed the fantastic exhibits of Canadian and international stamps and covers. There were too many exhibits to view in the few days I attended.

SOME OF THE CAPEX 78 EXHIBITS

In those days it was OK to show "selected pages" from a collection.









This one influenced my approach to collecting:



This exhibit was stunning. I wonder what award if any it would receive today :



The above were just a few of the hundreds of exhibits that collectors could admire and from which they could be inspired.Of course there were no crowds looking at the exhibits. They were interested in the limited edition souvenir sheets and of course in Canada's first souvenir sheet.

The craziness did not stop with the souvenir sheets. I saw buyers three deep at dealer tables. One fellow had a stack of 50 and 100 bills and was buying Jubilees in a frenzied manner.

Inflation was the principal reason for the zaniness. This is an excerpt from Wikipedia describing the US inflation during this period which applies to the Canadian situation as well:




People had lost confidence in the value of the dollar and turned to collectibles such as stamps.

This topic has brought back a lot of memories. Thanks for asking the initial question.

I was able to purchase the Capex '78 Catalogue. I gave up on the three special SS because the lines were so long and our feet were killing us

I too wish I could remember the year the prices dropped and I also remember the dealer referred to that was going to sell from the last year's prices. Personally, I thought that dealer was whining like a kid who lost his lollypop. I thought, suck it up and take it in like man.

Anyway, it was a great show with fantastic exhibits. BTW - there were times you could shoot a cannon down the aisles where the exhibits were. Most of the people were at the dealer's booths. A shame really.

Chimo

Bujutsu

And no GST or HST tax