Covers Made By Private People

I have been buying some covers from a guy that makes cachets himself, ie; Edmund Fitzgerald cover. Looks like he designs and prints of the envelope and them puts on a stamp that is pertinent or general. He isn't charging a lot and they are subjects I really like (shipwrecks of the Great lakes), but am I wasting money? New to collecting covers and do not want to buy a bunch of covers that have no future.

Thank you!

All though I am new.... If you like them and the price is right, don't worry.

If collecting for money potential, that's a different story.

Also, as an artist, he may be more collectable than the cover....

If you plan on selling in the future, I would advise you to expect very little, if any return. I have spend a good deal of money on various collecting interests in the past. When my interests have changed, I have tried to sell many of them and have found that usually I have not even been able to get back the original investment.

However, I look at the situation in this light: if I had spend the money on a good movie or a good dinner, etc., it was a one time event for which there would never be any financial return. At least with stamps and covers, there is a possibility of some return. Collect what you like and if you can afford it, don't worry about the investment. BUT IF YOU'RE INVESTING for future financial gain, forget it.

Glenn Estus

May we see one or more of Fitxgerald's covers? If you can, put up a couple or more images of his work. It would be interesting to see them.

Don

I don't think Fitzgerald is the name of the artist. The Edmund Fitzgerald was a ship that sunk in the Great Lakes.

If these covers do not have a cancellation tied to a specified event, then they probably will have little philatelic value. For covers, it is generally the stamp and cancellation that count first. The cachet or hand painting adds to the value. But without a meaningful cancellation, they are not likely to be of interest to stamp collectors. Whether they have other collectible value depends on whether the artist is collectible independently of the medium (here a cover).

Are we talking about Alvin Eckert navycovers? Some of his have actual FDC postmarks and some do not. The E.F. cover I saw did not have an actual postmark. These are photo cachets and not hand drawn. Tell us more and show a scan please.

keywords could be linked to the ore carrier Edmund Fitzgerald, Sault Ste Marie, USCGC Naugatuck(buoy tender, used for ice breaking),USCGC Buckthorn, USCGC Woodrush, USCGC Mackinaw. All involved in search and rescue operations for the Fitzgerald and Salvage of the wreckage.

The Fitz.
http://rlv.zcache.com/the_edmund_fi...byvr_512.jpg

Lifeboat-2 were salvaged, this one rough shape the other intact.
http://thumbs3.ebaystatic.com/d/l22...Z1OP7IBw.jpg

Interesting I was just out of bootcamp and USCG Base Sault Ste Marie my first duty station, September 1975. The night Fitz. sank, Nov. 1975, it was a bad storm at the base, snow blowing horizontal. I was on duty and a barge came loose and I had to call out (wake up)the whole duty section after midnight to retie it. Later the Fitz's lifeboats were brought to the base (by USCG buoy tender Woodrush)covered in oil one mangled the other untouched a single white tennis shoe in one. Later temporarily displayed at the Valley Camp a local museum ship. I worked at yards and docks and was handling tag lines as we put the lifeboats in the boat house.

Buckthorn cover-USCG Base Soo
http://www.navalcovershop.com/images/S3781.jpg

Buoy yard-building is where the lifeboats were brought.
http://dlund.20m.com/slide_shows/So...ry/Tow22.JPG

Valley camp-museum- stone building with curve roof, ice hocky rink.
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/me...amp-from.jpg

Sault Ste Marie cover Soo Locks.
http://genealogytrails.com/mich/chi...ocks1955.JPG

Good luck with your covers, most bases, USCG and other military will sign and stamp with their embossed stamp if you ask them to expand a cover collection.

Semper Paratus

If you want to collect these for the fun of collecting then it is a great idea.

If want to collect them with the hope either getting your money back or making a profit then the chances of that are pretty much zero unless the artist becomes super famous around the world as an artist and he is hand painting each individual cover as a miniature original painting.

For pretty much anything philatelic to have a resale value with even a small chance of your getting you money back, or with a slight chance of it going up in resale over your buying price you should be looking at pre-WW 2 era material at the latest, and even better, pre-1900 material. With very, very few exceptions you can buy most any stamp released after WW 2 for between 60 and 80 percent of the face value, and you can use them today for their full face value as postage. Cancelled stamps of these have pretty much no resale value and so you would be hoping for someone to want to pay for the value of the cover. The total number produced by a cover maker is of little meaning since anyone can make one-only covers all day long with today's computers and printers.

I am not suggesting in the least that you not collect these covers from this person - I would strongly recommend it if they are what please you and that is what you would find to be fun to do. I am only suggesting that you should consider this to be an expenditure of your money for fun and see it as money no longer in your pocket like what happens to your money when you go to a movie and buy a ticket or go to a restaurant and buy a good meal. You get your value when you buy it and have no expectation of getting your money back or money back with interest at a future time. Modern stamps and covers are not an investment - they are a fun activity. If you want an investment you should take a good look at the stock market and put your money into a strong, well managed mutual fund with a good track record of return on investment.

I only collect US Airmail and aviation themed regular stamps. I have quite a few mint sheets of these, and don't recall paying less than face value (for very many), so I guess they may be among the exceptions noted here.

Otherwise, lots of sound advice in Kimo's post. However, it worth pointing out that we're in the "US Covers" forum, and so we're not talking just about stamps. A lot of post-WWII hand painted covers are popular collectibles, though they do well just to hold their value against inflation over time. The main point remains valid: collect them because you like them; don't expect them to rise significantly in value.

Basil

There are many dealers who buy and sell mint, unused US stamps for the purpose of selling them at a discount off of face value. Of course they buy them from people at an even bigger discount from face value. I have no relationship of any kind with the following dealer, but he is a larger one and is a member of the big stamp dealer association. I am giving this link only for the purpose of showing what the situation is with post WW 2 mint US stamps. http://www.buyingqualitystamps.com/postage.html It is not hard to get even better deals on ebay, but there you will not have as much variety.

The reason mint modern US stamps sell for below face value is there are so many of them out there, huge numbers of collectors bought large quantities of sheets of them expecting the value to go up and now there is a real glut in the wholesale market for them. The discount comes from the pain in the neck they are to use them up as postage since they are all odd denominations, and most of them are smaller denominations so coming up with the current postage rates - 49 cents for a letter for example - takes time and you wind up with a bunch of stamps on the letter. Most people do not want to bother with that extra work to mail letters.

My point in mentioning this in relation to the question about the first day, or other event, covers that are being made today is that used examples of modern stamps have essentially no commercial value. The value comes from how attractive the cover and its artwork might be and that is in the eye of the beholder. The market for these, especially ones made in the past 30 to 40 years is very weak to say the least and so any thoughts of buying these as an investment would lead to a disappointment when they try to sell them. What they are is a lot of fun to collect and that is the reason why people should buy and collect them. If someone wants an investment for future return, they really should look elsewhere such as the stock market and well managed mutual funds that have been seeing returns in the 10% to 20% per year range in recent years.

Kimo, not to prolong the discussion, since in the main I agree with you, but as something of an "expert" in this area, let me just caution anyone from expecting "returns in the 10% to 20% per year range" in the stock market over any significant period of time. More like 8% to 10%, and then only over significant periods of time. Over any short period of time, i.e. a year or two, stock market returns (on average), range from -20% to +20%. The returns in recent years are atypical, coming from a rebound off the losses of 2008, and the artificial support of QE. As a contrarian, I say that right now is perhaps the worst of times to begin investing in the market. Over the next few years, stamps may well outperform the market; not because stamps (or covers) are necessarily a good investment, but because the stock market is overvalued at the present time, and is due for a "correction."

Still, the main point remains valid: with the exception of highly desirable older items, stamps and covers are not particularly good investments. Collect what you like, but do not necessarily expect your collection to appreciate in value. I know mine hasn't; I doubt that it has even held its own against inflation. But that doesn't stop me from collecting.

Basil

I will post a picture of some of them soon. Yes they are Alvin Eckert navycovers.