With Ebay, You Never Know (C16 Pb On FDC)

A large assortment of airmail FDC's with plate blocks showed up on ebay recently, including this one:



It was listed as a C12, with a starting price of $0.01 (and free shipping). But sharp eyed buyers soon recognized it for what it was, the much less common C16. It is rare to even see a C16 FDC with a single show up on ebay. C16 FDC's with PB's must be all but unheard of. Assuming Gorham did the same with the other three corners, I suppose there might be three more of these somewhere.

Interesting item. Even with the incorrect description, the item finally sold for $460.77:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/DR-JIM-STAM...047675.l2557

Since the Scott catalog is rather vague on Plate Block FDC values, a C16 is listed for $175 (single stamp, uncacheted, per my 2013 catalog) with a multiplier of "about 3X" for a plate block, it would bring the "catalog value" somewhere around $525, meaning that the ebay sale realized about 87.8% of catalog value.

It just goes to show what "better" FDCs can realize on the secondary market.

Added:
For anyone interested in some biographical information on the addressee of the cover, Albert E. Gorham, a rather lengthy biography is recited at this ebay link to a Gorham cacheted cover (read down about halfway to the "Postal History Note" section):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/681-16b-2c-...161344582906

I broke my usual "rule of thumb" -- don't bid over 2/3 of CV -- on this one. But one would have to understand my main collection of US airmails to understand what a unique opportunity this was. I have a collection housed in two Linder albums, in which I've interleaved the White Ace pages for singles with White Ace pages for plate blocks. The collection of mint singles is complete, including the Zepps. I have a complete collection of plate blocks (or panes and line pairs for booklet and coil stamps) for everything except C1-C6 and the Zepps. On the back of pages facing the plate blocks (or panes or line pairs) I have mounted an FDC for each stamp. For everything after C31, I have an FDC that has a plate block, line pair or pane. I have plate blocks covers for C25-C31, but that's a different story.

So when a bunch of plate block FDC's came up for auction on ebay, I went after them. I was outbid for the C24 cover, but won auctions for nice plate block FDC's for C20, C21 and C22. I already had an FDC with plate block for C17. So gradually, I'm filling in some "holes" as far as plate block FDC's go, for the airmails C24 and under.

Only in my dreams, when I win the lottery, would I imagine ever owning plate block FDC's of C1-C6 or the Zepps. Well, C18 might be possible, under the right conditions.

But all in all, the two albums hosting this collection have a pretty good representation of "better" FDC's.

Thanks for the link to the info about Gorham. Lots of nice research summarized in that. I have a couple of other Gorham serviced covers.

I'm searching through my archive of First Days to recall what the history was behind the issue of C16 that led to so few FDC's getting service, and came across an auction report in a 1981 issue in which a C16 FDC with a block of 4 (did NOT say plate block) sold for $500. That's just a bit over $1200 in today's dollars, showing just how hard it has been for stamps and covers to return positive returns over time. I'm under no allusion that I made a "good investment." I collect stamps and covers for other reasons. If I want to invest in something, there's always junk silver (another way to lose money).

Update:
From a McCusker auction in 1990:



Looks like the UR plate block. The realized price was $510, about $900 in today's dollars. So whoever paid $510 in 1990 would have seen the value of their "investment" drop about 50%!

Just for the fun of it, I went back to an old 2002 Scott Catalog only to find that the C16 FDC has not changed in value in more than a dozen years!

For $510 in 1990 vs $900 today:
If they got $20 worth of enjoyment annually just from the ownership for the past 25 years, they are ahead by $110.

I'm 68. If I still am around 25 years from now, I won't care what it's worth. (The heirs might take a different view, both of the declining value of my collection, and hanging around that long.)

blcjr says: "showing just how hard it has been for stamps and covers to return positive returns over time."

Your comment paints with a broad brush. Certain facets of stamps and covers have done better/worse than others. ebay has really opened up the supply side in the past 20 years to show how common the common items are and how rare the rare are. And ebay has enabled every mom and pop to become a worldwide seller when we primarily had only shops/shows before ebay.

John,

Well, I just said it has been hard for "investments" in stamps and philatelic material to show positive returns over time, not that it was impossible. So yes, it was a broad brush. And I think your observations about ebay are on the money, showing how common the common items are, and how rare the rare ones are. But not even the rare ones are guaranteed to hold their value, as I've shown for this cover, which by all accounts is somewhat "rare."

For anyone interested (who might not otherwise know), the POD simply considered the "C16" a "reprint" of "C12", now with the less expensive rotary press (C12 was Flat Plate printing). So no FDOI announcement was made by the POD, FDC servicers learned of it only at the last minute, and so FDC's are generally scarce. Planty credits A.E. Gorham with producing the only FDC with a "cachet," but I think this is taking liberties with the meaning of "cachet." The "cachet" was simply three lines of text (from an addressograph) in green ink, illustrated in the following two covers:




Interestingly, the plate block covers lack the "cachet" but are addressed to Gorham himself (but printed in green ink, like the others). Does this mean that he originally produced these for his own collection? Perhaps.

Basil

Oh man, I wish I had gone after this one instead!

C-16 FIRST DAY COVER FEBRUARY 10 1930 WASHINGTON DC


Just $9.95! And if that's too much, you can always make an offer. Details here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/C-16-FIRST-...em339f3c7e2f