What's Happening With German Stamps?

I think I know the answer but am just wondering if anyone else has noted that postwar German material seems very difficult to sell these days. I just ended two ebay listings, one for a near complete Berlin mostly NH collection (some earlies hinged), hundreds of nice stamps- it went for around $57.00. I felt lucky to have sold it at that- it almost went unpurchased. I had at the same time a nice mint NH lot, full run of stamps 1990-1997, hundreds of stamps starting at $9.99- NO bids.
I have a complete collection of mint DDR and am now afraid to list it- after researching current prices it looks like most listings are going begging for that area. Full collections were going a few years back for at least $3-400, now they mostly go unsold at any price.
I am theorizing that a lot of this material is now coming into the market after having been put away for years. There's a glut and it's a buyers market. Any opinions?

I agree that it is a "buyer's market". I noticed this trend a couple years ago with German stamps - especially Used post WWII issues. It's rare that I have to pay more than 10% of cat for any German stamp from that era, and far less for DDR stamps.

I theorize there's a couple of reasons for this:

1) As you stated, there's a huge glut of material. I don't know why, but there's a ton of it available. I don't have trouble acquiring any issue, mint or used.

2) The perceived value of hinged vs NH. Use the word "hinged on your listings, and you might as well forget it. Scott only lists NH values for sets making it hard to determine cat values on partial hinged/NH sets. Michel over-inflates NH values to the extreme - sometimes to the tune of 1000%. The cumulative effect, I believe, is making buyers wary of any stamp with a hinge mark or gum disturbance. As such, I believe the prices will continue to decline.

3) Used stamps are falling out of favor due in part to CTOs, and souvenir first day cards. Find a postally used DDR stamp, and you'll likely sell it for full cat value.

Brian

I put in a bid a few days ago for some early used DDR stamps and lost miserably. I put in a bid of 2x what I thought they were worth and the lot closed for 4x my bid

I don't collect mint stamps, but I regularly buy off-paper Germany stamps (old and new) by the pound - they are quite cheap and quite often include many mint stamps. "Postfrisch" (post office fresh) stamps are also widely available on Delcampe and ebay Germany. Also some collectors like to build their collections in stages instead of buying the whole lot at once.

From what year did your Berlin collection start?

As for the prices you achieved, do you sell worldwide or only to the US? I find it does make a difference in non-US stamps.

A problem I see is that you tried to sell a 'mixed' collection. Why should collectors of mint accept any hinged material post 1945 as there are tons of MNH available? The buyers probably thought that all the expensive stamps in your collection was hinged..

The market for modern Germany has been getting weaker for a long, long time, and the switch to the euro seems to have accelerated this trend. Beginning around 5 years ago, I noticed that my Berlin and Germany APS circuit books were getting very little interest no matter how low the prices got, so I don't bother with them any more. Hinged modern (after 1950) material from almost anywhere is a really tough sell.

Thanks to all posters.

The collection was from the start- 1949 to 1990. It was missing a couple of the 'Bells' sets and a few of the early overprints. I was open about most of the stamps pre 1960 being hinged and that is probably what hurt sales. I am now wondering how to best market/sell the DDR collection. One thought would be to break out the pre 1960 stuff, try to get what I can for it as hinged material, listing individually as 'Buy it Now' items with low prices. Then just sell the NH post 1960 stuff as a lot for what I can get, maybe $50 or so. Not kidding- that is about what I think I will get for it. Or maybe I could try selling it to Mystic! Why not? I doubt I'd do worse with them. I relisted the 1990-7 lot and kept the start as $9.99. That one puzzles me- there was utterly no interest in it. Add up prices for these stamps as sets/singles from any of the Germany specialist dealers and you'd get well over $100.

I wonder if economic issues in Western Europe are contributing to the decline in prices here. By the way, I kept all my pre 1945 German material and incorporated it into my Global collection in my set of Vintage Internationals. Much of that is hinged as well, however. So a lot of that is probably not worth smack any longer.

The reason for the glut of modern German material is because it was a very popular area for US collectors to collect (lots of US servicemen were stationed in Germany after WWII) and those collections are now coming onto the market.

For DDR I'd break out the earlier issues and sell them as sets. Most collectors already have/don't want the later issues. It's unlikely that anything after circa 1960 will even enter into most buyers' bidding calculations. If you're patient and don't mind the extra work, you could maybe sell the later issues as year or decade sets. For example, not many collectors will want 1960-1990 in one fell swoop, but there may well be a few who could use 1970-79, or 1981-85, for example. Just a thought.

The big dealers (like Mystic) might still be selling DDR for those kinds of prices, but no one else is. I have 3 stock books full of mint & used DDR (in excess of 5000 stamps) that I purchased from the same seller on ebay a couple years ago to fill-in my collection. No exaggeration here - I paid more for the flat-rate shipping box than for the stockbooks full of stamps! I've been taking the leftovers to my stamp club bourse and trying to sell them for .05/ea or 25/$1, but there is never any interest in them - they have no value whatsoever!

Brian

The 1990-97 lot is not DDR- it's Bundepost issues. I didn't think those had also collapsed along with DDR but maybe there is a drug on the entire mrket.

I think the idea to split the DDR lot up is a good one. I can start with the higher catalog earlier stuff, discount it to something I can still live with and list those as sets with Buy it now or best offer. I can then decide what to do after seeing how that goes.

BTW I sold a near complete collection of Bundepost stamps housed in two hingeless albums a few months ago- they went for $178. Yeah, the pre 1960 stuff was hinged. No sense railing about it- it's reality. If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't have collected in that area. The German obsession with perfection dominates the market way too much. JMO.

I agree, but I look at it as a plus, since I can get bargains on those kinds of stamps. I mostly collect used, but I do have a lot of mint hinged stamps in my collection as well, mostly on earlier issues where used values are costlier (and thus prone to forged cancellations). In my opinion, if someone pays any premium of over 100% for NH, they should be displaying it upside down, because at that point they're paying more for the back of the stamp than the front. The premiums for NH on some older German material are just ludicrous, but again, that just makes LH - and perfectly attractive - stamps that much more affordable.

The ironic part I find about German collectors is that while the faintest hinge mark renders it unworthy of collecting, indelible expert "signatures" enhance the value. I realize the expert marks serve a purpose and I'm not personally opposed to them. But if a pristine ("postfrisch") back of the stamp was that important to me, then I'd want the thing just as it left the post office, no hinge marks, no markings, no nothing. But that's just my personal opinion and I'm not saying that German collectors are wrong in how they collect.

Edited to add that I think the change to the Euro depressed issues denominated in Deutsche Marks, since they are no longer valid for postage. It would be analogous to the USPS demonetizing older issues. Their value would plummet from ~ 80% of face to basically worthless. I would think that Euro-denominated issues would still bring close to face value.

By the way, I am actually in the market for some older DDR, so let me know when you get those listed.

Not much different from how obsessed you Americans are with centering / grading. LOL

Different philatelic education/upbringing results in different tastes. Nothing more, nothing less.

-k-

I have come across a German dealer on ebay who has been dumping large amounts of German stamps on the market - lots of older material, but also stock books crammed with modern mint issues in bulk - Bund and DDR. The final prices seem to be pretty much a bargain - at least to me.

How has the cover market been for Germany? It always seems to be a moving target for me. It seems the prices for German covers I sell are all over the place. I've sold covers from the $1 box for $10 to hundreds and higher priced covers sometimes sell for cost or less.

I am so embarrassed! You showed great restraint in not laughing at my ignorant comment

Thank you!

Brian

Rileysan- After I posted my comment I was afraid you'd take it as snarky- the DDR went out of existence in 1990! Appreciate your good humor.

AerfulHinger- The more I think about what to do the more inclined I am to just try throwing the entire thing out there with a decent reserve and seeing what happens. I may post it this weekend and if I do I will post a link to it on here along with disclosing he reserve amount. It won't be high- just enough for me to feel that if it goes for that I didn't lose my shirt. Probably $100.

I have listed some of the better DDR at BIN prices:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/cmarsha/m.h...047675.l2562

This seemed the best approach. Any comments welcome!