Early Postmarks: Rf Rarity Factors & Rpos.. Impact On Cv

G'day everyone.

Don't think this has been covered; yet it's quite simple...the rarity factors for ringed & squared circle cancels is listed in Unitrade, (scale of 1-10) but how is one to assess the effect of a rare cancel on Cat. Value?

For example, a 2c VF Large Queen is listed as $130, but is struck with a '49' (Prescott) cancel with a RF of 5: "very scarce." I assume there's no definite answer, but there must be rough guidelines/formulae that philatelists follow to arrive at an estimated CV. Any guidance is appreciated.

The same goes for RPOs. I acquired a huge lot of 3c #98 that's full of RPOs and I have no experience with them. So same questions as above. I understand there were a few dozen strikes used, but I've yet to find a source that outlines the respective RFs.

Thank you!

Hi All

RF for cancellations of any type are vague to say the least.

For example, in the Ludlow reference book "Catalogue Of Canadian Railway Cancels and Related Transportation Postmarks", RFs vary from as low as the 50s to a high of 500. Anything with a RF of 500 has a period of use with a single year, simply because no other examples are known and, this can come down as more examples are found. A RF of 55 for the "Toronto & Montreal GTR (Cat. # O-369) railway was in use from 1891 to 1929 (38 years). However, another cancel used by the Tor. & Ottawa CPRMC (Cat. # O-389) has a rarity factor of 65 (ten more than the previous example I mentioned) and the usage was from 1894 to 1965 (71 years). So, it is hard to determine how the RF are graded to start with.

My understanding is that dealers priced RPO covers by determining the RF of the RPO on top of the stamps used on the cover (?)

Maybe someone else can offer more information here?

Chimo

Bujutsu

So RPO RFs are on a completely different scale..? Nice that they make it easy for us ;)

If you look at the Maresch Auction Sales, you may be able to get some idea from the realizations. I do believe that they keep some of this information on their website. I see higher quality RPO and other collectible postmarks in many of their sales.

As for the postmarks themselves, it has to be well struck, clear and centered to have the price increased by the postmark. If it is truly rare then just being able to make it out may do well enough.

I have personally found that these well struck stamps sell for 3-5 times what the stamp would sell for in a scarce postmark. But that's a very rough estimate.

Thanks for that, Jim.

So I know this is all super duper rough, but your hypothetical 3-5x markup...is that just for any RPO or a rarer one? I still don't get the RFs for RPOs...

I think I'll just list my big lot of #98s as an ebay auction and see what happens. But I am still yearning to know how standard postmark RF affect valuation...

vfstamp,

yours is a good question, which opens up a door into a lot of granularity which may be overwhelming or boring. Or it might lead you into something interesting and challenging. Bujutsu nailed it with his reference to Ludlow's amazing book--really the bible of TPOs/RPOs.

Years ago, I bought a bunch of covers that had these RPO wierd cancels and (like you) I tried to understand what the heck they were and what the heck "RF" meant. This led me to an expert like Bujutsu and it sort of overwhelmed me. Eventually, I bought Ludlow's out of print book and sort of devoured it--and now it comes in handy for cataloging every single aspect of Canadian and provinces cancels (ship, train etc). The guy catalogued like everything down to directions of trains, even photocopies of the cancels themselves. its definitive. if you or anyone has less than 10 railway covers, its probably not worth it. But if you have more than this (or an interest) I would google it and buy it.

Near as I can tell the Rarity Factor (RF) is as Bujutusu touches upon--based on exemplars of the use. so its a rule stick not a catalog pricing like in Scotts or Unitrade. What I do know is that if I see a cover on ebay with an RF of 300 or 400 or 500--I will pay top dollar...or at a trade show, dealers who know the RF command a premium and lower RF's like below 200 in my view have no premium--the cover is just worth what it is worth on the stamp.

in the meantime--if you post the images of the covers, I will gladly give you all the data from my Ludlow.

This PDF may be of some interest...
http://bnaps.org/hhl/newsletters/rp...-v011n04.pdf

and this one...
http://www.canadianpsgb.org.uk/mpl/...n06-w034.pdf

and this one...
http://bnaps.org/hhl/newsletters/rp...n01-w095.pdf

and this one...
http://www.bnaps.org/education/docu...nacpao15.pdf

and this one...
http://www.tpo-seapost.org.uk/tpo2/tpcanada.html

vfstamp, my 3-5x estimate is for scarce VF 4 ring numeral postmarks on stamps. I would say at least an RF5, centered on the stamp and clear.

Here's an example. This stamp would likely sell on ebay for $5-10. But it's well centered so condition is VF and it has a readable 4 ring 35 cancel. 35 is from Prescott and it has a Rarity Factor of 5. It's not as clear as it could be and there's a big black mark but I think that I could ask in the $15-20 range for this. If it didn't have the black mark and was clearer, it could go for more. Do you think that is reasonable?

Although I have seen more of the RPO sales as "On Cover" lots, the people at Maresch Auctions do seem to know about the RF's on RPO's. I don't know much about them. If you ask them to give you an estimate at least you'd get a rough idea of what you could sell them for.

Not sure if they'd consider off cover singles.