Modern US FDC Question

Assuming FDCs from the 1950s to present, is there any difference in value of a single stamp vs. block of 4 vs. plate block on the FDC, other aspects (e.g., cancel and cachet) being equal? Scott does not differentiate.

Thanks.

There is a definite advantage in valuation to an FDC with a plate block. For my collection of airmail stamps, I tried to acquire FDC's with plate blocks for every stamp. Well, not if it was a coil or booklet stamp, obviously, but then the quest was for a line pair (if coil) or an FDC with a full pane (if booklet). On occasion, I settled for a block of four until I could locate a plate block. As you say, Scott doesn't distinguish these, but I'd put an average 50% premium for a plate block over a single stamp.

A good place to do research is on ebay. There you will see that modern first day covers with singles and plate blocks do not really bring much difference in prices. Do not look at starting bids because those are very inflated, only look at the completed auctions. There you will see that with very few exceptions, post-1950 FDCs with singles or with plate number blocks tend to sell, in the infrequent times when they do sell, in the $1 to $3 range depending more on what the cachet is more than what the stamps are. More typically, you can buy groups of FDCs for a few dollars. This is bad news for anyone hoping they will be some kind of investment, but it is great news for collectors who collect them just for the fun of it. Now is a great time to build a large and interesting collection for a very modest amount of money - often for less than what it would cost you to make a FDC for yourself today.

I am not sure what I wrote is that at odds with Kimo's view. First, my experience is predominately with airmail stamps, and there may be some difference owing to that. Second, 50% is not a lot of $$$ on modern FDC's. I.e., an FDC with a single that brings $2 would be $3 with a 50% premium. I've bought hundreds (probably a couple of thousand) of FDC's, off ebay, and from Mccusker, and in that experience there is a difference. While it is small in $$$ per cover, it adds up.

But I do agree that this is not something to get into as an investment. A year or so ago I acquired a very scarce FDC with a plate block of C16 in a vigorous ebay auction that started at $0.99 and went to nearly $500. What is really notable, however, is that the same cover had sold for about $500 two decades earlier, which means that it had declined in real (inflation adjusted) value over time. And this was an and "investment quality" FDC. I don't think covers or stamps turn out to be good investments until you are talking about items that bring thousands (or tens of thousands) of dollars at auction.

But I doubt that revenuecollector is thinking about "investing" in modern FDC's. I just took his question as one of general interest or curiosity.

I currently have a shoebox of 579 modern (1950s thru 1990) of FDCs listed for $75 (free shipping) on ebay. At this price (12-13 cents each) there has been zero interest for many weeks.
Don

Thanks for the replies. As speculated, I am not looking into collecting them. Rather I just came into a bulk lot of about 1700 FDCs from the 1950s-1980s where the collector had purchased copies of each with single, block of 4, and plate block. Sadly (or perhaps "expectedly"), the high denominations and other better items had already been pulled; it's a remainder lot.

Based on the replies, it looks like it might be worth the time to separate the plate block FDCs into a lot by themselves, as well as one with the booklet panes, and one with coils, rather than trying to do anything en masse.

Observation: Having gone through similar bulk lots of Artmaster and Artcraft cachets, this one being primarily Fleetwood, I found it interesting the different approaches by the companies. Whereas Artmaster/Artcraft usually had one cachet per issue, it seems that Fleetwood used a lot more variety, frequently having multiple cachet designs per issue, even on single-stamp issues. Also, they would sometimes use a single design but print it in multiple color combinations. For example, there are a few 1950s issues I saw in the lot where the same cachet was produced in both black & white and full color. My assumption is that there is no difference in value between versions.

The stuff isn't worth much (rephrase: investment DISASTER for the original purchaser), but still fun to look through just from an artistic perspective.

And if it were filled with FDC's with plate blocks, it would have sold by now, definitely at that price, and probably a lot more.

How about some examples, showing the kind of premium I typically see for plate blocks?

Scott does have a small catalog just for first day covers and it does list individual values for blocks of four and plateblocks for many modern stamps up until the point self-adhesive stamps take over. In general for modern FDCS, a block of four has an additional added value of 25 cents extra and a plateblock has an additional value of 50 cents.

However, as others pointed out they sell for much less. I've pulled FDCs out a dollar box that have cat values of $30 and still can't get a buck for them. However, I've had sold common FDCs for a buck before - usually internationally. There are a few others that sell well due to topics - Pharmacy, sports figures, fire fighting and others that appeal to non-collectors. There are also other things to look out for - printed letters from corporations inside about the stamp. You even find these in Art Craft cachet FDCs. Art Craft also made cachets of different designs and colors for a number of stamps.

Kimo - You might be overpriced. I've seen auction lots on Stamp Auction Network for FDCs where they are just pennies a piece and still don't sell. Uncacheted FDCs sell for even less - you can get multiple covers for a penny in bulk lots.

Un the flip side, I've been able to sell some FDCs from Canada and Australia from the 1940's-60's for $5 to $20+ each for stamps that have minimum cat. value. It must be the cachet makers.

In my (limited) experience, the market for non-U.S. FDCs can be completely different from U.S. FDCs.

So true. I have some angry letters that were sent to the FDC manufacturer's from the original 'investors'. After buying into the 'investment' qualities mentioned in the original promotional marketing, these folks were very upset and noted the large amounts of money they lost. None of this was good for our hobby.
Don

I just perused the completed cover listings on ebay, limiting searches to "plate block fleetwood" and the results are somewhat encouraging. While the vast majority of listings did not sell, it is mostly due (IMO) to sellers pricing or starting covers at $3-10 each, i.e., full catalog and then some.

If you look at those priced at or below $2, quite a few have sold.

I might put together a lot of just plate block covers, price them at roughly 50-75 cents each and see if it goes anywhere.

revenuecollector:

In answer to your original question: IMHO, in general, FDCS with blocks of four affixed have little or no value differentiation to a FDC with a single stamp affixed, all other factors being equal. This was not necessarily true many years ago. On the other hand, FDCS with plate blocks affixed still do have an increased value over FDCS with a single stamp affixed.
Collect FDCS just for the fun of it!
Respectfully submitted:
jrc531

Holy Expensive Books, Batman!

Perusing Amazon and elsewhere, it appears that 2009 was the last edition, and any post-2003 editions command crazy stupid prices now... as in $50-150 depending on year. I just found a 2006 edition on ebay for $10 + S&H, so I jumped on it (heck, if I find it useless I might be able to triple my money on it... )

Amazon prices for Scott catalogs can be crazy. I've seen the regular catalogs priced from hundreds to thousands - clueless book sellers. Then again I picked up a Zumstein Swiss cat for a buck on there.

Right about those expensive Scott/Mellone catalogs. I've often wondered why they are no longer published? Is Mellone still alive?

I have a 2002 edition that I acquired for retail back then: $9.99. While it obviously cannot help much with issues since 2002 per se, it is still quite useful. The most useful part of the catalog is the "pricing multiple" for individual cachets. The catalog gives just a single estimate of the value of an FDC per issue (though with premiums for blocks and plate blocks). But some cachets are more desirable than others, so you look up the premium multiplier for that cachet and multiply it times the base valuation. I doubt that these multipliers have changed much, and so it is still valuable for that. Plus, I don't place any more stock in Scott's basic valuation of FDC's than I do for stamps in their stamp catalogs. As has often been discussed around here, a lot of material sells for just some fraction of "CV," and FDC's are no exception. Especially for FDC's, I think ebay listings and completed sales are better guides than any catalog.

PM me Don and we can probably make a deal. I'm interested
Tom