Modern US FDC Question

This is one of the things I enjoy doing with FDC's. The cachet is an original photo taken with film.
Tom

sdtom:

Mr. Mellone is still alive.

Respectfully submitted:
jrc531

His catalogs are worth more than the FDC's. I enjoy them and when I die I don't care what happens to them.
Tom

Getting back to the original question that started this thread:




Although Scott may not differentiate the various cachets, I'm surprised no one commented that Scott DOES identify the approximate "value" of blocks or plate block FDCs using a multiplier. You have to read the introductory paragraphs at the beginning of the First Day Cover section of the Scott Specialized Catalog to find it. Generally, it's listed as blocks being "valued at" 1.5x the single stamp FDC and plate blocks "valued at" 3.0x the single stamp FDC.

Of course, that's catalog value so if a FDC is valued at $2, a block of that issue would be valued at $3 and a plate block at $6. Of course, market value is another issue entirely and most common material would probably value at only 10% or 20% of those figures.

wt1: Strange that the Scott Specialized U.S. Catalog has a different general multiplier system than the Scott First Day Cover Catalog. The latter also has a multiplier based on cachet maker.

Here's something of interest - realized prices on some FDC auction lots from a small auction house - http://stampauctionnetwork.com/d/d44110.cfm

The older FDC lots did better, but none of them even got close to estimated value.

When people pay $1 to $3 each for modern first day covers on ebay I think they are collectors who need that specific FDC for their collection and are willing to pay far more than a normal selling price of a few cents when they are sold in bulk. However, if one tried to sell 1,000 modern US FDCs on ebay, one by one, I think that they might be listing them for a great many years before they sold and if you value your time and effort you would wind up at the end having paid buyers large sums of your time and effort just to take them.

To the original poster, there would be an advantage to grouping your FDCs into similar lots and trying to get a bit more for the group with the booklets, the group with the plate number blocks and the group of the remainders. On the other hand, this would be a form of cherry picking your own lots and making the remainder group worth very little. I am not sure which way might get you more return.

I'm ok with cherrypicking my own material in this case. Bulk lots of plain Jane FDCs I usually just donate to the AFDCS en masse for the tax writeoff, but if the booklet pane and/or plate block covers might garner more than just a nominal amount after fees, it's possibly worth trying. The ones that don't end up selling will just wind up where they would have gone anyway.

Kimo, while I think you are right about this, these really are two different things. You use the word "normal" for the latter, but not the former. But this is "normal" in both cases. Moreover, "Catalog Value" (for what that is worth), applies to the former, not the latter. Bulk sales really only appeal to a subset of the overall market, and doesn't really define or determine the market per se. It is the sale of individual items that define the market, at least as far as CV is concerned. So while I'm okay trying to describe what is "normal" in each case, individual sales, not bulk sales, are what matter to most buyers.

As a collector of FDC's I've never paid any attention to what Scott, Mellone, AFDCS, or this forum has to say as far as value is concerned. You collect them for the enjoyment of collecting. Don't even think about value or selling them. Consider them worthless. I've no problem paying a dollar or two for one to go into my collection. That is less than a gallon of gas, milk, or coffee out at a restaurant. I admit to having spent obscene amounts of money to going to concerts, sporting events, hotel rooms, gasoline, automobiles and airfare over the years. I have nothing to show for it. I really think that money plays too much of a role in stamp collecting. It is something that I teach the kids in my classes not to get involved with. Their parents will pay 100's for this gaming material. For the amount that they spend they could have years of enjoyment with stamps. Just collect the things people don't want. Sorry I got on my soap box.

FYI: at ASDA NYC, Stampmen have a good number of modern foreign FDCs - especially CCCP, Norway, Iceland - on their $1 table.