Q Is For Quality

Have to show off this nice used Q4 I recently bought:



and while I am at it, a nice used E11 - not quite as well centered, but large:

Beautiful.

Wow, those are nice stamps

Yeah, the 1913 parcel post series and some of the US special delivery stamps have some of the finest engraving among US stamps, finer than the US Columbian series in my opinion.

Both nice short affordable sets, with a little hunting you can get clean centered sets without any big premium

Superb

Those are some beautiful stamps with ample margins and fresh perfs, eyeonwall!

I hope you don't mind me expanding on the quality theme, but some of these back-of-book stamps are so beautifully-engraved, that it would be a shame for collectors to overlook them. Here is an E17 special delivery - only about 60 cents in MNH!

"Both nice short affordable sets, with a little hunting you can get clean centered sets without any big premium"


That is really not accurate. To complete both the Special Delivery issues and Parcel Post set with well centered examples runs into real money. Especially mint, but even used.

mint is expensive but used a parcel post set can be done for less than 30 and special delivery less than 50, its not like a set of washington/ franklins were there are problem keys or even small runs of the early ones were centering would cost you.

A used set of the Parcel Post stamps catalogs a little over $200. A nice well centered sound set with reasonable cancels will cost a lot more then $30. The Special Delivery issues cat about $400, and a nice well centered sound set with reasonable cancels will cost a lot more then $50 as well. For $30 and $50 retail you will only get poorly centered, heavily canceled and/or possibly defective stamps. Unless they come as part of a collection purchased at auction, where they will come cheaper.

Seeing these beautiful stamps enlarged makes me long for the old days ... and wonder how much more it would cost the USPS to have some decent sized stamps made today.

Unless you want to go to a high end dealer who specializes in high grade stamps, it takes a lot more than "a litle" hunting to find nice ones that ar both centered and not heavily canceled.

Congrats! Now try to finish the set. I completed it at the age of 12 and I still have it! Being a kid has advantages of getting the "kids discount".

How many decades ago was that?

Parcel post stamps are generally more of a challenge to collect in sound condition than other types of stamps. As many times as I've enjoyed looking at my parcel post collection, I easily forget that these stamps were used on packages that got tossed around, had other boxes slid across them and stacked on top of them, etc.

The higher denominations were typically heavily canceled to prevent re-use. And those hand-stamps were hammered down on cardboard boxes with a lot more give than an envelope on a counter.