Breaking Up A Plate Block

Would there ever be a reason that you would split a plate block to get a single stamp for your collection? Also, are there any examples where a single stamp would be worth more than a plate block?

I know these sound like a couple of illogical questions, but I could have sworn that I saw this very situation in an auction. I went back and looked but can't find it. Might be losing my mind.

Thanks for the help.
wp62

I've broken up a plate block for a single when I needed the single to complete my collecting format of a plate block and a single of the same issue. Of course, it's always a spare plate block.

I can't think of any way a loose single could be worth more than the same single in a plate block.

What you may be remembering, wp62, is an auction house offering the singles from a block as separate lots, and then the intact block as a single lot, with the buyer getting the block if the bid exceeded the totals of the bids on the singles.

When I first noticed that they did not seem to do this any more, my thought was that this 'style' of auctioneering was a casualty of the computer age; no one has set-up the software/accounting to do it.

But a better possibility is that it became obvious, experientially, that it was a waste of time, eg, the block almost always went for more than the singles (my guess), or that the singles almost always went for more than the block ... so why bother?

Another possibility is that, more simply, auctioneers got tired of auctioning every block five times (four times as singles, one time as a block).

And where's the logic? Finding one motivated buyer on one day for one block is one thing. Finding four (or, G-d Forbid, six or eight) motivated buyers for each of the singles on one day gets less likely.

The profit-maximizing choice would probably be to buy the block, and sell the singles separately, at different auctions, on different days.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Edited to add: All that having been said, nobody breaks-up a plate block except for stamps so common that it does not matter what you do.

Alas, dealers do this all the time. All it takes is one stamp that will grade 98 or better in the block and the single becomes worth far more, unless it is a really scarce PB. One of the big evils of grading.

A lot of the mint postage lots at major stamp auctions contain tons of MNH plate blocks and these lots get sold at a percentage of face .It is a shame that happens.

One thing to consider is that there is a much larger market for singles than plate blocks. So, while a plate block may catalog at a premium over the value of 4 singles, if there are no buyers for the plate block, then you may very well be able to sell the singles at a higher price than the plate block. It comes down to supply and demand.

@adcaplan...

This was where I was headed. It seems like the number of plate blocks being collected, especially in the older stamps, is much smaller than that of singles.

I guess it really boils down to why you're collecting. If you're leaning toward making money then I guess it's a viable option.

I have purchased some multi stamps lots that have had a lot of duplication, kept the ones I wanted, and then sold the duplicates and at least covered my original costs.

It seems like there is room in some of the plate blocks to do the same thing.

wp62

I think there are a lot of factors. Do you want to maximize your sale price, or minimize the time it takes to sell it? Selling 1 plate block may be faster than selling 4 singles, but it may go for less than 4 times the price of 1 single, unless you are willing to wait until a buyer comes along. For some items, selling 4 singles may yield a decreasing number of bidders, and therefore a decreasing price for each one after the first. It all depends on the market size. It will probably be different selling US stamps vs selling stamps from Israel, for example.

There may be some other factors, such as if the plate block has faults, or if one or more, but not all Stamps are hinged. A faulty or hinged PB may be less desirable and sell for much less than the singles.