Silly Catalog Prices -- What Are Your 'Favorite' Anomalies?

I use the Gibbons Stamps of the World as I am UK-based, but every so often I notice they have some really crazy price for a stamp. Sometimes it takes me years to find out why they have such a crazy price -- usually a crazily high price. And the price isnt just a typo, as it remains steady over multiple editions.

As an example, take the Bolivia issues from 1894. STOW lists the 100c. value as £20 used, but its a stamp that crops up quite often in old schoolboy albums. I probably have a dozen of them, so I really couldnt believe it was worth £20.

The other night I just got an old specialized SG catalog for South America -- it tells me this issue was extensively reprinted, and that basically any used stamp with a simple barred cancellation is a CTO reprint, and that the full cat. value is for stamps with a proper datestamp.

Over the years I have made a mental catalog of a whole slew of 'bogus' cat. values. Anyone else have any 'favorites?'

STEEVH ----Catalog editors just don't make up values . There was someone who made up a dealers price list and offered it out to the public with that price . Sometimes it is a case were the countries stamps are in demand and the catalog people will give the whole country a 10% boost in price . Many factors could enter into the high price of a stamp .

Floortrader-Gibbons also deal in stamps, but the problem here is that their simplified catalog - Stamps of the World - is a condensed version of their specialized catalogs. The price they give is not based on some list from another dealer, but from their own catalog.

Its standard practice when doing this for them to take the cheapest variety as the price they give in the simplified catalog -- that is the one most collectors will be dealing with, after all. However, on this case they don't price the CTO version in their specialized catalog, so the only value they give is for the 'good' version of the stamp.

A similar thing happens for their China listings, but at least in that case they have a note warning collectors of the existence of the reprints.

Another example of where this has gone wrong is with the Hungary definitives of 1874, where the 50 filler value has a CV of about £20. This is really a very common stamp, but there are many watermark varieties and perf. varieties that are worth more than the cheapest variety.

Gibbons prices are analogous to the "manufacturer's suggested retail price" for a new car. It's the price the dealer wishes to get, but it doesn't reflect the broader market. If you go to 399 Strand, that's the price Gibbons will charge. But not other dealers or other market sources. The numbers in Gibbons catalogs are better termed "SG prices," rather than "catalog values".

How about the catalogues that automatically list new issue mint stamp values as double face value.

Where else would you start with new issues as a baseline? You can't just list them at face value, as the "value" is intended to include dealer/seller overhead, i.e., retail price. Additionally, if you buy new issues from an entity other than the post office, you will almost always be paying more than face.

Why can't you start with face value for a baseline?

Examples:
U.S Dealers buy U.S. Mint stamps at 50% (or less) of face value and resell the stamps at face value or sometimes below face value. So the dealer is selling a 3 cent face value stamp for 3 cents but the catalogue says it worth 95 cents.
Whose market value is correct.

Some stamps remain on sale at post offices for years. The face value of the stamp is it's market value.

Catalogues use Dealer Price Lists to determine catalogue value??? Really???
Who are these dealers??? Certainly NONE that I buy from because of their high prices.

I think what revenuecollector is trying to say is that for new unused issues, if their price is at face or less, they have no reason to purchase them since they will not see a profit. So the catalog pricing will reflect closer to the prices that dealers need to get.

Of course, for older unused issues, especially lower denominations, the buy/sell prices are much lower, since these are purchased from secondary market sources at much lower prices by dealers.

Scott lists value for all new issues at about 2x face value.

When ALL new issues are double face its hardly an 'anomaly'.

What I was after was the occasional weird price. There are plenty out there... I was noticing some strange prices in the Gibbons STOW fro early Swiss issues. Havent had time to look into it in detail yet.

Not really bogus, but the Dutch NVPH catalogue has made some massive mistakes.

Most of them that they put $1000 instead of $10,00.
The most insane and stupid mistake they made, was NVPH 11.
In 2016 it was $17500,- , and in 2017 it was suddenly &175.000,- .
This made me a bit angry, so I contacted the NVPh but never got a real response.
Always check the nvph catalogue values with other catalogues.

Hope this counts,
Jules

The seller wants to get as much as he can...the buyer wants to acquire it for as little as possible.....regardless of catalog value. It's the nature of wheeling and dealing long before the Penny Black hit the presses.
A lot of collectors bought mint stamps on speculation that they were making a good investment..only to find out later that their return would yield 50% of face...or less....a cruel reality.
Catalog values tend to lessen the sting...but that's all.
I am gladly willing to pay fair market prices on stamps to add to my collection.

Adding to Julius remarks on the NVPH catalogue.

In the catalogue is a section with plate flaws. Plate flaws in a souvenir sheet have a certain value, single plate flaw stamps from that souvenir sheet have approx. only half the value. This without any good explanation. Somebody just made up this "rule" and everyone just goes along and asks no questions.