Comments On 2019 US Specialized Catalogue Revenue Section

I've made my way through the 1st-3rd issue sections of the new Specialized and thought I'd post some comments.

In no particular order:

More value changes than I was anticipating in R1-R151.

Some reductions/corrections but also some increases, especially on double impressions and some of the more expensive imperfs.

2nd issue and some of the inverted centers see reductions.

Some of the expensive 1st issue imperfs that were bordering on "unobtainable" for many are now even more unobtainable.

The new small section on contemporary revenue counterfeits that Eric Jackson added makes for interesting reading. The value for the Hart L. Pierce R3c counterfeit is higher than I would have expected... if anyone's looking for one, hit me up.

If that one is high, the $3 must be much higher still. And the counterfeit Howard match stamp still higher then that.

The $3 Manifest is listed at $7,500 and the Howard match lists for $4,500. There are several others I was unaware of.

I wonder why, since both are equally rare, 2 or 3 known of each.

popularity. the Howard match is an ugly blob of a blue eagle and badly perforated to boot compared to the real thing.
little has been said of it in the philatelic press since the boston book and a brief article in a recent PF Opinions book. little hit the press at the time due to government intervention to keep other ongoing counterfeiting investigations secret.

Hi Dan,

Ignoring the price changes for the 1st - 3rd series, are there any new revenue or significantly updated sections in the 2019 cat?

Any chance the wine wallpaper issues have finally plummeted in price?

I have a 2018 and will get a 2019 if there is new material or updates, but will probably wait if there are only price changes.

Thanks!

No major additions in the areas I focus on; I can't speak for the M&M sections as I don't collect those. The only addition of interest to me was the revenue counterfeit section, but that's only 2 pages.

"wine wallpaper issues"? Do you mean the high denominations with tabs... or the Smithsonian deacession auction material?

If the latter, I just did a spot check and there are no major changes in the wine stamp section from 2018 to 2019, other than RE107A and RE107B increasing in value, but those are outside my price range anyway.

However, there is one change that I profoundly disagree with (admittedly my experience in this area is limited, but based upon what I've seen and read it doesn't align with reality):

The footnote following RE59 from the 2018 edition reads as follows:




In the 2019 edition it has been changed to "Used stamps with additional stamps tied on the tablet with cancels sell for about five times the values given."

Cutting the value in half? They appear on the market so infrequently, and every time I've seen them at auction, the competition for built-up examples is quite spirited. They're scarce enough that even a 10x multiplier might be low for certain types. Why the reduction?

Hopefully Ron can chime in, as he's far more knowledgeable in this area than I.

With a 5x multiplier, I'll buy any and all genuine examples at full Scott. Any takers? I didn't think so...

Hi Dan,

Thanks!

Yes, the Smithsonian deacession auction material.

There is no way the market can absorb that much mint material, and one of the auctions in the next few weeks has $37,000 (?) "cat value" in complete sheets starting at less than $1,000.

The eBay sales prices for those wine lots that do sell are nowhere near Scott cat.

There are certainly scarce denoms in the series, but the vast majority need significant reductions in cat value to better match demand and availability.

Now looking for nice used examples is a completely different story!

Another availability example is R135b. 22 copies available on eBay as of right now. Not a scarce stamp!

Actually, R135b is one of the stamps that went down, from $475 to $425, in the 2019 edition.

The stamp itself isn't uncommon, however the challenge is finding either (1) a nicely centered example, or (2) an example still on document.

Did the S & Co Narcotic, provisional narcotic make it?

Revenueman:

No, it did not.

Jim

I received my new 2019 Scott Specialized catalog yesterday, and I flipped through a few pages to see what was new.

I came across the wine section and was pretty surprised to find these values:



I bought a copy of RE107B back in 2000 for under $500. At the time, the catalog value was $3,250. So a little more than 10% of catalog value for a stamp that clearly had some faults seemed fair.

Not that I'm complaining of course, but does anyone know why the catalog value of this stamp nearly quadrupled in less than 20 years? Did someone figure out that there were less of them around than were first thought?

I guess I should buy a new specialized more often than I do...

This is my copy:



Jim

The book wine stamps (RE56-59 and RE107A-F) when built-up with additional stamps on the tablet to the right of the stamp are all very, very scarce except for RE56. So a blanket statement on premiums for these is misleading at best. For example I know of only one copy of RE107B built-up, none of the RE107A and C have been seen. RE57 and RE59 built-up are also very rare. Years ago I think I recorded two of the RE58 built-up. I must have at least ten of the RE56 built-up and there is at least one other collection that can match my count. And the two of us do not anywhere a monopoly on the built-up.

Jim- Virtually all the RE107B are faulty. The catalog price is an ideal for a fine copy.

Well I have had my 2019 edition for about three weeks but finally was able to take a look. As others have said some first issue imperfs went up: R11a +250. R84a +2000. A couple of scarce silks are now priced R26b @2000, and R52d @1500. Silk papers continue to show increases R26d +100, R28d +200, R41d +75. The part perf R51b goes up by 1000. The provisional R158A up by 2500. For 20th century material a mixed bag REF 10 goes up 7500 but RG28 down 5000 and RG 30 down 2500, from the Inmann sale results.

I wish they'd establish a value for revenue stamps on documents, kind of the same way as a stamp on cover. I know there are a lot of variables but there also are a lot of variables with covers. Just a starting point to help the "non experts" like myself. I have some that I'm probably going to part with to fund other areas I collect but don't know where to start.