World Wide Minature / Souvenier Sheets

Are these popular? I have an album I acquired from somewhere and it has quite a few of these. I haven't spent a ton of time looking for all of them in catalogs but I do see that some of the values seem way out of touch.

If I've identified this one correctly my Scott 2009 shows this as Scott C176 with a CV of $24.00. I just can't see anyone paying over a buck for something like this.





An example of the others I couldn't find on first look.

As we know, most of these stamp-producing countries, with a very low design budget (look at the soccer players and the singing/dancing Elvi (Elvises)) are geared mainly towards topical collectors. I remember 30 years back hearing about the Michel catalog and thinking how much junk they must list. However, I now use the Michel, Stanley Gibbons, Yvert & Tellier, as well as the Scott US Specialized online versions. I also consult my Facit catalogs, and have ordered the new Edifil (for Spain) due to the areas I'm interested in. It also gives me insight as to valuations around the world.
The PNG one is Block 13 (5€), the 1995 Guinea one (way in advance of the 1998 World Cup held in France) is Block 498 (6€), while the first Elvis is Block 419A (24€) and the second is Block 419B (same price) if measuring 135x85mm. If 121x92, then they are Block 420A (15€) and Block 420B (24€)
I see a lot of attractive things for the topical collector: Flags, Airplanes, Flowers, Soccer, World Cup, and of course, The King. Just the Elvis S/S have tons of topicals: Americana, Guitars, Rock 'n' Roll, Music, Cars. In the end, forgetting about the CV, the actual value is the satisfaction it may bring to a collector who is looking for a particular piece.
A quick search for Elvis in Guinea showed more than 10 listings, so obviously this is a popular collecting area.
For me, the only really attractive issue is the PNG one - as I love Flags, plus it looks to be the most legitimate of these issues.
By the way, SG doesn't list the Elvis stamps, but the Soccer one is MS1656 at #65505;5. Yvert & Tellier has the soccer one as BF112A at 6.50€, and Elvis unlisted.

I haven't seen an ATA topical checklist for quite some time, but does stuff like this appear on them? If so, I guess, if you were to collect Elvis, you would need them to check the box off... It boggles the mind sometimes - the only topical I've really been interested in was chess, and when you look at the specialty items (imperfs and such) it is amazing what is out there.

John

I have the 2009 "Estrelas Japoneses" (Japanese stars) miniature sheets from São Tomé and Principe (Scott #1937 and 1952) on my topical want list, but I'm not willing to pay anything close to the $15 catalog value that Scott lists for either of them.

On rare occasions I'll buy some extremely dodgy wallpaper, if the topic interests me enough, such as a Jennifer Love Hewitt miniature sheet purporting to be from Somalia or an FDC of an Eliza Dushku "stamp" from the "Republique Democratique du Congo". I just regard them as cinderellas and collect them as such. But I won't pay a lot for them.