1948 Great Britain #268 - Block Of 6

Sewall - You continue to validate your own thinking. Not sure why you asked for opinions. Best of luck.

GoefHa,

As I pointed out earlier, a block of six 1 pound stamps in 1947 would cost 6 pounds. At a reasonable inflation rate, that 6 pounds equates to roughly 450 pounds in today's dollars. At 15-20 pounds per stamp today, that is 90-120 pounds value today. Initial 1948 buyers of this stamp took a beating based on inflation.

rodg,

I am not sure why you would make that comment about my thinking. I indicated that I could find no comparable stamp sets. Then a poster locates a listing of a mint sheet of 20 for sale for $800. I put down an initial price of $160 as a guesstimate. Based on the mint sheet for sale, my thinking is that the stamps may be worth $120-$150, not the $160 I originally estimated. Whether anyone will pay $120-$150 remains to be seen. And even if I am trying to validate my own thinking (which I was not), there is nothing wrong with doing that, especially when I have three sets of these blocks of six. If these stamps are worth $150 or $80 (a $70 difference), knowing that $150 or $80 is worth as much as $210 to me as I have three sets of these.

The only things we know for sure are

1) that there have been several single stamps sold for $15-$24 recently

2) there have been no sales of blocks of 6 as far as I can find

3) a clean sheet of 20 can be purchased for $800 today.

And there you have it.

Point number 3 is a lot more information than what I had when I first made the post. Thanks to everyone for their help. I am in a much better position to assess the value now and not give these stamps away as some ridiculously low price.

Just a thought. Several times you said that you have three sets. Why not do like many are suggesting ... take one set and start at a low bid and see where the market takes it. Then you really have a good value for the remaining two sets. It's a lot better idea than just sitting on three sets, don't you think? Good luck.

FORGET the $110.00 buy offer , just seen the reverse of the block of 6 on ebay it is not very fine ,looks like it is good not very fine ,don't want it . Quality is questionable .

sewallH,
Since you asked for input, I will give you my honest opinion. You can ask whatever price you want, I have no issues with that and the marketplace will let you know if you have over-priced a stamp. Three of the six stamps appear to have some condition issues (as view from the back). If this block were broken up into single would each stamp bring the same amount? No, the three with damage would bring less. Yet all 6 get the same 'grade'?

You posted in this thread, "I am selling over time my +50 year old stamp collection. I can not take it to the grave with me." In your listing you call this block "My Greatest Stamps" and state "One of my most prized items in my +50 year old collection." Yet in this thread you say, "I recently purchased a stamp collection from a lady that had no idea as to the collection's value." And your ebay feedback shows that you are actively buying other stamps.

Your listings contain a lot of odious spin, the misuse of the term 'grading', a useless piece of paper with centering number on it, and frankly I think you are chasing off potential buyers.

First, I recommend that you drop the 'grading'. Many collectors do not value grades at all and those that do value grading, most ONLY value grades from renown companies. 'Self graded and 'EZ-grader' are not going to increase confidence for a knowledgeable buyer. Second drop all the puffery and spin in the listing, it is not helping. Instead of writing a bunch of marketing spin, invest your time in generating good scans. Look at the over-sell you use in this listing, "outstanding, absolutely fantastic, standout item, significant catalogue value, superlative, very rare, massive scarcity factor, exceptional quality, exceptional rarity, prized item". Your description should be a sentence or two that accurately describes the block condition. Simple and honest > spin and BS.

Will your 'hard sell' influence an inexperienced buyer? Perhaps. Will your inane description and silly 'grading' influence a knowledgeable buyer? No and in fact this will chase many of them off. Who is the audience for a block like this? Noobs or experienced collectors?

I will give you this last piece of advice about listing on ebay. 'Hard sells' do more than just turn away experienced buyers, they also open the door for scammers. ebay will support buyers when they say the stamp 'was not as described'. With all the silly adjectives in your listing, any buyer can easily make the case they the stamps were not as described. You are setting the expectation that this block is "outstanding, absolutely fantastic, standout item, significant catalogue value, superlative, very rare, massive scarcity factor, exceptional quality, exceptional rarity, and a prized item". This is like online dating and telling the other person to expect a model to show up for the first date. Avoid trouble upfront by removing your meaningless adjectives and worthless 'grading'. Like online dating, the best way to set expectations is to provide accurate images.
Don

I am glad Floortrader brought up the quality of the stamps, these stamps are never in VF condition and I would never want them in my collection because of the condition shown from the back. I would advise to lower the opening bid considerably.
I do appreciate that you show the back of the stamps in the auction, too many sellers neglect doing so, making me often think there is a reason for that.

Condition is everything. The damage will dampen interest greatly. If the stamps were all sound, and if there were no perforation separations, I have no doubt there would be solid interest. But now, collectors will probably look at this solely for the value of several of the individual stamps.

51studebaker,

I appreciate your input. I have often thought how best to represent the stamps in my collection when I list them on ebay. Without question, even though I have recently acquired this block of 6 set, it is a tremendous item to have in my collection and it really stands out. I previously did not have this stamp in my collection as the focus of my collection is generally pre-1930 items. This block has to be one of the best "post 1930's" items I have. All that said, I still have to sell my collection as I am getting on in my years and all these items will end up in a garage sale otherwise.

So the question you bring up is how best to represent the items I list for sale on ebay. I find that my listings are far more accurate and precise than the vast majority of ebay listings. I generally do the following...

1. Scan the front and back of the stamp at 600 dpi so that any flaws are clearly visible.

2. Include a picture of the back of the stamp, which many sellers do not do. I actually find few sellers do this.

3. Include at least one image of a grading document (sometimes two, using a second grading program) that clearly shows the stamps dimensions, centering, and other relevant factors (such as watermark and perforation gauge when appropriate).

4. I will often include another picture of the stamp with a difficult cancellation enhanced or any stamp error/flaw clearly marked.

5. A description of the stamp as I see it, especially any appropriate comments about rarity, condition, or other potentially interesting factors.

6. Commentary about other varieties of the stamps such that the buyer can be easily assured that the stamp in properly identified.

My purpose is clear and straightforward. I do not sell junk. I put everything on the table for the buyer to see. There is no mystery or confusion about what one is buying or bidding on. I have sold many stamps from my collection and I have received nothing but praise for buyers regarding how the items are precisely as described and how the grading information I provide has been extremely valuable and helpful to the buyer. In many cases I have buyers ask me to ship them the grading documents I have prepared. Furthermore, I see no other ebay seller even coming close to doing any of the above. Many of my stamps are not perfect, but any flaws are clearly displayed. In addition, it is amazing how often I see "reputable" ebay sellers, auction houses and others represent their stamps as being extremely fine, very fine or other when in fact these stamps are not even close to being very good. I have seen many expensive professional grading certificates of stamps indicating that a stamp is such and such quality, perfectly centered and so on, when in fact my analysis of the same stamp shows that the stamp is not nearly what has been represented by the grading document and the "professionals". One approach to this issue is to just say "buyer beware" when it comes to my ebay listings and just show a modest resolution picture of the front of the stamp and let the buyer try to figure it out from there. But that approach for me that does not work. I want to know precisely how my stamp is centered and if it is a Jumbo. If I do not know this, then how am I to know that I am not giving the stamp away to a buyer who thinks the stamp is only very good, when it is in fact superb? The results of my approach have generated ebay selling prices that are far beyond what I would have achieved with a less well-informed approach. I can understand why some "professional scalper" buyers would not like my approach: because I know the general grade of what I am selling and put thought into establishing a fair pricing (as I am trying to do here with this block) - so I do not give my stamps away for far less than what they are worth. These "professional" buyers are not people who buy from me normally. I find the people who buy from me are experienced stamp collectors that seek clarity and understanding as to what they are getting. They do not want to get screwed over. So there you have it.

For this block, I took 600 dpi images of the front and back, I then cropped one of the stamps for a specific single stamp closeup, I then ran that single stamp through not one, but two, grading software systems so as to properly establish the perforation gauge, the stamp margins, and the centering. I then made a huge effort to determine what an appropriate pricing level should be for a block where there are absolutely no comparables and no published catalogue values. What more do you suggest I do?

Regarding this block of six (and the two others I have in my collection), if you can find me another block of six, then show it to me. The only thing I have seen have been individual stamps and a mint sheet of 20 stamps priced at $800 (or $40 per stamp). If no one can find other blocks of six (and that is why I posted on this chat board to see if anyone had any thoughts), then my three blocks of 6 may be among the few that exist. Who sends a postal item with 6 pounds of postage back in 1949? As I calculated, that equates to 450 British pounds of postage in today's monetary value. If these blocks are rare as I think they are, then they have enhanced value in my opinion and my flowery commentary about the block is well deserved. Some on this chat board have already posted that they think the block is amazing. As to the block being in perfect condition, it is clearly not, but the stamps are not awful when one considers that these were used postally. The fact that the block has been used with each stamp cancelled is in itself amazing. You may find an unused block of 6 (and I have not even seen that) but good luck finding a used block of six. Any "experienced" stamp person would recognize these factors in evaluating this block. If the experts want a postally used block of 6 and are complaining about the "condition" of my block, let them go buy six individual used stamps and glue them together.

So far I have had 44 "views" of my block in ebay, which is a huge number for me as I am not a dealer and do no advertizing or other. This to me indicates the "interest" in the block (ie very high). There are two "watchers" on my listing, but I suspect that these are two members of this chat thread who want to see what happens with my listing. I do not expect the block to sell. I have never sold an philatelic item north of $120 on ebay. ebay is not particularly useful when selling high priced single stamp items in my experience.

All that said, thanks for everyone's input.

I am not sure I have ever seen anyone as far off base as you are.

The consensus in this thread is that this block has issues and therefore is not as the listing describes it. But you are choosing to ignore this input.

You say in your post, "I have received nothing but praise for buyers " but that is not what your ebay feedback says.

Your assumption that "I have had 44 "views" of my block in ebay, which is a huge number for me as I am not a dealer and do no advertizing or other. This to me indicates the "interest" in the block (ie very high)." is also completely off-base. The only reason that you have these views is because of this thread.



I told you what to do, remove the BS crap about the 'grading' and removed the stupid adjectives that clearly over describe this block.
Don

Who sent a parcel with £6-worth of postage in 1948? Very few people, I imagine. I can't clearly see the cancellation, but I suspect that this group of high values was used for a revenue, not a postal, purpose.

The fairgound barker stuff really is off-putting, to the extent that, coming to your description cold, I'd move on to another lot.

I can't speak for US buyers, but numerical grading of centring, whether done by an individual or by PSE, is of no interest to GB collectors.

I see the word OFFICE in the upper arc of the cancel.
Robert

"The fairgound barker stuff really is off-putting"

Agreed. I read the whole description and for that flowery verbiage, I'd expect the most perfect & rare block of stamps ever produced by a postal authority.

Sorry, with your low rating and 2 negs I would not buy from you. The replies to them were also very damaging. Why would you want to charge more for the 2nd stamp when 2 can be mailed as cheap as one. Seems like using postage to make money.

Yes, I am blunt but have been on ebay for 20 years as a buyer and seller and there is far too much of this going on.

Here is one sheet cheaper with nice bold colors;
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GEORGE-V...252939814276