Regummed $2.60 Zeppelin

With a cv in the region of $500 if not mistaken, I was wondering what is a fair value to pay for a regummed stamp, assuming that it is well-centered with good perfs and there are no other faults. I am not sure about US stamps, but unused GB stamps without gum are typically valued at 20-30% cv if the stamp has no other faults.

With so many zeps available in the market place I cannot fathom why anybody would buy a regum. A very nice MNH set of zeps can be easily had for 50 percent cv.

You know a good place to get a $2.60 zep with original gum for $200+? Don't see that many for sale on ebay.

pennyblackie, looking at completed ebay sales, you should be able to get a $2.60 original gum Zep on ebay for $250-$350 these days and 50 percent of catalog is $262.50. In my opinion and experience, the advice of rodgcam is correct; buy them once and buy them right. Don't keep climbing the condition ladder like I did. Unless, of course, you are sure that you will never want a Zep set in any gum condition other than regummed. I have to say that I once thought that myself but discovered later that I was very, very wrong in that assessment.

Can't seem to find any at 50% cv with original gum.

Saw one going for $1200

https://www.ebay.com/ulk/itm/381421444200

Forget ebay. They are all overpriced. Just go to SAN and research recent auctions from firms like Kelleher for real prices. I have never been able to understand why people buy items like this on ebay and actually pay MORE than they would from a real auction house. Same for just about every other issue. Number ones are another great example. A fool and his money.........

Zeppelins remind me of high end jewelry. Not scarce but there's a somewhat artificial (arbitrary?) price one is expected to pay. Not a pure supply/demand issue but, in the end, the catalog sets a relative price you will pay. I wonder what percentage of Zeppelins are actually sitting in dealer stock?

I agree Canyoneer. Henry Gitner has a massive stock of them.

Rhett -
I think you are correct in your estimates. These 2 recently sold:





Linus

I know very little about US philately, but this comment is remarkably true about many other stamps/sets from Western Europe. Specifically, there are items from Germany, France, and Switzerland that are incredibly abundant but there is a slavish devotion in the market to a particular price point.

My classic example of this phenomenon is Germany 670-85. There are currently 20 sets on ebay in various forms of mint condition, and this doesn't count sets not listed by Scott. Hipstamp has 22 complete mint sets, and while I realize some overlap with ebay they don't all overlap.

That's a very large number of unsold sets on the market for a catalog value of $500 and up. The only real challenge with this set is to find mint examples devoid of fingerprints.

The amazing thing about the zeps is that only 1 million were printed for each denomination and 227000 were actually ever sold in total. Exactly how many of the $2.60 ones in mint condition are still floating around in the market, no one knows, but I am certain there aren't many. That makes the zep a lot rarer than Great Britain's 1840 two penny blue with 6 million+ printed and in circulation.

There's actually alot. They were only issued in 1930 - and most, if not all, were bought by collectors. (There was very little postal need for a $2.60 stamp!) They were socked away immediately & kept in good shape...

There were only 60000+ $2.60 stamps ever sold out of the 227000 total. I believe a large percentage of the 60000+ would have been used on covers, leaving not many in mint condition. If you look at the supply of $2.60 graf in the light of the number of US stamp collectors worldwide, there really isn't many of these stamps going around, explaining why the prices are creeping up.

Pennyblackie, I suggest looking at the long-term, not any recent trends.

From an article for Linn's by Rick Miller written in 2011:




Even if we are looking at the most recent decade, the trend is down, not up. 2018 Scott US Specialized has the VF MNH set at $1750, even lower than the 2011 value of $2125.

Of course, it's still a significant increase over the original high face value. But at the current retail prices, supply still outweighs demand. So if you are willing to pay, there are plenty of quality Zeps available from numerous different dealers.

Although scarce, it really isn't a rare stamp. It's one of those stamps, like the Penny Black and the 2d Blue, where reputation keeps the price elevated, rather than lack of supply.

Khj, I am actually quite surprised that dealers have a large stock of mint $2.60 zep considering this stamp has been around for decades and most would presumably be in collectors' albums.