The Perspective From Across 'The Pond'*

*depending on where you are; from my perspective...

Article from 2013, but still valid points today:

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2...lately-clubs

This article was posted in another thread; either here or on the other SCF; some time ago. I thought it was inaccurate and misleading. I think some others felt the same way.

Actually, I think it's pretty accurate, as far as it goes.

Everyone here - regulars on our site - know what the catalogs are & how to use/interpret the values given. Everyone here knows that stamps generally sell for 10-20% of CV.

The problem the article highlights is when folks who have no idea see a catalog & immediately assume that's the price you can sell at.

It was true 6 years ago & 60 years ago & 120 years ago, as well as today.

Until a 'market' price guide is widely available, this problem will persist. It is sad, because lack of knowledge is discouraging potential collectors. But the market does not exist for someone to create a market-based catalog - it would simply not be worth the time & effort...

I collect both US and UK and I see both groups of collectors being exploited. I am done with US after this year and plan to quit collecting UK when King Charles is coronated.

Jack Kelley

Relatively common stamps regularly sell at auction houses on SAN for close to, full or in quite a few cases more than cv, some with grades and some without. They are in excellent condition with xf centering. It has always been about condition and centering.

Edit: And of course the market heats and cools for Countries and issues on a fairly regular basis.

You've put your finger on it. The article says nothing about the condition of the stamps he tried to sell.I think the idea that catalog prices are only good for high priced items is completely wrong. Catalog prices are good when the stamp condition matches the condition the price is quoted for. Subtract/divide/add/multiply for centering, condition, gum and faults. I sell on ebay and yes, average stamps sell for a fraction of catalog, but when a stamp is right, it attracts a higher price.

Ahh, ebay, the home of the cheapskate bidder.



True in the US. For one, German collectors are and have been very condition conscious but are very much less concerned about centering vs. their US counterparts.

But make up for it with their penchant for non-hinged stamps.

Catalog prices have always been a shocker for some collectors. You see complaints from collectors selling life long collections and disappointed on the return when sold.

Can you imagine the uproar (like in 1988) if Scott decided to reset values to F-VF which more likely covers more available material.

I think adults buying now have a reasonably good sense of the market. But, when we were spotty twelve-year-olds, we had no idea that CVs bore no relationship to our philatelic world. And it may also have deterred younger collectors, who didn't realise that that unreachable £20 stamp was actually a more manageable £2 one.

My introduction to collecting in the early 1980s was primarily buying from approval companies like H. E. Harris, Kenmore, Jamestown, etc. As a kid I mostly collected what appealed to me at the time.

It was only much later that I came to realize those companies primarily charged catalog value (if not more) for those stamps which even today are dirt cheap.

Dale

The hustlers and con-artist have left the hobby . I could write a book on all the B.S. that went on to scam the collectors of their money .I could tell stories of the games that were played and fake demand that pushed prices up for all the new collectors .

Today it is a different world in stamp collecting .

Morning all,

Yep, the freer flow of information facilitated by the internet makes it harder and harder for hustle or scam to survive for very long. This is a positive for our hobby and others.

My opinion is that the nature of hustles and scams has changed but that human nature has not.
Don

I disagree that human nature has not changed. I believe it has...for the worse.