Chicagopex 2019... And So It Begins.

Just tell the wife it's a stag event. :-)

Please pass my regards to them all, and ask Denny if he will get serious and add state material again




If I told my wife that, she would counter with something like "no you're not, you're going to some stamp thing..."

Busted!

Stamps, stags, they sound alike. :-)

First full show day down, two to go... but the next 2 days will likely be spent more socializing than buying, as the well has run pretty well dry.

I picked up quite a few plate varieties, and cherrypicked a very nice R29d silk paper. Most of what I purchased was documents though. A number of Spanish American War and early 20th century fractional cent rate insurance policies (yes, there was a reason for the half-cent battleships). A very attractive billhead from a tobaccanist with an Indian vignette, printed in 2 colors. A document fragment, that while still a nice addition to my illegal usages, would have been exceptional had it been the complete document, sporting a block of 6 and 2 singles of R29c, the 5-cent Proprietary. One of the nicest R151b (2-cent invert) I've seen to date, just for giggles.

From Richard I bought a lovely R29d (5c Proprietary silk paper) on document, with 3 blue threads visible on the face, and I'll be spending a good portion of time with him tomorrow going through more documents.

I purchased a bunch of interesting things from Eric including 2 revenue documents from the Nicaragua Mosquito Reservation, slightly different form the ones I already have, and a pair of Trans-Mississippi illegal usage checks that, while despite being considered philatelic, are interesting in that they are signed by H.H. Bandholtz of Philippine "O.B." overprint fame. Also a couple of bisect document fragments.

One rather frustrating/irritating situation... I realize that dealers have every right to price their material as they see fit, but when it transcends the absurd it annoys me. One dealer had purchased one of the large balance lots from the late John Lewis estate via Michael Aldrich Auctions, and he was selling the material. But rather than have any nuance or knowledge of revenue cancels, he came up with a pricing scheme that just made everything overpriced: Start at 100% of Scott catalog value. Now add $15 if it is a circular handstamp cancel, $20 if it is oval, $25 if multi-line, $30 if in an ink other than black, etc.

Now, for some of the rare proprietary or steamship cancels, this would be a comparative bargain... but none of that sort of material was there. This was a balance lot remember... just bank, railroad, insurance, mining, etc. Don't get me wrong, there was huge variety, and some relatively uncommon cancels, but once you added in all the "factors" they were for the most part above what both Eric and Richard price material at, and they are the most expensive in the business.

And to add insult to injury: On high-catalog-value items, he wouldn't reduce for faults/flaws. He's adopted the Michael Aldrich approach of "if you're buying for the cancel, you don't care about condition" (which is B.S, by the way... I may not eschew a stamp I want to buy for the cancel because of faults, but I darned well factor it into my valuation!).

There were a number of items that, had they "only been 100% of Scott" or some reasonable full retail amount, I would have purchased, but ultimately I just walked away buying nothing, annoyed at the entire situation.

It's a case where a dealer is going to sit on material forever in pursuit of making 10x what he paid instead of settling for 2x or 3x.

Ridiculous.

That immediately reminded me of one dealer on the show list.

Dan,

I know the dealer of which you speak. Trying to decipher the prices will give one a terrible headache. I've picked through that binder a couple of times now and found a couple of gems but the last time I looked I was sorry I spent the time. The really weird thing is that he charged me more for a hand stamp than he did for a Jayne printed cancel.

I guess it is an example of a dealer not understanding what they are selling. Maybe he was hoping to be safe and see what happens.

As a long-time Chicagopex dealer (this is my 20th year), I can confirm that yesterday was one of the busiest I've seen. Crowds of collectors and visiting dealers spending lots of money at most of the booths. Didn't hear any complaints yesterday, other than collectors having to wait for seats, and not just at the Floor-to-Ceiling dealers. One of my dealer friends, who has been doing this longer than I have, said it reminded him of the way shows used to be.

Steve Taylor
https://stephentaylor.co.uk

I agree, there was plenty of activity yesterday and the aisles were full.

I don't want this to come off as political, as that is not my intent, but based not only on personal observation, but talking about this with dealers over the years, the amount of activity and spending is always in part a reflection on the current state of the U.S. economy and consumer confidence. When the economy has been down, unemployment up, stock market down, consumers have tightened up on discretionary spending due to uncertainty and/or fear; people want to keep more in reserve. Right now we're seeing the exact opposite, with the economy flourishing (in general) and unemployment across all demographics at alltime lows, however you choose to attribute it, and I think consumers are a bit more free in their hobby purchases, and the show is reaping the benefit.

I'm not saying it's the sole cause, but definitely a contributing factor in my opinion.

All that means is that the people with money are making more so they are spending more. The people without money are usually not collectors anyway.

Well, tis Sunday morning, the bags are packed, and in a couple of hours I'll make one last round on the floor, just in case anyone has turned up/acquired stuff that wasn't there earlier in the show, and say my goodbyes. I spent most of yesterday split primarily between Richard's and Eric's tables, mostly chatting and casually browsing, with of course the inevitable impulse purchase or three.

By the end of the day I was sorely fatigued; I felt drained... even though I had done nothing inherently stressful. The floor seemed active to me, although not to the same extent that Friday was. By mid afternoon, it looked fairly quiet across the board.

Just in the process of talking with people throughout the day, my exasperated assessment of the dealer I mentioned in my earlier post was echoed by numerous collectors and dealers.

It's interesting what you overhear within the confines of a stamp show, that offers one a glimpse into how "the other half" lives... listening to one multi-multi-millionaire lament how the annual property taxes on his winter home amount to more than my annual salary, responded to by advice from another millionaire talking about they made the smart choice to pay "a million more" for a second winter home in order to get into an exclusive retirement community that had brokered a special deal with the city/state to not have to pay school taxes so their annual property tax bill was only $15K.

It's a whole different world out there...

So that one gave $1M to some greedy real estate dealer instead of helping to fund education. What an idiot.

Yes, the nerve of taking advantage of the tax laws that Congress wrote and passed. Outrageous!

That the rich in congress passed laws to benefit the rich is hardly a surprise. But cutting tax money for education just to line someone's pockets IS outrageous.

2018 US Tax facts
The 'rich', or the top 10 percent of income earners, paid 70% of all the income taxes paid last year.

The 'top half' of the income earners are paying virtually all of the income taxes collected last year. The actual numbers are;
The top 50% income earners paid 96.89% of all income taxes collected last year.
The bottom 50% income earners paid 3.11% of all income taxes collected last year.

These are numbers from Pew Research.
Don