A Weird Question About Cannabis Excise Stamps

...or maybe it's a brilliant question. I'm not sure. I have been given a couple of BC cannabis excise stamps on cardboard packaging. Given the difficulty in trying to safely remove the stamps, I didn't even try. I left the first one in place and simply trimmed the box away to leave just the stamp.

But might these excise stamps be worth more with all the box packaging intact? I have been given a second box and have been having a debate with myself whether to trim the box away or not. If I don't trim the box, I'm left with a storage predicament - it's much easier to store a flat stamp on piece.

Do you want to go out on a limb and give a prediction for the potential future value of these things?

I would leave it whole. Fiscal history like postal history leans toward "full documents" being worth more than clippings, being worth more than soaked-off stamps.

I have made two posts in past months on threads about Canadian cannabis stamps encouraging collectors to leave the boxes and bottles fully intact. I have gotten zero traction on this opinion, only meeting a silent push that they "must" fit in an album somehow. Yet I believe it will prevail in the long run that cannabis stamps left on their entire packaging will be worth considerably more than their cut-down or soaked-off counterparts. The complete package tells so much more "story".

If I absolutely had to, I would slit the box in a minimum number of places, while removing none of it, to make it flat for display.

Will be interesting to see if a value premium develops for on original packaging, as opposed to on piece trimmed. I've sold a number of Ontario on piece for $5-10 USD in the last few months, to give you a sense of current value. Haven't really seen enough for sale on original packaging to get a sense of price, might try selling some that way.

I take it the contents of the package are up in smoke?

Actually, they're down in drops, but the effect is much the same.




There are a couple of whole cardboard packages listed on ebay right now for CDN$28 each. Not sure if there will be any takers at that price.




I think I'm going to take John's advice and keep it whole. Will have to see if I can figure out how to protect it in storage.

I draw upon M&M and revenue stamps to draw a conclusion. Match & Medicine and revenue stamps that were place upon products, from playing cards to opium elixirs and everything in between, have not apparently suffered much in the eyes of philatelists when it comes to desirability and value. In fact I would say that a complete package with stamp/label in-situ appeals to an entirely different collector. There is no doubt some minor crossover but for the most part keeping the whole as whole is not important at all. My 2-1/4 cents worth.

Fair point. I can see how there could be collector interest in the box designs alone.

I think I might have found a storage solution for the time being and will keep it whole. It can always be trimmed later, but I suspect that the longer I hold it, the harder it will be to do so.

I had a number of packs of Tobacco purchased some 15 years ago. I thought it would be nice to keep the package intact.
Looking at them a few months ago, I discovered to 5 out of the 6 packs were crawling with bugs also munching on some of the paper from the package. So be careful what kind of packaging you keep complete. If you want to store a complete package, keep it separate from your other stamps and keep it in a good sealing plastic box.

I'm hoping someone will recall who created it, but I remember a number of years ago (perhaps 20 or so), there was a revenue specialist who created an exhibit of revenue stamps on the original item. It was amazing. It was exhibited in a display case, with shelves, rather than in a traditional frame.

I think I saw it at SESCAL, but I believe it made the rounds of other major shows.

My point to the original poster is that there will be a collector who will want the item with the original stamp still affixed.

And does anyone else remember that exhibit? I would love to see pics of it.