Why Are Some Old Stamps Worth More Used Than New

while cataloging stamps from Aden and Antigua, using Scotts 2017 cat. some of the stamps are way more valuable used than beautiful and clean. How can that be? For instance, Antigua #30 "The Seal of the Colony", new, is listed for $110.00 while used is listed for $160.00? Sigh...

Stamps were, originally, designed to be used for sending things, hard though it sometimes is to remember that amidst a wave of "collectable" junk. The obsession with unmounted or mint stamps is a relatively recent one. In the case of many stamps, a genuine, postally used (i.e. not cancelled to order or cancelled by favour or used for fiscal purposes) copy will be much scarcer than a mint one, especially for high face value stamps.

Simple question of (relative) rarity.

Some colonial stamps were delivered to dealers or could be bought from post office agents.
If, at all, the stamps reached the colonies, use may have been sparse. The mint stamps are plentiful and used rare. If I remember correctly PostmasterGS wrote something about German stamps for use in China available in Berlin, but extremely rare used at the agency.

An example are the overprints for many British Postal Agencies on British stamps. Most stamps used abroad (Morocco, Arabian Peninsula, Middle East Forces) were philatelically used. genuine postal use is rare. Mint stocks bought by collectors either at the agencies, but also from the GPO in London are not so scarce.

This, also, is a caveat. The higher prices for used only apply to genuine postal use. Philatelic use, or the CTO mentioned by GeoffHa may not hold value at all.

Purely supply and demand. In an instance where legitimately used copies are scarce and people want them, prices will rise.

If used worth more than mint beware of forged cancellations.

German Inflation Era stamps always come to mind when this topic arises.

Recent letter rate issue used stamps in Australia for some years now are more expensive than mint stamps. It was talked about for years before this happened to all recent issue not just isolated 1 here and there. It was about 2016 that this phoneme started to happen. Now it is my bulk collecting area. So be it. Not too many people have caught on this as yet. It is just too new to stamping yet.

Many British colonial stamps were able to serve postage or revenue duty.

It's easier to find high value stamps with fiscal cancellations than postal.

One can only imagine what would've attracted £1 of postage in 1925 from Tanganyika.

Not mentioned above is one caveat, the postal use must be contemporaneous to the period of stamp availability from the postal agency and shortly (What is shortly? Well it depends. ) thereafter. Also the cancellation must be consistent with the cancelling devices used during the accepted time period and places of use. Some very rare used items require the date to clearly show on the stamp and or on the stamp and cover to which it is attached.

This, used more expensive than new, is not limited to "old or classic stamps." My post prior to this one was done here: http://goscf.com/t/71072 7th post down regarding a 1968 Haitian stamp $40 verses $50. 1968 may be before you were born but is considered "modern" by the mobs who control such definitions.

Supply and demand, and supply depends on not only how many were used, but how many were saved after use. Stamps used on parcels were less likely to survive the journey in good shape and probably less likely to be saved too.

Sending a giraffe to London, of course.

I agree redwoodrandy that this would be easy to forge. Thank you all for your help. I'm learning!

Are cto stamps legit when it comes to Scotts pricing for used stamps?

Thanks Again,
chery

Nope. Essentially, they are not used, just defaced.

Rather depends on what they are. Some earlier, scarcer Australian stamps are commonly cancelled to order, for example - genuinely postally used examples would carry a premium.

How can you tell a cto from a regular cancel? Does it take years of experience or can it be explained?