Lebanese Stamp Released And Disappears From Day One

On Friday October 21, a new stamp was released in Lebanon.
What is particular about this stamp (and the stamp that was released one month before) is that it was printed in an extremely small run. 10,000 stamps were printed in sheets of 20. That means only 500 sheets were released.
1200 stamps were used to create 1200 FDCs.
500 stamps were given to the UPU.
Each post office received no more than 5 sheets (100 stamps per office).
One third (About 3000 stamps) were given to the school the stamps commemorates.
Some are kept in the main office vaults (Unknown numbers).

The stamp was out of stock on the official website before it was even released. By 10 a.m. No stamps could be found in the post offices.

I only managed to get half a sheet.




*** Moved by Staff to a more appropriate forum. ***

Interesting. The search is on. Good luck

Expensive stamp to boot, 10,000 Lebanese pounds ($10 Aussie)

Sounds like fun and games by a few Lebanese stamp dealers ,with a little help from the Postal Adm. of Lebanon . Not the first time .

A few dealers will pop-up with a limited supply to help cash rich customers .

The thing is: is there that kind of demand for Lebanese stamps today? There are lots of expats, but how many are collectors? This sounds like China, where there are legions of speculators masquerading as collectors. More of those supposedly rare Red Guard-era sets are out there than you can imagine in full post office pads, being held onto by people waiting for (their) right price.

I absolutely agree with this assessment. Someone at the postal administration would have to be involved in this. Eventually large dealers will start to offer them at increased prices.
As for who collects Lebanese stamps today? Well, there are some collectors in Lebanon as well as a few expats that collect, but not enough to explain such a markup.

Interesting development - reminds me of what the USMint had done during 2019- 2022 and the uproar it caused. One particular case was the American Gold Eagle with the privy mark to honor the 75th anniversary of the end of WW II I believe. They set the mintage below 1500 and it was sold out in minutes with speculators using bots to buy far more than the US Mint would allow one individual to get of these from their site. Today the 1 ounce proof strike which I am discussing runs over 10,000 dollars.

I heard that a far less extreme case occurred years ago with the USPS press sheets without die cuts -- they didn't make enough for colelctor demand and today it is easier to get one and, therefore, the mark-up is a bit less than years ago.

Sounds like Lebanon post is seeking to inflate the value of their stamps by creating artificial rarities (or scarcities). As part of my family jeritage is Arabic I would be interested in getting an attractively designed Lebanese stamp but the one shown would NOT be one of them.