50th Anniversary World War II Stamps

Beginner question: Were the 50th Anniversary of World War II stamps released from 1991-1995 issued in both sheets of 20 and 10 or just 20? I noticed the Scott numbers are the same for both the sheets of 20 and 10. Is the sheet of 20 or 10 more collectible or preferable among those buying this series?

If one wants to make two half sheets from one sheet of 20, how do you separate to where beyond the perforations in the selvage you get a clean straight "cut"?

For ease of storage, I collected mine in half-panes, so five stamps across the top; five across the bottom. But if you have enough room, the full panes of 20 also are acceptable ... just whatever you want.

Full pane or two map and stamps will be collected as consistent with the collector's storage methods. In either case the stamps are only worth a discount from face as is the case with most modern US (post 1940).

Now a set of 10 used on commercial covers, that is much more interesting and difficult.

Edit: Closing on ebay two minutes ago was Sc # 5959, a 1941 year pane, face value $5.80 (29c x 20) sold for $5.50.

The reason the seller could sell the item is that he had maybe as much as 40-50 cents in the item when purchased as part of collection holding. ebay item number:395456132847

Hi Parcelpostguy,

But the buyer paid more than face for this item, because the mailing cost was $3.95. Making it $9.45 ($3.65 higher than face and about +63% above face).

- stamporator -

You cannot believe what you read. This seller sends material postage paid for regular customers in addition to the free shipping order dollar amount thresholds listed. I have not paid shipping for years from Dave.

In the same vane, the USPS charges a shipping fee, or one must pay for time and transportation to a Philatelic Window when buying new USPS stamps over the counter. In this case that would be travel expenses incurred 23 years ago. Or the costs associated with traveling to a stamp show, parking, entry etc on top of the cost you pay to the dealer. Plus there is the interim cost of storage.

Several weeks ago I was involved in the sale of a life time collection, putting the seller and buyer together. It contained $8000+ mostly different mint US postage stamps from 1945 onward, including much in the way of Forever Stamps. The entire postage lot was purchased by the dealer at 50% face plus what the other albums and pre-1945 material was worth wholesale. I had not financial part in the transaction but all seemed happy; the sellers, the buying dealer as well as the club which received between $4-500 by way of donation from the sellers for the club's fee assistance to families or collectors with stamps.

EDIT: Just to be clear and to summarize, for most stamps, unused, used, now old, what ever the face value, if still valid as postage, THE STAMPS ARE FREE, but YOU ARE PAYING JUST FOR THE LABOR AND OVERHEAD to get the free stamp obtained, identified and into your hands from the seller.

For the WWII 50Th sheet, the stamps, no matter what auxiliary expenses you incur remain with a face value of 29 cents, not 29 cents plus the cost of towing my car to the shop nor the repair costs just because my car broke down when returning from the PO.

"Just to be clear and to summarize, for most stamps, unused, used, now old, what ever the face value, if still valid as postage, THE STAMPS ARE FREE, but YOU ARE PAYING JUST FOR THE LABOR AND OVERHEAD to get the free stamp obtained, identified and into your hands from the seller."

Just to be clear, you are wrong. If that were true, dealers would be charging the same for a 3c face stamp and for a se-tenant block of 44c face stamps as both require the same labor and overhead. And what does this have o do with the OP's questions?

The inventory overhead for a se-tenant block of 44c is 58.66 times more than the 3 cent. This is reflected in the CATALOG price of 2 times face for mint US to allow for dealer labor, inventory outlay and storage. Thus the catalog allows for 3 cents on the 3 cent face but that smacks up against the 25 cent minimum for one stamp. Thus the labor and overhead is recognized as divorced from face value. Plus you can't show me a dealer today who makes a living selling just single examples of current mint postage stamps purchased at face. Such will not cover the dealer's overhead and provide a living wage. In short the dealer loses money for both transactions, just a bit less on the 44c Block.

EDIT:

Of curse nothing, the question was asked by stamporator in a later post in this thread.