Which Is The Greater Regret: Overpaying For An Item Or Not Overpaying For An Item?

Fortunately for you it was a small town with limited stamps. A larger PO would have had higher values and not created anything nearly as interesting.

Here is an interesting item, also in the category of what should the price be? It sold for just three and a third times the monstrosity above, $760.



Here a local parcel post usage would be a wonderful find. Local PP is different that local 1st class but here it does not matter. Local PP is an item mailed anywhere the single office picks up or deliverers mail. Orris Island, ME had one RFD route and no city carrier. Ignoring the first class cancellation (day, date and time) which could be used by small 4th class offices, I needed to dig deeper. 40 cents in postage is the answer as in 1913 local PP was rated as 5 cents for the first pound and 1 cent for each additional pound or fraction up to a maximum weight of 11 pounds for a maximum postage cost of 15 cents. Beginning August 15, 1913 the rate was lowered to 5 cents for the first pound and 1 cent for each additional two pounds or fraction up to a new maximum of 20 pounds and 14 cents postage. The day seems to be the 2x of August, 1913. However if 1915, the maximum weight rose to 50 lbs at the same postage rate and so a postage maximum of 30 cents.

This means this package was and can only be a first class matter item of 20 ounces.

Sort of,but really the first page of dues collected,not the follow sheets as you showed in the link. More like my examples in the link of the stamps affixed to the cardboard stiffeners in a pad of new stamps. But my Shanghai example shows that the clerks really found any paper available for collecting postage due adequate, the to back of the note says you have returned parcels,if you want them back bring lots and lots of money (gold $20.40).

So some type of cardboard was used for affixing the stamps.For a small office I don't think full pads were ever sent in the 1920s. Today the population of Lee, MA is 5000+/- with the 1920-1930 population of 4000+/- and census "Lee proper" includes the villages of East Lee and South Lee in the count.

Again the clerk or postmaster of this small office in East Lee, saw a drawer scrap clearing exercise when this postage due needed to be collected.

I don't really have many stamps I regret not buying. Limited budget always means choosing and leaving something behind.
I started specializing later when I had some budget but not much. And I've done reasonably well with the officials especially plate varieties.

In other hobbies though.....
Plenty of sports cards I should have bought in the late 70's and early 80's but didn't. One in particular from later that I could have bought but didn't want to spend my entire budget for the show on the 4th table I saw.

And a couple bicycles I had to pass on. My wife was on a work trip and we always discuss major purchases. They went from ebay items to private sales before I even got to ask. And I've never seen another example of either for sale.

The dealer I have gone to for years once told me "you generally can't overpay, but you can pay too soon"
Of course there are things I've bought that I probably paid too soon for my kids to gain anything.

I know that this question has no business here, but also don't know when another opportunity will present itself, do here goes.

plate40 What caused all the DTs of the 30 cent State? I would have emailed but you need three more posts!


Edit to add email comment.

30 cent State does not have any DT's. The 30 cent Navy has two. The 6 cent State has a lot of nice plate varieties, both a DT and two different foreign entries, one of which is on several positions.

I don't want to hijack this thread, so I'll make an O66 Double something post tomorrow with the P3, two used copies and 4 Alanta trail colors I have, and I can find out what the heck.

Back on topic....




This item's purchase was one which placed me squarely in the quandary laid out in this thread. It came at a time I did not want to really spend money on anything but a targeted purchase. And that is the problem in these circumstances, things appear without warning and are a serious addition to a collecting area. That is how we all get on the horns of a dilemma  as described in the OP.

The item's background needs some explanation as it is not really obvious due to the blinding effect of 66 $1.00 Scott #518s which includes a full plate block of 6.

In response to the costs of WWI, the US Government needed to raise money and did so with many types of taxes and quasi-taxes. This extended to the Post Office. Beginning 11-2-1917 the cost of first class was raised from 2 to 3 cents, ending after 6-30-1919.

The same law raising postage created the WWI Parcel Tax for domestic parcel post. A fee (tax) of 1 cent for the first 25 cents of Parcel Post postage and 1 cent for each 25 or fraction cents thereafter was imposed. Additionally a little known incoming foreign Parcel Tax was also collected based upon the value of the parcel, not postage, and applied to a zero value and up. Both parcel taxes were to be collected and shown as paid by use of documentary stamps (Scott 1917 Series beginning with Scott #R228). The WWI Parcel Tax did not start to be collected until 12-1-1917, continuing through 12-31-1921. I collect such material and it is generally uncommon at best.

Next we need to understand that multiple packages can be sent from one sender to one addressee as a group with the postage being paid all at once on the entire bag, bin or box of two or more packages. This saved money at times and also allowed for smaller multiple shipments to be sent together when for example a company's private insurance would only cover a lost package up to a certain amount. I have examples of Platinum being mailed out of Alaska in small packages rather than one large package.

The item shown was postage for 125 packages from a sender in Washington, DC to an addressee in New York City. Parcel Post postage total was $66.25 with the WWI Parcel Tax then being $2.50 for the group. If the tax was paid on the individual parcels it would have totaled $3.75 in WWI Parcel Tax, thus the group mailing saved $1.25 in addition to any postage savings. The weight per package in the text is close, but not spot on.

Lastly this was an example from the first month of the application of the WWI parcel tax.

This was not an item I had seen in my decades of collecting such WWI Tax items, nor did I expect it to surface again in my lifetime. So what to bid? That was my dilemma. I calculated what I could afford right now and hoped for the best. I won but there were 7 bidders and two snipes in the 24 bids posted. Now if it showed the documentary stamps, the price calculus by me would have been different (higher) as I would have dropped some other material which I planned to purchase as this item would be a hill to die on.

While prepared to win at my max, I would have been happy to get the item but quite unhappy about the price as that "extra money" had better places to be, if possible.

Beautiful item. I agree, that had the documentaries been on there, it likely would have gone higher.

Does this item also qualify as largest used multiple of the $1?

My answer is no idea as that is a question outside of my philatelic wheelhouse. However, from what I know of largest multiple covers of the era, it beats the few I know. There was a recent auction of such large or largest know covers, but the name auction firm escapes me now.

Edit:

Siegel sold a used pane of 100 #518, just stamps and not attached to anything.

I have spread the question to the usual suspects looking for an answer. If it is, that will be a nice surprise as I never though of that when considering the item.

I would be pretty surprised to discover a larger used multiple at this point.

ppg:

Congratulations.

I had seen that document and knew it was important, but with no revenue background, had no idea why. Glad you broke the rules (budget) and bought it. I'm sure you will have no regrets (once the swelling on the top of the noggin goes down.)

Rich Pederson has a great website with all the prexie issue "largest multiples" for each denomination. It's a shame that someone doesn't start one for this series. Or at least for the higher denominations.

Thanks mml1942.

That Pederson site is: https://www.pedersonstamps.com/most...cel-or-piece




Was it when it was listed on ebay or before when you knew of it?

I have reached out to the Washington-Franklin Committee of the United States Stamps Society.

PPG:

I just ran aross it on ebay in a search. Not even sure at this point what search I was following, probably something related to post offices or registered mails, both of which are regular "hunting grounds".

Thanks for posting Rich's site. I should have included the URL.

Mike