Mr. H
Member 
Member - APS #129381
Posts: 952
What I collect: US, Netherlands, Whatever suits my fancy.
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Post by Mr. H on Jan 4, 2021 14:51:15 GMT
Currently my best find is my used copy of US Scott #1895h Black Field of Stars. It is not priced in the 2020 Scott Catalog.
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Beryllium Guy
Moderator 
Posts: 5,911 
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Apr 11, 2021 9:22:21 GMT
Time to Recognize Treasure Hunters who Struck Gold!I had more mixed lot material to soak, and although there were some nice stamps in there that will find their way into my collection, no CV £3,000-5,000 items in my bunch, like what Alex ( vikingeck ) has found. I am still stunned by his discovery lurking in an old collection, unappreciated for what it really is. There is no doubt that it takes a knowledgeable collector to figure these things out, and Alex is clearly one, amongst other notables in our membership: - vikingeck : Rare imperf GB Penny Red SG38a/40a/42a, CV £3,500-5,750 pending further ID
- Mr. H : Rare Wmk 3 on Queensland SG65 unlisted variety, but known from auction examples selling for £1,500
- DK : Rare unused New Zealand SG96a, CV £2,000 listed as SG115 and bought for ~5% of CV
- philatelia : Withdrawn design Ireland Captain Jack commemorative stamp (CV €900) found in a $12-kiloware lot
- Mr. H : US Sc1895h Flag Stamp Color Error, CV? (not listed in my 2013 edition Scott)
- watermark : Canada Sc37d 3-cent Copper Red, CV $1,400 bought for 15¢ in a circuit book
These are just the ones I have picked up on from reading posts on the Forum. Who else has a made an amazing discovery that I have left out? If you have one to be included in the list, please speak up! Who knows, perhaps we have the making of a future Newsletter article here.... Stay stampy, all, and congratulations again to Alex and all the other treasure hunters who have struck philatelic gold!  Quoted post from the Whatcha thread and moved to this subject-specific thread. |
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Beryllium Guy
Moderator
Posts: 5,911
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Apr 11, 2021 9:32:49 GMT
Based on my post in the Whatcha thread, I am giving this topic-specific thread a bump. I encourage any members who have a story to tell about a great discovery, especially one that happened unexpectedly or as a total bargain, to post examples of their experiences here in this thread. I cited a few members whose stories I had recalled reading about previously ( vikingeck, Mr. H, DK, philatelia, watermark), but I feel sure that there must be more. I have had a couple of nice discoveries myself, but no 4-figure CV items yet.... but still looking! I will add some lesser finds, not on a level with these really big ones, but still excellent bargains nonetheless. So, let's hear your stories, big or small.... |
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Post by daniel on Apr 11, 2021 19:02:05 GMT
This is a purchase that I had mentioned in the Watcha Been Stamping thread. I purchased this lot for a mere £8. Bottom right, what may appear to be a large stationery cut-out but without wording or a value, is in fact a Charles Whiting essay. Look up 'Charles Whiting Essay in black on wove paper' on ebay and you'll find another example. Price? £850, not outrageous for a Charles Whiting. Now, mine does have a crease but still, one of my best ever purchases!  Scan_20201211 by Daniel, on Flickr |
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Post by daniel on Apr 11, 2021 21:53:57 GMT
This is another purchase from last year. A group of early rocket mail stamps from Austrian rocket pioneer Friedrich Schmiedl who is credited with the first rocket mail flight in 1931. I purchased the whole lot for about 50 euros. They're catalogued at about 25-50 euros each with the exception of the triangular stamps which relate to an experimental balloon flight in 1928 from which a small rocket was launched. In the second image, you can see this small rocket above the balloon in the top example. This is one of only 25 created with the rocket, catalogue value 1,000 euros.  Scan_20210411 (2) by Daniel, on Flickr  Scan_20210411 by Daniel, on Flickr |
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watermark
Member
Posts: 62
What I collect: My main collecting area is focused on Canadian stamps printed from steel engraved plates. Specifically re-entries and constant plate varieties.
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Post by watermark on Apr 11, 2021 22:41:53 GMT
 This stamp is my buy of a life time. Put a little over $100 into this Canada 2c Large Queen on Laid Paper, Catalog #32. The money covered the cost of the stamp, expertizing, and postage. The stamp realized $247,250 at auction. It would be hard to beat this one. Only three reported copies and extremely rare! |
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Philatarium
Member
Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 1,032
What I collect: Primarily focused on Japan, but lots of other material catches my eye as well ...
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Post by Philatarium on Apr 12, 2021 0:04:36 GMT
Wow, watermark! Please tell us more about the stamp (why it's so rare), how you found it, etc. (I think a number of us want to live vicariously through you!) Well done! |
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cjd
Member
Posts: 1,107
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Post by cjd on Apr 12, 2021 0:38:46 GMT
I remember that story developing. Pretty cool. Okay, very cool.
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watermark
Member
Posts: 62
What I collect: My main collecting area is focused on Canadian stamps printed from steel engraved plates. Specifically re-entries and constant plate varieties.
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Post by watermark on Apr 12, 2021 0:44:43 GMT
The stamp is a 2c Large Queen. What makes it special is the paper it is printed on.  Note the dark and light bars when viewing the back of the stamp while it is backlighted, This is what laid paper should look like. There are three denominations of the Large Queen issue printed on laid paper all are somewhat hard to find. The 3c value is probably the easiest to find. The 1c is somewhat harder. The 2c is the hardest and extremely rare. There are known fakes of the three values that have been re-backed to appear as laid paper. All these stamps are printed on more common papers as well so just finding a 1c, 2c, or 3c copy of the stamp does not mean you have the rare laid paper. Chances are you will find it to be one of the more common papers. Until I found the copy I had of the 2c value only two were known to exist. I believe they were certified circa 1935. The copy I found was certified genuine by the Vincent Graves Greene Philatelic Research Foundation June 24, 2013. It is the only copy of the 2c Large Queen found since the other two were certified in 1935. This should give you an indication of how rare it is. I never thought I would ever see one let alone own one. So don't start buying 2c Large Queens expecting to find another as it is highly unlikely. More information is available at: greenefoundation.ca/research.htm#papers, Research |
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darkormex
Member
Swinging through Switzerland and getting tied up in Thailand
Posts: 2,197
What I collect: The World...just printing and mounting as I go...call me crazy!
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Post by darkormex on Apr 12, 2021 1:40:00 GMT
Like me, how many of us just went to our Canada stamp albums and checked the paper on our 2c Large Queens? LOL...no laid paper here.
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REL1948
Member
Posts: 785
What I collect: 1840-Pre-Decimal, GB and Colonies, 1840 1 penny reds, British Empire Postal History, Switzerland Postal History
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Post by REL1948 on Apr 12, 2021 2:11:42 GMT
darkormex you just made me laugh. A little earlier I took a look again at my Large Queens just to be sure I hadn't overlooked the paper. I'm glad I did, I haven't looked at them in quite awhile and they made me smile. Rob  |
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Post by smauggie on Apr 12, 2021 5:14:08 GMT
One of my favorite recent finds recently is a German New Guinea reply card mailed to Germany, with the reply portion still attached. I am told the market price is around $150 but I got it for $8ish.  |
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Post by smauggie on Apr 12, 2021 5:28:57 GMT
Last year I was very excited to get a cover from Bavarian Socialist Republic. This republic was established on April 6th and disestablished on May 3rd in the year of 1919. The little note attached to the front of the cover instructs the sender the header at the top had to be "Handelskorrespondenz" (Commercial Correspondence) but since the sender put "Geschaftsbrief/Affaire Commerciale" the sender was unwilling or unable to accept the correspondence. I do not know what these covers go for for a country in existence for 27 days, but I think I paid $15 and was very happy to get it. My guess for the city of origin is Augsburg given the size of the font and the fact that I can see the city name ends in "urg".  |
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clivel
Member
Posts: 386
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
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Post by clivel on Apr 13, 2021 0:33:58 GMT
Thanks to a common interest in Rhodesian stamps, some years ago I became friends with a gentleman now in his mid 80's.
Pre-Covid I was a regular visitor to his home where I spent many pleasant hours going through his extensive collection of Rhodesia and other Southern African country stamps.
Regrettably, however, as none of his children or grandchildren have even the slightest interest in stamps, he decided to start disposing of the collection himself rather than leaving it to his family to try and sort out after he is gone. As a result, my visits would often turn to helping him catalogue and group many of his better stamps to send off to auction houses. One of the items which he included in a lot sent off to Stanley Gibbons was this little essay: The image is shown here much larger than life-size, the actual item is stamp-sized, only about 21x26mm and apparently created by Hugo Fleury, a Waterlow staff artist in 1937. SG listed it in their July 2018 auction with an estimate of £160 - £200. I forget how much my friend paid for it originally, but he was not unhappy with the estimate.
Imagine his surprise, and mine, when it sold for £14,500.00 Clive
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darkormex
Member
Swinging through Switzerland and getting tied up in Thailand
Posts: 2,197
What I collect: The World...just printing and mounting as I go...call me crazy!
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Post by darkormex on Apr 13, 2021 1:18:31 GMT
This is a find that I have posted elsewhere. I haven't sought expertization on this and have had it for many years. It is Sc. no. 4126 with the small microprinted "Forever". There is a missing chunk of brown from top portion of the yoke of the bell. It is as if a small piece of paper or other object was affixed to the paper when the stamp was printed...however, the white area also seems to follow specific parts of the design of the yoke so I am not quite sure how this particular freak of the printing process occurred. I would be happy to hear if anyone has any insight into this as I haven't done much research into current printing methods. Also, I would be interested to hear others opinions on what they think the possible value would be. I am not in any way indicating I am interested in selling it but I wonder if it is worth having expertised or is it just one of a myriad of printing freaks that have value to only those collectors.   |
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blaamand
Member
Currently creating custom pages until 1940.
Posts: 1,459
What I collect: Worldwide - Stamps and Postmarks - not enough time...
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Post by blaamand on Sept 2, 2021 12:45:09 GMT
One of my lucky finds is the Canadian stamp booklet no 2, Edward VII. (1903 - Unitrade #BK2). The booklet is rather pricey, but I found it hidden away at the back of a ducplicate stock, which I obtained for a give-away price even without the booklet. There's unfortunately 1 (of 12) stamp missing, but it still made my day (read: it "made my year"  ). I was so happy with that find that I had to make a custom page for it  For anyone not that familiar with Canadian stamps, here's the Edward VII issue  |
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banknoteguy
Member
Posts: 324
What I collect: 19th Century US, High denomination US (> $1), 19th century covers US, Indian Feudatory States and most recently I acquired a BigBlue [with about 5,000 stamps] and pristine pages.
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Post by banknoteguy on Sept 2, 2021 16:31:48 GMT
My best find (recently) was this cover. I bought it as a pair of Scott 11As but I thought it might be S.10As which is a much different animal. I paid $50 and I would not sell it for $500. The stamps plate as 88-89L5E. This is the 6c rate (1851) from San Francisco to Salem, Massachusetts, coast to coast during the gold rush.
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Beryllium Guy
Moderator
Posts: 5,911
What I collect: Worldwide Stamps 1840-1930
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Post by Beryllium Guy on Sept 2, 2021 22:15:24 GMT
One of the items which he included in a lot sent off to Stanley Gibbons was this little essay:
The image is shown here much larger than life-size, the actual item is stamp-sized, only about 21x26mm and apparently created by Hugo Fleury, a Waterlow staff artist in 1937. SG listed it in their July 2018 auction with an estimate of £160 - £200. I forget how much my friend paid for it originally, but he was not unhappy with the estimate.
Imagine his surprise, and mine, when it sold for £14,500.00 Clive, although I remember seeing this post back when you made it, I saw it again tonight, and a new thought occurred to me: do you know if this image is supposed to be of George VI or Edward VIII? I originally just assumed that it must have been George VI, since actual stamps similar to this design were issued with his image, but the more I look at this essay, the more I wonder if it was intended to be Edward VIII. |
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clivel
Member
Posts: 386
What I collect: Basutoland, Bechuanaland, Rhodesias, South Africa, Swaziland, Israel to 1980, Ireland predecimal, Palestine Mandate
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Post by clivel on Sept 3, 2021 16:31:30 GMT
Clive, although I remember seeing this post back when you made it, I saw it again tonight, and a new thought occurred to me: do you know if this image is supposed to be of George VI or Edward VIII? I originally just assumed that it must have been George VI, since actual stamps similar to this design were issued with his image, but the more I look at this essay, the more I wonder if it was intended to be Edward VIII.
I believe that the item was painted in 1937, and as Edward VIII abdicated in December 1936 it was probably intended to portray KGVI,
But given the sketch like nature of the image and the family similarities between the two brothers I think that it could just as easily be taken for either.
Clive
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renden
Member
Posts: 9,162
What I collect: Canada-USA-France-Lithuania-Austria--Germany-Mauritius-French Colonies in Africa
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Post by renden on Sept 3, 2021 19:17:59 GMT
CANADA # 1 (Scott-Unitrade Spec Canada cat)......bought by a very good friend in the UK from seller in Montréal.....for me.....and I saved ++++taxes LOL !! Thanks Chris   with Cert from Vincent Graves Greene G27135 |
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WERT
Departed
Rest in Peace
Posts: 1,062
What I collect: Canada and Provinces
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Post by WERT on Sept 3, 2021 19:24:58 GMT
Who thinks Rene [ who is my friend ] should sell it to e for 5.00....haha
Robert
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renden
Member
Posts: 9,162
What I collect: Canada-USA-France-Lithuania-Austria--Germany-Mauritius-French Colonies in Africa
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Post by renden on Sept 3, 2021 19:30:24 GMT
Who thinks Rene [ who is my friend ] should sell it to e for 5.00....haha Robert Thanks but no thanks, Robert (WERT) - you have a few $$$$$$ missing - |
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darkormex
Member
Swinging through Switzerland and getting tied up in Thailand
Posts: 2,197
What I collect: The World...just printing and mounting as I go...call me crazy!
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Post by darkormex on Sept 5, 2021 0:44:36 GMT
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imperialwaltzing
**Member** 
Inactive
Posts: 22
What I collect: Austria, interesting covers, signed space covers, anything else I find interesting
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Post by imperialwaltzing on Sept 12, 2021 3:50:57 GMT
I don’t have a picture at the moment, but I recently purchased a mixed lot a few hundred Austrian stamps. There are other nice finds in the lot, but one was a used 1952 airmail!
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drblade
Member
Posts: 847
What I collect: GB Unmounted mint & Machin definitives Q.E.II Used commemoratives
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Post by drblade on Oct 19, 2021 12:58:33 GMT
I have been inspired today by bobby1948 's new thread thestampforum.boards.net/thread/4673/feel-thief and Anping 's subsequent post in the thread thestampforum.boards.net/thread/4671/hong-kong-first-issue-definitives on his great find of an early Hong Kong stamp at an unbelievably low price due to a misidentification by the dealer. So, I have decided to start a new thread to ask the question: "What is the best stamp bargain you ever got, or find that you ever made?" For myself, I need to think about this a little bit. I am not sure if I have anything to compare to what Bobby and Anping have mentioned, or some of the great deals that firstfrog2013 has gotten, too. Anyway, it would be great to hear about everyone's philatelic acquisition triumphs, whether big or small! After storing a quantity of duplicate stamps in a large A4 sized envelope where they languished for some time, I decided to check them over for flaws. There were 27 other, normal examples in the envelope along with the one shown. The left hand stamp in the scan has the red on the hat & bag missing, they show as orange colour. Notice also there is a difference in shade/ colour to the shepherds faces & hands. SG has the missing orange stamp catalogued @ over £2000. I'm well pleased. The stamp came from an old auction lot??  |
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WERT
Departed
Rest in Peace
Posts: 1,062
What I collect: Canada and Provinces
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Post by WERT on Oct 19, 2021 14:08:35 GMT
Here is a Scott 929 Canada cradle stamp. I had my friend over for coffee one day { friend is one of the biggest collectors around..Can't put his name here } Anyways, i showed him a regular 99, then showed him my GREEN 929..He held it, looked at me and said.. "Robert, that is at least a $1000.00 stamp..See pictures below."
Robert
Regular stamp on the left..My green one on the right.
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Post by thepackrat on Oct 24, 2021 2:10:21 GMT
My best buy was about 4 years ago. I saw and ad on craigslist for a stamp collection for sale that was about an hour and a half from me. They were asking $200.00 as it was a deceased neighbors collection. The picture showed several what looked like shoe box sized plastic containers. I was not going to check it out at first but then I decided to.
I drove the hour and a half and the shoe box containers were actually 7 large storage containers. I looked in one and found a cigar box with stamps and handed over the $200.00. I placed one box on the passengers seat and the rest in the back. On the drive home I wanted to check one of the boxes (not a smart idea while driving). I pulled out a few empty envelopes and a few empty mint sheet files. I was worried until I stopped at a rest stop and checked another box. It had a mint sheet file with several mint sheets of 3 cent United States stamps. Not much face value but maybe not a bad buy after all.
Then I found a sheet of 100 Eugene O'Neill $1.00 stamps. That one sheet was $100.00 face value. I was excited then! Fast forward to when I got home and had to sneak the containers in hidden from my wife. (I was put of work and she would have had a fit that I spent $200.00 on a collection) I went through all the containers and had a lot of worldwide mint stamps / first day covers / regular stamps on cover and a lot of other cool stuff.
In the end, besides all the worldwide stamps, worldwide first day covers and everything else was over $4,200.00 in mint US postage. Yup.....a $4,200.00 lot of US mint postage stamps.
A once in a lifetime purchase for me.
Thanks,
Bob
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