Gandhi 1969 Cameroun - One of a kind on Cover

Cameroun, Gandhi Centenary Issue.


First Day Covers are sporadically available on various auction sites including ebay and they do command a premium. In all I have seen around half dozen sales, bidding is intense and the price has always varied from US $300 to US $450. I have never understood the justification for such a high price.

There are 4 known varities of this pair. Please fee free to correct me if I am wrong on this.

1. Without the overprint

2. With overprint

3. Inverted overprint

4. Imperforate Gutter pair.

Recently, a commercially used cover surfaced on ebay. I had never seen such an item and probably will never see it again. What are the odds of this kind of an item re-appearing in an auction? The collector who bought it will never sell it privately or through an auction.

Having said that, the price of this cover did not exceed that of the FDC. Strange are the ways of collectors and bidders. Looking at the recent hammer prices in Germany on Gandhi Philatelic collectibles, no one can tell it has anything to do with the global economic slowdown. The exchange rates have been volatile and even Stanley Gibbons was forced to mark down some of it's items which is kind of unheard of within the collecting community. In the first quarter alone, I must have received at least two postal mails from them which I think is pretty extreme considering the fact that I have purchased only once from them in my 25 years of collecting. One can only wonder what would have transpired with their investment department.

I think I leave the investment for another day. For now enjoy the cover, brought to you courtesy of an ebay auction.