Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Why Cameroun Commerically Used Covers is costly?

Hello Gandhi collectors,

Recently (Feb 1st 2010) on ebay 2 commercially used covers were sold at very high price. This cover has Gandhi Overprint stamp from Cameroun which was issued in 1969 to celebrate landing on moon.

Following cover was sold for $250+ (US dollars).

Seller :- gorfa (Canada)
Buyer :-  bipin8 ( now speedbird1*) (UK)


I am not sure why they did this overprinting instead of making a new stamp?

Following cover also surpassed price paid for any Gandhi commercially used cover which was sold for $300+ (US dollars) also from Cameroun 1968 Gandhi(without overprint) stamp. Look at Maulik's blog post for more info. In my 16 months in this field this is most expensive commercially used Gandhi cover I had seen except 1948 India Gandhi commerically used covers with 10 Rupees stamp.

Following cover was sold for $450+ (US dollars).

Seller : gorfa (canada)
Buyer : nil101 (Germany)


Both covers has postmark cancel from sending and receiving countries. Also receiving country is USA where there are more stricter laws against postal fraud.

According to seller this registered mail cover was send from Yaounde to New York City. This first day covers were sent to J. & H. Stolow in New York City, perhaps the most important wholesale, new issue stamp dealers of their time. Either they arranged for a quantity of these to be produced, or the official in the post office sent these as samples to introduce an obviously multi-faceted topical philatelic production!

You can read my previous blog post about Overprint Gandhi stamps where I mentioned about J & H Stolow and overprint stamp which is itself a topic of further study.

Compare above cancellation on cover with following stamps and do more research.!!



Now my questions why this much money is paid for this kind of cover as they are made just to make profit at later dates (after 40 years!!)


Any comments are welcome.


Thanks
Ketankumar Patel.
My First year experience in Gandhi Philately.
My 100th blog post.
Gandhi Stamp Collecting is SCAM. My 3 year experience tell me Yes!!

2 comments:

  1. So much miney is paid by eager collectors who are not properly educated regarding genuine philately; which is indeed a little complicated as far as 'Gandhi' is concerned.

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  2. I don't think that was the intention 40 years ago.

    1. Some countries like Uruguay issued stamps in limited quantities whereas United States issued in such a large quantity that you can still buy the sheet near face value.

    2. Some countries continue to have civic unrest even today where there is a struggle for survival. Basic requirements like food - shelter - clothing are not met let alone worrying about a postage stamp.

    Over the years finding sources that would continue to provide stamps and covers from such countries have dried up. Dealers have retired, new ones did not find it lucrative enough to pursue it. Collectors either passed on their collections as inheritance to someone, or left it alone or sold it via a dealer/auction.

    What's left in the market is finite and may show up in sporadic instances, leading to a fight to get their hands on it at whatever cost. It's a want based and not need based.

    Shalini bring's up a good point about eager collectors. Even for me it took time and experience to understand this and have my burnt my fingers one way or the other.

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