Destroying excess stamps

Without going into detail, the latest edition of Linn's Stamp News has a
most interesting article on the US Postal Museum and what it intendes to
do with millions of old (some quite valuable) revenue stamps given them
by the Internal Revenue Service (the proverbial taxman) years ago.
Although around 250 of each variety is expected to be retained if
possible, some 7.8 million of them will be sold with the majority being
destroyed. What a shame to see a chunk of our history destroyed like
this. I really wonder if flooding the market with the excess will be
detrimental or if it will inspire new collectors?

On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 10:21:54 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:

Without going into detail, the latest edition of Linn's Stamp News has a
most interesting article on the US Postal Museum and what it intendes to
do with millions of old (some quite valuable) revenue stamps given them
by the Internal Revenue Service (the proverbial taxman) years ago.
Although around 250 of each variety is expected to be retained if
possible, some 7.8 million of them will be sold with the majority being
destroyed. What a shame to see a chunk of our history destroyed like
this. I really wonder if flooding the market with the excess will be
detrimental or if it will inspire new collectors?

It will be detrimental to those that already have invested in a
"stable" area of prices. Prices will go down and the collectors will
be none the better for it.

Many will buy them out of pure speculation and then either trash them
(hinge 'em) or try to underbid each other in a market that's small.
It'll cause turmoil - period.

Yeah - I'd like to see the market flooded with Cape triangles, Basel
doves, Cattle in Storm, Mauritius earlies, Austro-Hungarian revenues,
British Guiana 1856 oozy doozy stamps, Franklin Z Grills and
everything else under the sun.

Talk about deflating the collection quickly, eh?

On the other hand, she wore a glove. Seriously - not many people
would take up revenues if released like you're suggesting. Some look
nice, but many of them are quite boring.

Tracy Barber

Just collect used one's with an original determinable (and
period-originally) postmark.
A shame for those among us who collect MNH but the best way to kill
subscribtions of new issues.

Greetings, Webmaster Postzegelhuis "Michel"
www.postalplaza.nl/stamps/index.html



"Tracy Barber" schreef in bericht
...
On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 10:21:54 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:

Without going into detail, the latest edition of Linn's Stamp News has a
most interesting article on the US Postal Museum and what it intendes to
do with millions of old (some quite valuable) revenue stamps given them
by the Internal Revenue Service (the proverbial taxman) years ago.
Although around 250 of each variety is expected to be retained if
possible, some 7.8 million of them will be sold with the majority being
destroyed. What a shame to see a chunk of our history destroyed like
this. I really wonder if flooding the market with the excess will be
detrimental or if it will inspire new collectors?

It will be detrimental to those that already have invested in a
"stable" area of prices. Prices will go down and the collectors will
be none the better for it.

Many will buy them out of pure speculation and then either trash them
(hinge 'em) or try to underbid each other in a market that's small.
It'll cause turmoil - period.

Yeah - I'd like to see the market flooded with Cape triangles, Basel
doves, Cattle in Storm, Mauritius earlies, Austro-Hungarian revenues,
British Guiana 1856 oozy doozy stamps, Franklin Z Grills and
everything else under the sun.

Talk about deflating the collection quickly, eh?

On the other hand, she wore a glove. Seriously - not many people
would take up revenues if released like you're suggesting. Some look
nice, but many of them are quite boring.

Tracy Barber

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 00:32:42 +0100, "Postzegelhuis Michel"
wrote:

Just collect used one's with an original determinable (and
period-originally) postmark.

Most definitely. I am leaning more towards used only, or mint with no
gum. Unless, of course, I come across a decent MNH stamp and don't
want to ruin it.

A shame for those among us who collect MNH but the best way to kill
subscribtions of new issues.

Heh! I can see it now. Sell a ton of stamps, hold the rest. 10
years down the road, sell the remiander of same stamps at a reduction.

I can hear the SERIOUSLY UPSET people screaming at Linns right now.

It will happen, watch and see...

OT, but here's an same real life example: I sign up for cable modem
service at a specific price. 2 years down the road, the new
subscribers get free installation, 6 months at a heavily reduced price
and probably better bandwidth.

Will the cable modem ISP offer the "old trustys" anything extra? No -
we have to bitch and moan about it. I guess there's no free ride, but
how about those people who've PAID THEIR DUES?

Go figure...


Greetings, Webmaster Postzegelhuis "Michel"
www.postalplaza.nl/stamps/index.html



"Tracy Barber" schreef in bericht
.. .
On Wed, 21 Jan 2004 10:21:54 -0700, Grandpa jsdebooATcomcast.net
wrote:

Without going into detail, the latest edition of Linn's Stamp News has a
most interesting article on the US Postal Museum and what it intendes to
do with millions of old (some quite valuable) revenue stamps given them
by the Internal Revenue Service (the proverbial taxman) years ago.
Although around 250 of each variety is expected to be retained if
possible, some 7.8 million of them will be sold with the majority being
destroyed. What a shame to see a chunk of our history destroyed like
this. I really wonder if flooding the market with the excess will be
detrimental or if it will inspire new collectors?

It will be detrimental to those that already have invested in a
"stable" area of prices. Prices will go down and the collectors will
be none the better for it.

Many will buy them out of pure speculation and then either trash them
(hinge 'em) or try to underbid each other in a market that's small.
It'll cause turmoil - period.

Yeah - I'd like to see the market flooded with Cape triangles, Basel
doves, Cattle in Storm, Mauritius earlies, Austro-Hungarian revenues,
British Guiana 1856 oozy doozy stamps, Franklin Z Grills and
everything else under the sun.

Talk about deflating the collection quickly, eh?

On the other hand, she wore a glove. Seriously - not many people
would take up revenues if released like you're suggesting. Some look
nice, but many of them are quite boring.

Tracy Barber



Tracy Barber

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
Without going into detail, the latest edition of Linn's Stamp News has a
most interesting article on the US Postal Museum and what it intendes to
do with millions of old (some quite valuable) revenue stamps given them
by the Internal Revenue Service (the proverbial taxman) years ago.
Although around 250 of each variety is expected to be retained if
possible, some 7.8 million of them will be sold with the majority being
destroyed. What a shame to see a chunk of our history destroyed like
this. I really wonder if flooding the market with the excess will be
detrimental or if it will inspire new collectors?


Glad to see you got some responses. Guess my subject line of National
Postal Museum Revenues on the same topic a few days ago wasn't exciting
enough! I totally agree with your assertion that the destruction is
shameful. But did I misread the article? I thought the whole point was
that there would be *no* flooding of the market. Sales of a few select
revenues would occur to raise money for other stamp purchases; keep about
250 copies of each stamp for the museum's purposes; destroy the remaining
7.3 million. I won't further re-hash my initial post; anyone interested
can refer back to it for my rant!

Mike

Doug Spade wrote:

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...

Without going into detail, the latest edition of Linn's Stamp News has a
most interesting article on the US Postal Museum and what it intendes to
do with millions of old (some quite valuable) revenue stamps given them
by the Internal Revenue Service (the proverbial taxman) years ago.
Although around 250 of each variety is expected to be retained if
possible, some 7.8 million of them will be sold with the majority being
destroyed. What a shame to see a chunk of our history destroyed like
this. I really wonder if flooding the market with the excess will be
detrimental or if it will inspire new collectors?



Glad to see you got some responses. Guess my subject line of National
Postal Museum Revenues on the same topic a few days ago wasn't exciting
enough! I totally agree with your assertion that the destruction is
shameful. But did I misread the article? I thought the whole point was
that there would be *no* flooding of the market. Sales of a few select
revenues would occur to raise money for other stamp purchases; keep about
250 copies of each stamp for the museum's purposes; destroy the remaining
7.3 million. I won't further re-hash my initial post; anyone interested
can refer back to it for my rant!

I didn't see your original post or I'd have responded then. You
have it correct in what you read. I'm thinking overall that prices will
remain pretty stable even after some are sold, primarily because at that
time collectors will have a pretty clear picture of how many of any
particular revenue stamp(s) there really are out there and the market
will adjust accordingly, a slight change if any IMO. The guy who has
the '1' stamp and '3' more are planned or being considered for auction
may take a hit though. I've no problem at all with the sale of the stamps.

My annoyance is at the destroying of the so called excess. IMO thats
just not a good decision, to destroy something original and of
historical value in order to maintain a certain market value, like they
have something to prove. In a way I liken it to a guy in NM several
years ago who found a certain breed of bird in the southern part of the
state that had never been seen there before, so he shot and killed it to
prove his find - DUMB! I spawned major public outrage and I suspect the
next issue of Linns will reflect outrage too at the expectation of so
many pieces of history being destroyed for no real sound reason.

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...
Doug Spade wrote:

"Grandpa" jsdebooATcomcast.net wrote in message
...

Without going into detail, the latest edition of Linn's Stamp News has a
most interesting article on the US Postal Museum and what it intendes to
do with millions of old (some quite valuable) revenue stamps given them
by the Internal Revenue Service (the proverbial taxman) years ago.
Although around 250 of each variety is expected to be retained if
possible, some 7.8 million of them will be sold with the majority being
destroyed. What a shame to see a chunk of our history destroyed like
this. I really wonder if flooding the market with the excess will be
detrimental or if it will inspire new collectors?



Glad to see you got some responses. Guess my subject line of National
Postal Museum Revenues on the same topic a few days ago wasn't exciting
enough! I totally agree with your assertion that the destruction is
shameful. But did I misread the article? I thought the whole point was
that there would be *no* flooding of the market. Sales of a few select
revenues would occur to raise money for other stamp purchases; keep
about
250 copies of each stamp for the museum's purposes; destroy the
remaining
7.3 million. I won't further re-hash my initial post; anyone
interested
can refer back to it for my rant!

I didn't see your original post or I'd have responded then. You
have it correct in what you read. I'm thinking overall that prices will
remain pretty stable even after some are sold, primarily because at that
time collectors will have a pretty clear picture of how many of any
particular revenue stamp(s) there really are out there and the market
will adjust accordingly, a slight change if any IMO. The guy who has
the '1' stamp and '3' more are planned or being considered for auction
may take a hit though. I've no problem at all with the sale of the
stamps.

My annoyance is at the destroying of the so called excess. IMO thats
just not a good decision, to destroy something original and of
historical value in order to maintain a certain market value, like they
have something to prove. In a way I liken it to a guy in NM several
years ago who found a certain breed of bird in the southern part of the
state that had never been seen there before, so he shot and killed it to
prove his find - DUMB! I spawned major public outrage and I suspect the
next issue of Linns will reflect outrage too at the expectation of so
many pieces of history being destroyed for no real sound reason.

Michael Schrieber may not worry so long as the stamps are not used in
any craft project. ;-)

Dave

It would be a nice chance for less wealthy collectors to get their hands on
these but I can sympathise with the folks who've shelled out $1000 for a
stamp only to find it's now worth peanuts. One way round the problem would
be for the stamps to be overprinted - perhaps the word "Archive" in big bold
print right across the face. That way those with the "Archive" overprint
would have the same sort of value as a CTO while a genuine mint or used copy
would still be worth what it's worth today

--
Cheers - John Mycroft
coryton_at_cobbsmill_dot_com

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 11:57:53 -0500, "John Mycroft"
wrote:

It would be a nice chance for less wealthy collectors to get their hands on
these but I can sympathise with the folks who've shelled out $1000 for a
stamp only to find it's now worth peanuts. One way round the problem would
be for the stamps to be overprinted - perhaps the word "Archive" in big bold
print right across the face. That way those with the "Archive" overprint
would have the same sort of value as a CTO while a genuine mint or used copy
would still be worth what it's worth today

Interesting, but some of the purists would have a field day. Too bad,
eh?

Spain used to have straightline horizontal cancels for remainders of
19th century stuff. Scott even prices many of these as such. Long
before CTOs became vogue.

I think it's a rather good idea, as long as the overprint is
consistent - no varieties upon a whim (of course, we know there would
be) - and unobtrusive.

I doubt that the museum would deface and then sell the items. They'd
rather destroy them instead.

Unbelievable, but compassionate to those that struggled to get them
through NORMAL channels.

To me, this is like mailing yourself all 50 of the .34 or .37 state
stamps and saying you got them through NORMAL channels. :^)

Tracy Barber

If the concern expressed is retaining the value
of existing, privately-held US Revenue stamps,
then the solution, to me, is quite simple.

You remainder (ie cancel-to-order) the balance
of stamps (eg Labaun, BSA Company etc...) and
wholesale them to the trade for stamp packets.

Mint stamps should be sold at face.

Original non-CTO stamps would retain their
'higher' value and catalogues could quote
a lower price for the CTOs.

[Any leftovers could be donated to Tracy
for the freebie stamp project.]

Young collectors could buy stamps that they
couldn't afford otherwise and might actually
develop into full blown philatelists.

Thus, collectors who bought at 'old' prices
would be protected. Collectors who bought
MINT would be protected and beginners would
have a great chance to start collecting
revenues at a reasonable cost.

Blair


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