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General Philatelic/Identify This? : US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

 

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foudutimbre
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20 Jan 2020
08:25:22am

Auctions - Approvals
Ifound this week these two covers,

Image Not Found

is it possible to have more info, normal/special issue,value if possible

many thanks

Foudutimbre

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amsd
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Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

20 Jan 2020
08:45:14am

Auctions
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

they are FDCs. I think they are a product of ArtMaster, but it could be another service.

They were typically purchased by subscription: one would have a standing order for all (or some subset) of US issues, which would then be delivered and your credit card debited for an amount.

There is a very limited after market for them, and they don't hold much value, typically a small percentage of their subscription price.

I include an ebay listing for the 22kt gold replica FDCs; scroll down for many more examples in the listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-5-22KT-GOLD-REPLICA-FIRST-DAY-ISSUE-STAMPS-1996-CENT-OLYMPIC-GAMES/202820130256?hash=item2f390595d0:g:LmIAAOSwmWxdyZca

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"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

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foudutimbre
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20 Jan 2020
09:00:03am

Auctions - Approvals
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

Thank you very much for your explanation & lights


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roy
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BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 500 categories

20 Jan 2020
09:01:22am
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

We sell a lot of them to topical collectors:

https://www.buckacover.com/covers/search.php?code=usfdcgold

We start them out at $1.50. With our constantly declining price structure, most of them sell by the time they reach $1 each.

Roy

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"Over 7,000 new covers coming Wednesday March 20. See my homepage for details."

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ikeyPikey
Members Picture


20 Jan 2020
12:02:16pm
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

'
I have had Serial Marketing novelties like these arrive (always unitemized) in auction lots.

This suggests a certain lack of high-cash-yield ways for the casual collector to be rid of them on a onesy-twosy basis.

I suspect, further, that there are people who are very bad at math who think that pulling that one-micron-thick layer of heavily-alloyed gold off of those coins & "replicas" is going to give them a doomsday cache of precious metal with which to survive the coming Zombie Apocalypse.

As an alternative investment strategy, I suggest a very part-time minimum-wage job at a fast food joint; being on your feet for a few hours, now & then, has its own immediate benefits, and you can save-up for a real Krugerrand while you're at it.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who popped the 'coins' out of their 'FDCs' and passed them to a grandchild as Pirate Money)

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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
51Studebaker
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Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't

20 Jan 2020
12:14:35pm
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

We have a collector of these in our local stamp club. He pulls the covers apart and mounts just the gold replicas in a National Album. I did not realize just how many of the gold replicas had been done the different issues of US stamps.

Frankly the result is pretty stunning and he says that it impresses non-collectors far more than his very good 'normal' national collection. He told me that he often buys them in and 10 cent - 25 cent range.

I have considered buying some of these and making crafts with them, I think a deskset made with these would be quite attractive.
Don

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"Current Score... Don 1 - Cancer 0"

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Harvey
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This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!

21 Jan 2020
06:46:22pm
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

So are these things in the same category as Franklin Mint, Bradford Exchange and Department 56 - things that people paid big bucks for years ago and can't give away now? My wife and I, years ago, started collecting Department 56 Dickens Village. We amassed a huge collection and GOK how much we spent. They are worth almost nothing now! I used to collect plate blocks for Canada, as well as FDC's, years ago. Again they have not held their value very well. There was also a time when everyone was scrutinizing every stamp looking for minute errors that were supposedly worth a fortune. I think that fad has also passed.

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""We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years." George Carlin"
cdj1122
Members Picture


Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..

21 Jan 2020
09:53:47pm
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

" ....They are worth almost nothing now!
I used to collect plate blocks for Canada,
as well as FDC's, years ago. Again they have
not held their value very well...."



Harvey, the rule of thumb I first learned
from reading one of the several of Herman
Hearst's books, probably "Fun and Profit
in Stamp collecting"
was simple;
"If an item is made for collectors,
it is not collectable."

It seems that, it is the very act of being
a common everyday object, thus unsaved in bulk,
that creates the rarity.
And yes, FDCs and Mint Plate blocks, US,
Canada or Grand Fenwick are a fad, and many
otherwise informed collectors (Present company
excepted, of course.
) could not explain how or
why the fad got started.

Like
Login to Like
this post

".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
ikeyPikey
Members Picture


22 Jan 2020
12:31:37am
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

"... There was also a time when everyone was scrutinizing every stamp looking for minute errors that were supposedly worth a fortune. I think that fad has also passed ..."



Fly-specking is alive & well.

https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/usa-star-nonprofit-color-omitted-error-missing-the-red-star

NB: there is an active discussion whether/not this is a Color-Omitted Error or merely an Under-Inking Error.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
angore
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Al
Collector, Moderator

22 Jan 2020
06:27:46am
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

There always seems to a lot of interest with errors as news in Linn's. I associate this with possible value.

Scott ignores many fly-specking details in modern issues such as peaks and valleys on serpentine die cuts. These rarely affect value so doubt they would have interest.

The closest stamp society I know that deals with such aspects is PNC3.


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"Stamp Collecting is a many splendored thing"
ikeyPikey
Members Picture


22 Jan 2020
08:02:19am
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

"... The closest stamp society I know ..."



http://www.uspcs.org/ ... United States Philatelic Classics Society

http://efocc.org/ ... Errors, Freaks & Oddities Collectors' Club (EFOCC)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
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"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
amsd
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Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads

22 Jan 2020
09:45:47am

Auctions
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

Harvey,

yes, the Franklin Mint analogy is spot on. Nothing wrong with Franklin Mint's issues, if that's one tea saucer; one just can't expect to have a positive return on investment.

David

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this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link.php?PLJZJP
ikeyPikey
Members Picture


22 Jan 2020
10:46:02am
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

'
The RoI depends on the accounting.

Part of what you are paying for is the joy of arrival, the opening & discovery, the deep satisfaction of putting something in its final resting place (so to speak).

These are transitory benefits - rather like going to a movie - and the money you paid for these benefits is not an investment, any more than going to a movie is an investment.

The subscriber paid for their monthly ride, and got their monthly ride, and the residual value is bupkis.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who will note in passing that the 'pitch' for these 'collectibles' tells you that you will feel superior to all of those people who do not appreciate the finer things in life)

Like
Login to Like
this post

"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
Harvey
Members Picture


This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!

22 Jan 2020
12:00:48pm
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

A few comments about previous "errors in judgement". Franklin Mint: I bought several book series from them which I enjoy still and intend to keep. We loved horses and bought a few pewter horse groups which, even though they are worth less than what we paid for them, I still enjoy them and intend to keep doing so. I believe the Franklin Mint craze has passed! Dept 56: I would love to eventually dispose of the lit Dickens's Village stuff, but since they sell for next to nothing I think I'll keep setting them up for Christmas and continue to try to enjoy them. My mistake and I'll live with it. Bradford exchange cat plates: Too tacky so they're in a closet and if someone wants them they can have them! Years ago when I was still an antique dealer we bought a bunch of Royal Copenhagen plates and the market went away almost immediately. They will be with me for a long time, again hidden away! Summing up: Some mistakes we learn to live with and try to enjoy them. Other mistakes end up in a closet!!!

Like
Login to Like
this post

""We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years." George Carlin"
ikeyPikey
Members Picture


22 Jan 2020
07:29:55pm
re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

'
My favorite local second-hand shop put out a batch of NIB (new-in-box) Bradford Exchange plates for U$D 5 each.

I asked the proprietor what they had originally sold for, and he dissolved in giggles.

So I found their website, found a few of the plates, and got physical therapy for my jaw.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Like
Login to Like
this post

"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
        

 

Author/Postings
Members Picture
foudutimbre

20 Jan 2020
08:25:22am

Auctions - Approvals

Ifound this week these two covers,

Image Not Found

is it possible to have more info, normal/special issue,value if possible

many thanks

Foudutimbre

Like
Login to Like
this post
Members Picture
amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
20 Jan 2020
08:45:14am

Auctions

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

they are FDCs. I think they are a product of ArtMaster, but it could be another service.

They were typically purchased by subscription: one would have a standing order for all (or some subset) of US issues, which would then be delivered and your credit card debited for an amount.

There is a very limited after market for them, and they don't hold much value, typically a small percentage of their subscription price.

I include an ebay listing for the 22kt gold replica FDCs; scroll down for many more examples in the listing: https://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-5-22KT-GOLD-REPLICA-FIRST-DAY-ISSUE-STAMPS-1996-CENT-OLYMPIC-GAMES/202820130256?hash=item2f390595d0:g:LmIAAOSwmWxdyZca

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
Members Picture
foudutimbre

20 Jan 2020
09:00:03am

Auctions - Approvals

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

Thank you very much for your explanation & lights


Like
Login to Like
this post

BuckaCover.com - 80,000 covers priced 60c to $1.50 - Easy browsing 500 categories
20 Jan 2020
09:01:22am

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

We sell a lot of them to topical collectors:

https://www.buckacover.com/covers/search.php?code=usfdcgold

We start them out at $1.50. With our constantly declining price structure, most of them sell by the time they reach $1 each.

Roy

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

"Over 7,000 new covers coming Wednesday March 20. See my homepage for details."

www.Buckacover.com
Members Picture
ikeyPikey

20 Jan 2020
12:02:16pm

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

'
I have had Serial Marketing novelties like these arrive (always unitemized) in auction lots.

This suggests a certain lack of high-cash-yield ways for the casual collector to be rid of them on a onesy-twosy basis.

I suspect, further, that there are people who are very bad at math who think that pulling that one-micron-thick layer of heavily-alloyed gold off of those coins & "replicas" is going to give them a doomsday cache of precious metal with which to survive the coming Zombie Apocalypse.

As an alternative investment strategy, I suggest a very part-time minimum-wage job at a fast food joint; being on your feet for a few hours, now & then, has its own immediate benefits, and you can save-up for a real Krugerrand while you're at it.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who popped the 'coins' out of their 'FDCs' and passed them to a grandchild as Pirate Money)

Like
Login to Like
this post

"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
Members Picture
51Studebaker

Dialysis, damned if you do...dead if you don't
20 Jan 2020
12:14:35pm

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

We have a collector of these in our local stamp club. He pulls the covers apart and mounts just the gold replicas in a National Album. I did not realize just how many of the gold replicas had been done the different issues of US stamps.

Frankly the result is pretty stunning and he says that it impresses non-collectors far more than his very good 'normal' national collection. He told me that he often buys them in and 10 cent - 25 cent range.

I have considered buying some of these and making crafts with them, I think a deskset made with these would be quite attractive.
Don

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Current Score... Don 1 - Cancer 0"

stampsmarter.org

This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
21 Jan 2020
06:46:22pm

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

So are these things in the same category as Franklin Mint, Bradford Exchange and Department 56 - things that people paid big bucks for years ago and can't give away now? My wife and I, years ago, started collecting Department 56 Dickens Village. We amassed a huge collection and GOK how much we spent. They are worth almost nothing now! I used to collect plate blocks for Canada, as well as FDC's, years ago. Again they have not held their value very well. There was also a time when everyone was scrutinizing every stamp looking for minute errors that were supposedly worth a fortune. I think that fad has also passed.

Like 
1 Member
likes this post.
Login to Like.

""We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years." George Carlin"

Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy..
21 Jan 2020
09:53:47pm

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

" ....They are worth almost nothing now!
I used to collect plate blocks for Canada,
as well as FDC's, years ago. Again they have
not held their value very well...."



Harvey, the rule of thumb I first learned
from reading one of the several of Herman
Hearst's books, probably "Fun and Profit
in Stamp collecting"
was simple;
"If an item is made for collectors,
it is not collectable."

It seems that, it is the very act of being
a common everyday object, thus unsaved in bulk,
that creates the rarity.
And yes, FDCs and Mint Plate blocks, US,
Canada or Grand Fenwick are a fad, and many
otherwise informed collectors (Present company
excepted, of course.
) could not explain how or
why the fad got started.

Like
Login to Like
this post

".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
Members Picture
ikeyPikey

22 Jan 2020
12:31:37am

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

"... There was also a time when everyone was scrutinizing every stamp looking for minute errors that were supposedly worth a fortune. I think that fad has also passed ..."



Fly-specking is alive & well.

https://www.linns.com/news/us-stamps-postal-history/usa-star-nonprofit-color-omitted-error-missing-the-red-star

NB: there is an active discussion whether/not this is a Color-Omitted Error or merely an Under-Inking Error.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
Like
Login to Like
this post

"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
Members Picture
angore

Al
Collector, Moderator
22 Jan 2020
06:27:46am

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

There always seems to a lot of interest with errors as news in Linn's. I associate this with possible value.

Scott ignores many fly-specking details in modern issues such as peaks and valleys on serpentine die cuts. These rarely affect value so doubt they would have interest.

The closest stamp society I know that deals with such aspects is PNC3.


Like
Login to Like
this post

"Stamp Collecting is a many splendored thing"
Members Picture
ikeyPikey

22 Jan 2020
08:02:19am

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

"... The closest stamp society I know ..."



http://www.uspcs.org/ ... United States Philatelic Classics Society

http://efocc.org/ ... Errors, Freaks & Oddities Collectors' Club (EFOCC)

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey
Like
Login to Like
this post

"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
Members Picture
amsd

Editor, Seal News; contributor, JuicyHeads
22 Jan 2020
09:45:47am

Auctions

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

Harvey,

yes, the Franklin Mint analogy is spot on. Nothing wrong with Franklin Mint's issues, if that's one tea saucer; one just can't expect to have a positive return on investment.

David

Like
Login to Like
this post

"Save the USPS, buy stamps; save the hobby, use commemoratives"

juicyheads.com/link. ...
Members Picture
ikeyPikey

22 Jan 2020
10:46:02am

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

'
The RoI depends on the accounting.

Part of what you are paying for is the joy of arrival, the opening & discovery, the deep satisfaction of putting something in its final resting place (so to speak).

These are transitory benefits - rather like going to a movie - and the money you paid for these benefits is not an investment, any more than going to a movie is an investment.

The subscriber paid for their monthly ride, and got their monthly ride, and the residual value is bupkis.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey (who will note in passing that the 'pitch' for these 'collectibles' tells you that you will feel superior to all of those people who do not appreciate the finer things in life)

Like
Login to Like
this post

"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."

This is my diabetic cat OBI! I think, therefore I am - I think! Descartes, sort of!
22 Jan 2020
12:00:48pm

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

A few comments about previous "errors in judgement". Franklin Mint: I bought several book series from them which I enjoy still and intend to keep. We loved horses and bought a few pewter horse groups which, even though they are worth less than what we paid for them, I still enjoy them and intend to keep doing so. I believe the Franklin Mint craze has passed! Dept 56: I would love to eventually dispose of the lit Dickens's Village stuff, but since they sell for next to nothing I think I'll keep setting them up for Christmas and continue to try to enjoy them. My mistake and I'll live with it. Bradford exchange cat plates: Too tacky so they're in a closet and if someone wants them they can have them! Years ago when I was still an antique dealer we bought a bunch of Royal Copenhagen plates and the market went away almost immediately. They will be with me for a long time, again hidden away! Summing up: Some mistakes we learn to live with and try to enjoy them. Other mistakes end up in a closet!!!

Like
Login to Like
this post

""We have multiplied our possessions but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living but not a life. We’ve added years to life, not life to years." George Carlin"
Members Picture
ikeyPikey

22 Jan 2020
07:29:55pm

re: US FDC SPECIAL ISSUE OR NORMAL ISSUE

'
My favorite local second-hand shop put out a batch of NIB (new-in-box) Bradford Exchange plates for U$D 5 each.

I asked the proprietor what they had originally sold for, and he dissolved in giggles.

So I found their website, found a few of the plates, and got physical therapy for my jaw.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

Like
Login to Like
this post

"I collect stamps today precisely the way I collected stamps when I was ten years old."
        

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