Monday, December 10, 2007

Private booklets


Recently, I have seen a lot of so called Private Booklets for sale both on E-bay and advertised in Linn's. To call these booklets is a stretch in my mind. It appears that some enterprising dealer has gone and printed up some covers on card stock, then they take stamps and attach them in (usually, by the selvage). Most issues are offered in several formats (plate block, tab block, tab strip). All are stamped on the back with a number in order to make them more limited. And then, they are sold at a huge markup (sometimes, upwards of $20 a booklet). What makes these of philatelic interest? The Israel Post never sold the stamps in this format. In reality, if you buy these, you are paying for the cover, which you can just as easily print yourself. I say avoid this gimmick and save your money for better items.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I agree. I reached a point where I specifically exclude this guy from my eBay searches just because I've accidentally wasted time too many times clicking on these and realizing they're not original material. Anyone specifically marketing to suckers isn't interested in my business.