How to value items not cataloged?

I have been updating my inventory with pricing for each item. All of the items listed in Scott or Bale catalogs are easy to value. But, that leaves a lot of items that are not listed. For example, Palestinian Authority FDC's are not valued anywhere that I can find. Artist folders, bulletins, and other similar items are equally without an easy way to value them. Most of these types of items are not offered for sale individually, only in large lots or collections. The way I am doing this now is to simply value them at what I would be willing to pay for the item if it was offered singly. Is this reasonable?

Phosphor

I recently went through a batch of covers that I had in my to be inventoried pile. There were 40 or so covers that were grouped together as Phosphor varieties. I am not sure how close to first day of issue for the phosphor varieties each cover is. The closest thing I found to a list was in the Wallach definitive specialized catalog, but it only has listings through about 1980, and I have several covers with dates past that listed by Wallach. I even have a bunch of covers addressed to Dr. Wallach. Anyone know of a more comprehensive list then this catalog? Anyone interested in trading this type of material? I have a bunch of duplicates...

New ATM Stamps

It is that time of year again. Looks like Israel is issuing the 2008 Christmas ATM stamp today. According to my sources, it will be available with 3 different machine numbers. Machine 001 is the philatelic services machine, and all subscribers who get their stamps directly from the philatelic services will receive only that machine number. Machine number 010 is in Jerusalem and Machine 015 is in Nazareth. As has been my practice recently, I will get a single example from each machine (with the cheapest available rate - Inland Letter) and a corresponding FDC. Complete sets of 8 rates are beyond what I want to spend for these.

In additon, in two weeks there will be a new Massad sheet issued for Philately day. If this is anything like the last few, it will be a tete-beche sheet of 10. There are normally 2 different sheets, 1 with 10 copies of the inland letter rate stamp, and 1 with 10 different values. I believe there will also be a souvenir leaf issued for the occasion as well.

APS Sales Circuits

Since I joined the APS to save money on stamp insurance, I have signed up to receive sales circuits for Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and Palestine stamps. Last week, I received my first shipment of approval books. There were 5 books in the set. Only 1 of the books really had anything interesting to me. It was a complete book of Israel revenues. I purchased about 35 stamps from this book, for a total cost of ~$45 (+$10 in postage to send the circuit back to them). My purchases included 2 radio License stamps, a couple of Kofer Hayashu issues, about 2 pages of Tel Aviv Municipal revenues, and 1 page of Palestine revenues. Many of the revenue stamps were priced under $1 (some as low as $0.07!). I had not previously collected municipal revenues, but I couldn't pass them up. I have seen them go on E-bay for $5-10 each, when they are listed.

Landscape Plate blocks

In case anyone is interested, I have listed a large lot of landscape plateblocks on E-bay. Take a look. There are more than 165 plateblocks in this lot. Many different dates, but also different pane positions, papers, and gums that are listed in the Wallach definitive specialized catalog and not in Bale.

And the verdict is in...

After considering my options with the insurance, I have decided to re-join the APS and get my insurance through Hugh Wood. I got an updated quote from them that included the alarm discount I was entitled to, and it looks like I will save about $10 total by joining the APS and getting the insurance through them.

I also found that a few side benefits to this. I was able to request 4 books from the APS library. One of these is the Kaplove catalog of JNF stamps. This catalog is hard to find, and when it does come up for sale, it is pricey! I also signed up to receive the Israel circuit books. My first circuit arrived yesterday, and to my surprise one of the books contained Israel revenues. Most of the ones I need in the book are under $2, and I will be picking up 5-6.

I also have been pretty active on e-bay the last few days. I picked up a few more landscape plateblocks, leaving me needing only about 25 more to complete the date set. Of course, I need mostly expensive ones, but there are still a handful in the under $10 category that may be obtainable.

Sacapex disappointment

I went to the annual Sacapex stamp show in Sacramento today. I was very disappointed. It looked like the same set of dealers that were at the last show. I am pretty sure it was the same exact material. There was 1 dealer that had a set of J1-5 plate blocks that I was interested in, but he wanted full catalog value for the set. This was well out of my budget, and I think well above what they go for on E-bay. Maybe that is the problem. I am used to the 100-200 new items a day on E-bay. At the show, there were maybe 100 items total to look at, and perhaps only 1-2 new. I probably won't attend another show until Westpex, and I am only attending that because I won the door prize last year ($100 gift certificate to the show) and received it in the mail after the show.