Dilemma

I have been selling a bunch of duplicates on E-bay the past few weeks (mostly IPF showcards and Phosphor FDC's, with a handful of others thrown in). Sales have been OK, and I have a decent amount in my PayPal account now. I have always used these funds to finance more purchases for my collection. This is where the dilemma comes in. I have about 60 items on my E-bay watch list. There are 2 big categories, one is definitive plate blocks, the other is modern maxi-cards. I can either purchase 1 of the more expensive definitive plate blocks on my want list, or I can purchase 20 or so maxi-cards. That is the dilemma. both are relatively difficult to find, but the maxi-cards are not in any catalog and only go for a slight premium over FDC's of the same issue. I think value wise, I get the most bang for my buck by buying the pricier definitive plate block (which is being offered at roughly 40% of Bale catalog price). But, with the maxi-cards, I can knock over 20 items off my want list. What should I do? Any advice?

IPF Show Cards

I recently started trying to make some sense out of a stack of show cards I had sitting on my shelf. I am at a bit of a loss on how to do this, since there does not seem to be a list of these issues anywhere. For the issue pictured here at the left, Independence 40, I have 15 cards all with matching numbers (0019/1000). Is 15 a complete set? Or are there more? Other cards I have show subtle differences, blue text on the bottom instead of black, or glossy paper vs matte paper, for example. Were these sold as separate items, or were they just sold as the same? Is the fact that multiple different cards with have the same serial number indicative of a set? Or is it a coincidence? I am leaning towards saying they were sold as a set. But, I would still like to know. I sent a mail to the IPF, but it seems they lost there archives, and do not have info from before 1991. At least, I know now that there were none of these cards sold after 1991. Any help would be appreciated.

Same thing, 2nd verse (or printing, as the case may be)

Looks like Israel snuck in a couple of reprints to start off 2009. Pictured here is the back of a booklet of "The Israeli" stamp. The one on the right was issued in 2008, the one on the left just came out last week. The main difference is the 2 menorah's next to the barcode on the 2nd printing. I don't believe this will be part of the standard order provided by the Israel Philatelic Service, or most new issue providers. I know of at least 1 other issue getting a second printing like this, the 24 hour express self adhesive stamps. Only in this case, rather than being printed on the back of the pane, it is in the upper right corner on the front. Both items are available from multiple dealers in Israel on E-bay. Hopefully, they will come down in price as more people outside Israel learn about them.

Landscape Plateblocks

In the last week or 2, I have seen a ton of landscape plate blocks listed on E-bay. The majority of them are listed as buy-it-now, with prices less than 50% of the Bale catalog value. So, it makes me wonder, how accurate is Bale in valuing these? I have never seen these offered by any dealer at a stamp show. Unlike US stamps, Israel plate blocks seem to be collected rarely. Of course, there is some good news. I am down to needing 14 out of the 170 different printing dates. The bad news is that 11 of the 14 are expensive, with 8 of them being greater than $100, and at least 2 of them greater than $1000. I haven't seen the 3 relatively inexpensive ones (< $20 each) listed on E-bay yet, while 8 of the other 11 are currently listed on E-bay. Some of them are being offered as full sheets, which are obviously more expensive. I have picked up some of the full sheets to fill in some missing printing dates, but only when the cost was relatively low (usually under $5).

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.