Latest purchase

I have been real inactive with my stamps for a few weeks, but just purchased the lot on the left here on E-bay. It is 2 copies of the Shrulik booklet. The one on the top has a cyclometer number next to the printing date, while the one on the bottom is missing the cyclometer number. I remember when these were first discovered, and I was offered a mint tete-beche sheet, a FDC of the sheet, and a booklet all missing the cyclometer number. Each was in the $150 range, and I passed on them all. My 2004 bale catalog lists the mint Tete Beche sheet as IrS.45e, with a $400 value for the mint sheet. The FDC and the booklet don't appear to be listed. I occasionally still see the sheet offered on E-bay, always for upwards of $100. When I saw this lot on E-bay, with an $18 starting price, I figured it was worth a shot. I guess either no one else saw it, or they didn't realize the significance. I was the sole bidder, and picked up the lot for $18. Since both the normal and the error booklet were included, each cost me $9. While I am sure the error is not worth $400, I am pretty sure it is worth more than $9. It looks like there are still bargains to be had on E-bay, you just have to keep looking.

I did receive one other item from Israel last week. It is a book that was given away at the post office to hold the stickers from the special self adhesive sheets. It has 100 spots for the stickers. I need to bring it to one of my friends that speaks Hebrew so they can translate it for me, but at least it is a step to solving the mystery. I will post more details next week when I have more news.

All's quiet on the stamp front

I haven't had much to blog about recently. Mostly, because I haven't spent a lot of time on stamps. My buying on e-bay has been limited, mostly due to the fact that I just don't see anything worth bidding on. i did pick up one of the Zodiac and one of the town emblems plate blocks I needed, but other than that, my watch list mostly contains store items that I need but don't quite want to spend the money on. Occasionally, if I find a bargain from one of the sellers I will add an item from their store that I am watching to the purchase in order to save on shipping, but otherwise I just watch the same items go unsold for weeks (or even months). I do see 2 of the early Israel booklets for sale, a B3 for $450 and a B2B for $1000. The B2B looks like it will sell, the other has yet to get a bid. Both are well out of my budget, so I will not be bidding. The market for these early booklets remains strong. Otherwise, I just keep looking to see what interesting items come up next.

Recent sales on E-bay

well, the market for better Israel stamps seems to be holding up strong on E-bay. A set of J1-5 with tabs sold for $2000, and a plate block of 4 of the 500 mil Doar Ivri sold for $400. These are surprisingly high prices to me.

Speaking of high prices, for some reason I am on the Apfelbaum auction mailing list. every few weeks they send out a link to there latest auction. I always look to see what they have in Israel. Usually, it is 1-2 lots. Recently, the same lot has been re-appearing in every auction. It is a basic tab collection up from 1949-1970, missing most of the high value tabs (25, 28-30, C1-6, etc). They have an estimate of $400-$500 on the lot. However, the minimum bid is $750. How in the world do they expect people to bid twice their estimate as a start bid? No wonder it never sells. Not that I would buy the lot, I just find it fascinating that people keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. A lot of what I do at work is looking at failures, and figuring out what we need to do next time to avoid the same problems. I guess not everyone does this on a regular basis.

Plate blocks

Well, I just received my June shipment of plate blocks from Israel Post. The With Love definitive stamp came as a plate block of 4. Unfortunately, looking at the sheet, the plate block should have been a block of 6. The Menorah symbol (signifying first printing) is on the margin of the 3rd stamp down on the right side of the sheet. So, a block of 4 would not have this. Just something to watch out for.

My plate block collection was started by buying a few collections. Unfortunately, these collections ended around 1996. Starting in 2007, I subscribed to Israel post to get the new issue plate blocks directly. So, I have a roughly 10 year gap in my collection. Unlike the earlier Israel stamps, the ones I need are still valid for postage, and are therefore rather expensive, even at just face value. Last week, I saw a lot on E-bay offering 124 plate blocks from this missing decade in my collection with a total face value of NIS1658 (roughly $425). The starting bid was $299 (roughly 70% of face). I was the only bidder. It looks like I saved 30% (plus shipping costs) by not getting these direct from the postal service. A good deal for me, but a bad sign on the future value of my collection of these, I think.

Again?

This morning, I was checking e-bay and noticed that there was a new generic sheet. This is with the new With love stamp. Instead of the smiling face, this one is themed with the Disney channel. Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has four stamps, Hanna Montana has 4 stamps, and the Jonas Brothers get four. This issue seems clearly aimed at kids and Disney topical collectors. Julie already has said she wants the Mickey Mouse stamp for her collection. At $18-20 a sheet (asking price on E-bay), it is just another shot at getting more money from us collectors.

Batting .846

Well, if I was a baseball player with that kind of average, I would be in line for about $25 million dollars a year. But, on E-bay last week, it grossed me about $38. 11 of my 13 lots sold. Most went for the minimum $2.99 price, but a few went for a little more. Not the most profitable sales I have ever had, but not bad. The duplicates were just taking up space in my stamp room, and they cost me next to nothing (they came as part of a huge lot I won on E-bay, and I consider the price I paid well worth it for the items I needed, the doubles were just a bonus).

On the other hand, the self adhesive stamps I have been selling on E-bay have done quite well. I have sold all 10 lots I listed, and most have had a lot of bids. Average sale price has been over $6.75, with the highest price being $10. None have sold for the minimum.

Bakers dozen

I was cleaning up a stack of duplicates today, and listed 13 new lots on E-bay. These are all stamp show related. There are some special FDC's, some special show booklets, and a whole bunch of special show cards. All are starting at $2.99, with free shipping in the US. I have a stack of vending stamps and FDC's to list next week. Take a look.