Some time ago we posted on our blog about one of our favorite items to sell, the 1893 New Zealand advertisement issues in reconstructed panes of 60.  Here is a link to the Original Post.  Just recently we have acquired two more panes which are currently on offer on our website.  Both panes are very attractively mounted and labeled.  Price $390 each.  Take a look:

We have just completed our regular update of the online price list with another interesting array of new material.  These can all be found in our Recent Acquisitions list.

There are two items in particular that deserve special mention.

The first is an excellent opportunity for collectors of Ireland: a stunning example of the most difficult stamp of the country, the 1935 issue ‘Experimental Coil Stamp’ 2 Pence.  This copy is used on piece with a clear 1935 Loch Garman C.D.S., and it comes with a MacDonnell Whyte certificate of authenticity.

References: Scott catalogue number 68b, Stanley Gibbons catalogue number 74b, MacDonnell Whyte D4cii.

We would also like to draw attention to a newly acquired Palestine 1938 issue 150m Booklet, complete and unexploded.  This is Stanley Gibbons number SB3a with Blue cover, and contents in English, Arabic, and Hebrew.  We see the booklets of Palestine offered only rarely so we are pleased to have this very attractive example available for sale.
SOLD!

You can access our listings for both of these items  directly from the Featured Items list on our Home Page.

A few weeks ago we made some improvements to our checkout procedures.  In addition to making our checkout pages simpler and easier to navigate, we have added the option of paying for your purchase with PayPal.  Keep reading for more information about all our payment options.

If you already have a PayPal account checkout is simple and fast.  You can also easily create a PayPal account during checkout, making future purchases even quicker.

Of course we also still offer our reliable, secure credit card payment system, now powered by industry leader Authorize.net.  Be assured that your identity and credit card information are always safe and fully protected on our site.

If you prefer, you can also choose to pay by check or wire transfer.  We will hold your order pending receipt of payment.

*On File option: For our regular customers who know we already have your information, you can choose to send us just your order and your name and we’ll take care of the rest.  If you are not sure if you can use this option, or you would like to in the future, please do not hesitate to inquire.

We have made these changes to improve the ordering process for our customers, so if you encounter any problems or have any suggestions please do let us know!

We are resurrecting the neglected blog to tell you about a fantastic item we have recently acquired.  The limited space in our price list simply can not do justice to this exceptionally rare Newfoundland pane of 50 stamps.  Here it is, with a full description below:

This partial pane shows the 1897 Queen Victoria era 1 cent on 3 cent issue, grey-purple, in 5 rows of 10 stamps.  The complete setting is here: type I on rows 1-4, and the last row starting from left with one type IIa, seven copies of type II, and two copies of type III.  The catalog numbers are Scott 75-77 and SG80-82.  There is some perf separation between the 4th and 5th rows, and thinning on stamps 1,2,3, and 7 of the bottom row.  There are 24 Never Hinged stamps on the sheet. The piece came with an explanatory article with even more information.   This is truly an extraordinary exhibition quality rarity.
Scott catalog value $6900.  SOLD!

Since we reserve the Home page of our website for more expensive items, we often wonder if interesting new additions to the inventory get missed because they don’t carry a high price tag.  We’ll be describing a few such items in this and upcoming blog posts.

A few things not to miss:

Australia Set of King George VI Stamps in Never Hinged Blocks of 4.

King George V and King George VI Keyplates, some with plate flaws, both singles and positional blocks.

Cape of Good Hope Mafeking Scott 167 SG 6, tied to piece with clear C.D.S.

Ireland Bradbury Wilkinson 10/Sh Seahorse Stamp, Scott 79 SG 85 Never Hinged.

A nice selection of stamps from Labuan. PLEASE NOTE: Most of these Labuan stamps do not have scans because we simply do not have time to add scans in large quantities, much as we would like to.  We stand by all our descriptions, so we hope our customers will understand that items without scans conform to just as high a standard of quality as those with scans.

Straits Settlements King George VI $100 Revenue Stamp with B.M.A. overprint.

Togo King George V Complete Set of Stamps Scott 80-91 SG H47-58 Lightly Hinged.

This is just a small selection intended to give a small window into the breadth of our stamp selections.  Please take time to peruse the Recent Additions list or use the Search page to find more British stamps specific to your collecting interests.

We’ve just completed our latest update of the online price list.  Here are a few highlights from the stamps on our Featured Items page (which is also our Home page).

Postage Due Stamps of Great Britain — all SG D4 varieties, Mint Lightly Hinged.  These are a group of 19 different gummed and perforated color trials for the 2d issue.  Just a few of them are pictured.  An interesting and attractive item.

Australia 10 Shilling Kangaroo Stamp Scott 101 SG 112 Mint Hinged.

East Africa and Uganda King Edward VII 50 Rupee Stamp — Scott 30A SG 33.  This is an exceptional copy, in Mint Lightly Hinged condition.  One of several additions from East Africa.

Iraq Stamps in Complete Sets — We have both Scott 1-13 and the Official Set Scott O55-71 in Mint Lightly Hinged condition.

Here’s hoping all our friends and clients are enjoying the start of a very happy and prosperous year in 2009!

Though our blog has lay dormant for some time, it is an excellent forum for putting up useful or interesting information for our friends and clients from time to time.  This posting is inspired by the recent fluctuations in the world currency markets, which have had some impact on pricing in the stamp trade.

Until very recently pricing trends have been going upward for British Commonwealth stamps, thanks in part to the long upward trajectory of the British pound.  Suddenly the pound is significantly down relative to the US dollar, and so prices in the US have been adjusted.  This is entirely as it should be, since the valuation of British stamps is based in large part on Stanley Gibbons catalogue values.

Prices on our recently updated price list have also been adjusted.  As an example, consider our copy of the Kenya (K.U.T.) £4 stamp SG 98.  The Stanley Gibbons catalogue value for a mint copy of this stamp is £1900 pounds, which would have been about $3800 a few months ago.  At that time, our retail price would have been about $2280, but we have just added an exceptionally nice copy of this stamp for $1850.  View it HERE.

We also want to emphasize to active collectors that the market for quality stamps remains strong despite the downturn in other parts of the economy.  In fact, historically stamps have proven to be quite a resilient commodity during difficult times and otherwise volatile periods.  So, while we do not advocate or recommend buying stamps as an investment, we remain very confident in the material we sell, both in terms of its quality and its ability to hold much of its value over time.

For our many overseas clients, we hope that the pricing shift taking place now will help to offset the new currency valuations, so that you can continue to develop your collections as in the past.

Expect more blog posts in the near future, as we work on a new regular feature highlighting interesting recent additions to our online inventory.

Regards to all,

Aron

In 1893 the postal authorities of New Zealand tried a new approach to stamp printing. On the gum side of regular stamp issues they printed a series of advertisements for a wide variety of products: soap, foods, medicines, and so on. The ads were printed on panes of 60 stamps in three settings, using values ranging from the 1d to 1/s.

Collectors can find examples of individual stamps with adverts on reverse with a fair amount of ease. Here is a very nice block of four mint stamps that we currently have in stock:

(link removed).

Now just imagine the challenge of assembling all 60 examples of the advertisements for a particular setting! We currently have the extraordinary opportunity to offer three such panes for sale, each from a different setting. The stamps are all used, hence these panes are much less expensive to own than if they were mint. Here is the example showing Setting 3:

The settings can be distinguished from one another based on various criteria. The first setting shows ads inverted relative to the face of the stamp (for sideways ads the bottom of the ad is on the left side of the face of the stamp). In the second setting the ads are upright. The third setting is similar to the second, but replaces all the Cadbury ads with ads for Poneke products.

Ads were printed in different colors as well, and this can be helpful in identifying the setting for individual stamps. See the Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue for sub-listings of individual stamps with advertisements. The Campbell Paterson Catalogue of New Zealand Stamps is helpful for a more detailed description of the settings and panes.

For collectors of British Commonwealth Stamps, there are not many truly elusive stamps to pursue from the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. Scott #56A of Oman is an exception. The stamp is a watermark error variety with only 50 copies known, mostly used. Only one mint example has been found.

An attractive example of this great rarity has arrived in our stock, with a certificate of authenticity, light CDS cancel, full perforations and no faults.

Scott: Oman 54A
SG: British Postal Agencies in East Arabia 58a
To view the listing for this stamp on our online price list, click on the image.

We are pleased to be able to offer the advanced British Empire collector an opportunity to own this highly sought after stamp.

I’m beginning a new series of posts discussing some of my favorite British Stamps and British Colonial Stamps, based either on design or on general philatelic interest. I begin with a particularly elegant example, the King George V “Seahorse” design.

Of the many engraved British Stamps produced during the early to middle years of the British Commonwealth, the Seahorses of King George V are, in my opinion, among the most attractive. The Seahorses are particularly compelling for an avid collector of British Stamps because they allow several angles of study: