Does anyone have an idea of today's value of these small commercially-packaged collections?
I believe they must be from the 1960's when I first dabbled as a collector...
A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent). 28 Feb 2013 05:29:59pm
re: 1960's packets from Harris & Whitman
They are pretty common stamps - each one with probably minimum catalogue value. Hard to say without seeing each of them. Among stamp collectors, they would be looking at the stamps themselves. Perhaps someone who is not a stamp collector, but looks for "vintage" items, they would purchase it based on that aspect and not the value of the stamps themselves.
Kelly
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They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 28 Feb 2013 06:20:55pm
re: 1960's packets from Harris & Whitman
I remember those packets well! I would save my allowance for weeks to buy one or two at the five and dime, only to have half of them thinned by the stuff they used to mount the stamps for display in the packet window. And so it goes...
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"
A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent). 28 Feb 2013 06:33:40pm
re: 1960's packets from Harris & Whitman
Bobby made a good point. If you decide to open the packets to access the stamps, do not try to separate the stamps - the cto stamps have full gum on the back just like mint stamps and they will all be stuck together. If you open the package and give the cardboard a shake and some fall out, that's good. The others will all be stuck together and will need to be soaked apart.
Kelly
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"Let's find a cure for Still's Disease, Breast Cancer and Canine Addison's Disease. We CAN find a cure and save lives!!"
Thanks for your responses.The low value was what I suspected, as I donated
these 80 colorful "vintage" stamps to the Holocaust Stamps Project ( http://www.foxboroughrcs/students-families/student-life/frcs-holocaust-stamp-project/ ) this afternoon
to help the students in their quest to collect 11 million stamps as part of an education initiative at the Foxboro, Massachusetts school. I expect the kids will enjoy looking at the designs as they add them to the count!
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 03 Mar 2013 01:54:28am
re: 1960's packets from Harris & Whitman
Some years ago, before he retired to Boca Raton, Herman Hurst took a bunch of old packets and opened them cataloging them both with the Scott's of that day as well as whatever was current at that time.
The result was that minimum value stamps worth 3¢ each when put into the packets when the minimum value was 3¢ were worth 15¢ twenty years later when the minimum value had increased with inflation to 15¢. Cheap common stamps remain cheap and common.
At least that is how I remember the story.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
I was in a multi-dealer antique "mall" this morning and found a booth with bags of "worldwide" stamps, all off paper--I would guess 500-1000/bag. Looked clean, but appeared to be mostly common stamps, altho' there was the occasional "whatsit?". THEN I checked the dealer's price: $19.00!!!! You gotta be kidding. And, yes, I well remember those other types of packets--bought a lot at Woolworth's or Kresge's when I was a kid. That was fun and adventure, opening up whole new worlds to explore. Nowadays when you find those packets they're almost all CTO's or Sand Dunes, etc. Wouldn't even give them to my grandkids....
Roger
A Service Dog gives a person with a disability independence. Never approach, distract or pet a working dog, especially when (s)he is in harness. Never be afraid to ask questions to the handler (parent). 04 Mar 2013 10:01:36pm
re: 1960's packets from Harris & Whitman
$19???? Holy smokes! We used to get them for like $2.50!!! I got a few gems in my packets - a few I still have that. One cv'd over $25 even back then - 30 years ago. Generally common stuff but every so often you'd get a "slip-in".
I loved saving for those bags.
Kelly
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"Let's find a cure for Still's Disease, Breast Cancer and Canine Addison's Disease. We CAN find a cure and save lives!!"
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. -Benjamin Franklin 05 Mar 2013 07:28:52am
re: 1960's packets from Harris & Whitman
I have found that the antique malls and flea market vendors rely upon the gullibility of the buyers. There is a general belief that if it is old, it must be valuable, and there is a mystique about certain collectibles (stamps, baseball cards, comics, etc.) which exacerbates this "there is treasure here the poor ignorant seller is unaware of" attitude that the "poor ignorant seller" (who knows exactly what the item is worth) relies on to sell his/her product. I buy at flea markets and antique malls, but with an educated eye and never with the attitude that I am taking advantage of anyone.
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"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -Edmund Burke"
Silence in the face of adversity is the father of complicity and collusion, the first cousins of conspiracy.. 05 Mar 2013 05:04:45pm
re: 1960's packets from Harris & Whitman
Very close by here in Homosassa Springs there is a large permanent flea market and one seller had several Scott's catalogs which he knew, at the time, sold for about $25 each, new.
So he priced them according to age. The older the more he expected to receive. He was impervious to my suggestion that old catalogs like that become less useful as they age, unless they are very very old. They sat on his shelf for a long, long time, but eventually someone must have bought them, unless he trashed them to stop my glancing at the shelf space being occupied by dead inventory and chuckling at the price.
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".... You may think you understood what you thought I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you think you heard is not what I thought I meant. .... "
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