Werner: Interesting story about the Beethoven/Composers souvenir sheet. Items that were obtained only with persistence, extra effort, and "sacrificial" monetary expenditure always have a special place in one's collection. I would bet we all have one or two items like that in our collections. I would call the two canceled sheets you have "favor cancels" as opposed to canceled-to-order. Yes, they were canceled at your order, but, to me, the philatelic term CTO refers to stamps canceled at the order of a postal authority. A matter of semantics, I believe. 4.7 million sheets are a lot. I'm surprised that they carry any premium today Don
In the 60s and 70s it was said,that in money terms the west-german stamp market (this includes Austria and Switzerland) was no. 1 worldwide. Don´t know how it is today.Possibly China is in the no. 1-position ? Also earliar in 1959 the following stamps were issued: "INTERPOSTA" international stamp exihibition in Hamburg The original issue (left stamps) of 3.050.000 from May 22nd was sold out immediately. The stamps were reprinted in slightly changed colours and issued Aug.22nd. 5.8 millions were printed. Those were the hay-days of stamp-collecting in West-Germany. Somewhere in the 70s the market crashed and never got back to its former hights. Having said that,I think on average modern german stamps of the last seventy years fared better than those of the US. Today the "Beethoven-Block" is offered by trade for between € 5.- to 10.- mint and € 20.- to 25.- in cancelled condition.So the premium above face is 800 - 1600 % mint and 3200 - 4000 % for cancelled.
ALL stamps in 70's and 80's were grossly overpriced and in most cases never recovered especialy US Plus CVs are just what some stamp catalog tells they are worth for dealers What you should pay is all new ballgame Dealers and sellers pay very little attention to quality and basically lump all stamps according to catalog values China is biggest new market as most $$rich collectors are what they think themselves as investors not collectors Most new forgeries are in China market to feed the need to make investment Most collectors there have case of more money than brains
Don might call this a "favour cancel".Somehow that is correct,but I did that favour to myself.I asked the clerks in Suva p.o. to let me have the cancel and an ink-pad and then did "my job" without haste.
Very nice cancel Werner! Yes, it is a favor cancel, but only because you have confessed to doing it yourself. If you had not told us, who would know? Don
A well-centered, but messy bullseye from Kwamouth, Belgian Congo. The canceler was a little over inked making the date uncertain. To me, it looks like it was canceled on July 24, 1942. I wouldn't argue, however, if some said it was something else. Kwamouth is appropriately named in that it is located at the mouth of the Kwah River as it flows into the Congo River. The stamp is Belgian Congo Sc., 180, the 2.50 francs of an eleven-value definitive set depicting the King Albert Memorial in Leopoldville. Don
The set of Franklin D. Roosevelt stamps commemorating his life, Sc. 930-933, issued 1945-1946. I don't remember where I found this set, probably in an APS sales circuit. Obviously philatelic favor cancels, but I found them attractive at the time. Don
I found this in an APS sales book, a Germany, Sc. 522 canceled in Wieselburg an der Erlauf, Austria. Don
Bob: An attractive set. I've been working on completing it for a couple of years and still lack three of the high values Sc. 187-188 and 191. Don
A bullseye from Greding on Sc. B823, 1997. Scott identifies the image as a "scoop windmill" of the type found in the Schleswig-Holstein area. Greding is a small town in southeastern Germany, southeast of Nuremberg. Don
A bullseye from Lisbon, Portugal, August 9, 1892, on 5 centimos, Sc. 79, Provisorio overprint on Sc. 58. Don
