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Canadian Stamp Auctions |
Stamp Market Commentary |
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Commentary No. 84 - 17 June, 2006
The New 2007 Scott Catalogue
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Canadian Stamp Auctions |
Stamp Market Commentary |
|
Commentary No. 84 - 17 June, 2006
The New 2007 Scott Catalogue
The 2007 Scott catalogue, Volume 2, made its appearance in Montreal in mid-May. The cost was $88 Cdn., same price as a year ago. The catalogue is published by Amos in the United States. The fact that the Canadian dollar has appreciated 12% against its U.S. counterpart in the past year seems to have had little impact on the price of the catalogue which makes one wonder, who’s getting the difference! It certainly isn’t the collector!
Scott MR4a
2006 $450
2007 $900
Scott 707a (printed on gum)
2006 $400
2007 $800The price changes are almost all increases and these are spread across the catalogue. Some stamps that increased in value last year did not do so this year as might be expected. The last time such a general advance occurred was back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, a time of high inflation. But this was followed by a period of historically high interest rates as governments struggled to rein in surging prices. This caused stamp prices to fall and fall they did, for over a decade.
Today, price inflation seems to be contained to a far greater degree, but what we are really seeing is inflation in asset values. Look at the values of our homes, art, speculative real estate, gold, silver and oil. These are things that cannot be produced cheaply in third world countries. All have increased in price so dramatically we can’t help but notice. We don’t know where this will all lead to, but we grow cautious when we see stamp prices increase at this rate. It seems we worry when prices go up and also when they go down!
Here’s a quick overview of the pricing changes:
Early Canada ( Scott 1-13)
A number of modest changes, mostly for used copies, see Scott 1,2,3,4,5 and 7.Cents issue ( Scott 14-20)
Very few changes except for the rare imperforate pairsLarge Queens ( Scott 21-33)
There were increases across the board, some quite noticeable, especially the watermarked varieties. Scott 21 jumped from $55 to $65, Scott 22 from $80 to $100, Scott 23 from $135 to $160, Scott 28 from $650 to $850.Small Queens ( Scott 34-47)
There were increases in all values which is a repeat of last year. Scott 35 moved up from $32 to $40, Scott 36 from $40 to $60, Scott 38 from $400 to $500, Scott 43 from $95 to $140.Jubilees ( Scott 50–65)
The set increased by 15%Maple Leafs ( Scott 66-73)
The set increased by 20%Numerals ( Scott 74-84)
The set increased in value by 30%. This increase was for the regular stamps only; there were no increases in the prices for the no-hinged stamps which seems unusual.Edward VII ( Scott 89-95)
The set increased by 21%Quebec Tercentenary ( Scott 96-103)
The set increased by 13%Admirals ( Scott 104-134)
The set increased by 32%Scroll (Scott149-161)
The set increased by 36%Arch (Scott162-177)
The set increased by 33%Pictorials (Scott 241-245)
The set increased by 33%War Set (Scott 249-262)
The set increased by 18%Modern (Scott 268 -2144)
1940s – very few changes
1950s – very few changes
1960s – very few changes
1970s - Scott 549a, 549q, 575b, 591a, 693b, 707a, 709a, 727a, 741b, 749a and 789d.
1980s - Scott 888a, 918b, 926Bd, 1070a, 1133a, 1158a, 1166c and 1171c.
1990s - Scott 1273b, 1278a, 1344, 1356d, 1361d, 1365c,1366c, 1371b, 1376b, 1621c, 1630b, to 1764b and 1800a.
2000s - Scott 1854,1867a, 1927 and 2045-2048. Many booklets advanced in price.Back of the Book
Airmail: all prices advanced
Special Delivery: all prices advanced
Registered Stamps: all prices advanced
Postage Due: all prices advanced
War Tax: prices up sharplyStamp prices in general
This is the second year in a row that we have seen a majority of the prices for Canadian stamps advancing. Last year, many of the increases related to stamps that were hinged. This is happening again this year which seems to indicate a broadening of the market. The weak area remains Canada’s modern stamps. However what is interesting is this: several years ago there were few changes of note after Scott 122, last year this advanced to Scott 159 and this has now advanced to Scott 262. Our experience in following prices at auction is that all of these price increases for the more modern stamps between Scott 122 and 262 only apply to very fine to superb copies. Copies of less quality continue to sell at a discount to their catalogue values.
For more details of the price increases and new listings, please click on the following links:
Stamps attracting attentionLast year we looked at four stamps from the Scott catalogue which we thought would be of special interest to our viewers. Let’s look at how they did in the latest catalogue:
Scott 1701a
Last year we noted that this stamp, the “Missing Moose” had been listed by Scott for the first time, but without a price. This year Scott has added a price which it set at $5000. Two copies of the variety were sold at auction in 2005, one for $4989 and the other for $6010, so the Scott price seems appropriate.
Scott 2045-2048
The above stamps are part of a set of four. They were featured in a package of four stamps and four phone cards. The stamps were issued without denomination. As we noted last year, the stamps could be bought at the time directly from Canada Post for $5.99 a set or $23.96 for the 4 sets. Scott listed the 4 sets last year at $37. This increased to $56 in the current catalogue. Something’s happening here.
1991a/1991b
Last year we noted how lucky those people were who were able to pick up the booklets of the above Vancouver overprint booklets. The Scott value for a booklet of 10 jumped from $7 to $30 and a booklet of 30, from $21 to $90. But it now appears those people were not so lucky after all. In the latest catalogue, the value of the first booklet was reduced from $30 to $15 and the second from $90 to $45. We remember seeing an advertisement for these booklets last year and were very, very tempted to buy a couple.
110a – 114b
The prices for these Admiral imperforates continue to climb. Last year’s increases, while noticeable, were far less than we expected. We can’t say the same this year. Each of the above pairs increased in value from $ 2250 to $ 2900, an increase of 29%.
Here are a few interesting statistics
Biggest dollar value increases in the 2007 Scott catalogue
Scott 110a-122a Scott 3used Scott 5a Scott 30d Scott 96a-103a Scott 17c Scott 1 Scott 15a Scott 29c
Biggest percentage increases between 2006- 2007
Scott 306a Scott 1364c Scott 707a Scott 1366c Scott MR4a Scott 77d Scott 550q Scott 1191a Scott 1278a Scott 29a Scott 23a Scott 56 Scott 68 Scott 1176a Noticeable increases amongst the lower value stamps 2000- 2007
©2006, Canadian Stamp Auctions
Ltd., Montréal, Québec, Canada
