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Which Forever Stamps (If Any) Are Worth Saving ?

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Bedrock Of The Community
11509 Posts
Posted 01/22/2025   3:02 pm  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add rogdcam to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
many more gems exist amidst today's apparent "worth postage only" flood.


Some examples would help. IMO, between the self-adhesive nature of modern stamps and the modern way of producing them there are not going to be a whole lot of "must-have" issues. I have a foot thick stack of stamp sheets from the three-cent era through the 60's that were in large lots I purchased. They were put away by collectors and speculators hoping for that day of $$$ raining. It never came. 75 years +/- and they are still able to be purchased at less than face. In fact, these stamps that are in the one cent to even 25 cent range have their low value working against them since there is not enough space on an envelope to put them all to make the latest rates.

PS: Will the USPS at some point realize that they are working against their financial goals by issuing Forever stamps? Talk about jacking yourself up especially when inflation is high.
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Pillar Of The Community
United States
3822 Posts
Posted 01/22/2025   7:31 pm  Show Profile Check eyeonwall's eBay Listings Bookmark this reply Add eyeonwall to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
There were some you could sell at a premium, but the */%# counterfeiters have flooded the market and most buyers are either ignorant or just fon't care, so the real ones are a tough sell above face.
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Valued Member
United States
495 Posts
Posted 01/22/2025   11:52 pm  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add joe1225us to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Counterfeits on cover.


I don't think that has any value. I suspect that THE MAJORITY of stamps on covers I receive are counterfeit. They are sold in every bodega in NYC
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Pillar Of The Community
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United States
4075 Posts
Posted 01/23/2025   07:12 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add angore to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
You can search dealer website (Stu Katz, Gitner) and find their buy list for modern stamps.
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Al
Valued Member
United States
433 Posts
Posted 01/23/2025   07:40 am  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add GMC89 to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
I suspect that THE MAJORITY of stamps on covers I receive are counterfeit


Not so sure. This assumes that USPS allows all through their system.
In FY 2023 The USPIS confiscated 7 million letters and 344 thousand parcels according to their annual report. As John Becker has pointed out a letter today is probably handled twice in it's journey. Once when the clerk accepts it second when the mailperson delivers it. In between the letter/item is machine inspected numerous times. With AI I would be surprised if the USPS isn't taking additional steps to drive those numbers up.

Interesting article in the APS magazine last month about catching the counterfeiters of the Flag issue in the mid 80's. Same, but more now.
Cheers mark
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Valued Member
196 Posts
Posted 01/29/2025   8:55 pm  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add chris s to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply
I agree with the commentator who noted that any stamps people now think are worth getting are likely in the long run not to appreciate that much. So although I do collect the panes of 4 of Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express stamps, I know they may not appreciate that well. Just do a search on ebay and you will find multiple listings of these. The main thing going for the PM and PM stamps is the production for each is relatively low - 1 - 5 million. And the USPS gets rids of any unsold stock (as they do with commemoratives).

Here are some stamps that have promise of attaining a good premium in the future - note I say PROMISE, not guarantee:

a) USED Priority Mail Express stamps. Most people get meter strips and do not use them unless they are providing a SASE Priority Mail Express envelope within their mailing. Yes occasionally there is usage than other what I just wrote. The use of PME and even PM diminish as we get into the American Landmark series of such stamps (about 2010).

b) Imperforate commemoratives of recent times may or may not do well, it depends how long the USPS has them for sale. USED modern imperforates I find a bit scarce - I have only one in my collection and often they are from stamp dealers, collectors and clubs. Those imperforates used without any philatelic association would be especially scarce or possibly rare.

c) 2020 Stamp Yearbook is deemed scarce as the USPS produced only 13,000 of they went off-sale quickly.

d) As has been mentioned, certain definitive coils may be scarce depending on their plate number. I believe the Waving Flags of 2022 from Ashton Potter with plate P2 is one such example. There is a scarce plate number in the 2 cent Navajo Jewelry stamp issues, and the Transportation coil series has a few scarce or even rare plate numbers.

e) Having a complete series does help add value to stamps. The Nature In America set while not really having that much of a premium individually as a complete set would be more attractive than an individual issue to a budding stamp collector.

f) Limited Editions sets with proofs provided MIGHT have a chance of accruing a future premium. The most recent one is the Endangered Species set which is limited to 4,000. They are still on sale at USPS. If you shop carefully you can get these from USPS but I would avoid portfolio sets because there is no production limit - unless you are very interested in the topic as they are informative (and I would recommend the Go For Broke set and Civil War but realize these may not be good investment vehicles).

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Edited by chris s - 01/29/2025 8:56 pm
Valued Member
United States
495 Posts
Posted 01/29/2025   10:57 pm  Show Profile Bookmark this reply Add joe1225us to your friends list  Get a Link to this Reply

Quote:
Not so sure. This assumes that USPS allows all through their system.


My local postmaster says that while they are supposed to flag counterfeits, he is skeptical as to their success.

I live near a big city. Every local store sells Forever stamps. Usually at a discount. I don't know any none collectors who buy stamps from the post office. All buying from convenience story. Hence my conclusion that counterfeit stamps are much more prevalent than the USPS will admit
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