USA 6 Cent Red US Air Mail Stamp 1949

Hi

You seasoned philatelists will no doubt have had this question previously, but I have been researching the above stamp on the basis that I have seen it selling for regular prices ie from 50c up to maybe $5 in various places. Yet I keep seeing what, from the descriptions on ebay ie there's no mention of 'varieties,', 'errors' etc, appears to be the same stamp for in and around $300 upwards to $500. The only wording that seems to set this apart is 'genuine' on one such listing.

Could anyone set me straight? I know there were sheets and coils in this first set of issues, yet that isn't giving me any answers! Any help appreciated.

cheers:)

Please show image of the stamp you are talking about. Can you give a catalog number?

Sorry, yes, I realise that was a little sparse, description-wise.
I have issues uploading images onto this site, which I am still working on as I have a collection which I'd like to share some of (including this stamp)

meantime, this is the one, as advertised on Mystic Stamp
https://www.mysticstamp.com/c39-194...ir%20Letters.

and for reference, a current e-bay listing (I realise people put stuff on ebay at whatever price but I have seen quite a few others similarly priced)

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/25579014...gad_source=1

Going to assume that there are differences but I can't work out what hey may be.

thanks again, for replying

They are either clueless or searching for suckers.

Look for what the stamps actually really really sold for. No shortage of strangeness out there or is it the word "weird"

Don't bother with these freak sellers.
They are mostly clueless fleamarket wannabes, and unfortunately ebay is full of those dreamers.
I once had a lot of spare time and in a nice manner notified about 100 of them about the true value. Most don't answer, few see the light and I only got one who hurled back a parade of insults at me.

The problem with those people is they create a lot of "Me too" people ("I have the same stamp - it is therefore also worth $999")

Thanks for your replies. From my research I am now used to understanding that e-bay sellers can inflate prices and that it's best to look at 'sold' prices, I also check on Hipstamp, Stanley Gibbons and forums like this. I just thought this particular stamp had multiple sellers at such an inflated price that I thought I may be missing something
thanks again

As I wrote, once you got a dreamer, the "Me Too" people start flooding in. Most of those are people with zero or very low "sold" numbers.

If you look at his other auctions, you will find the same kind of wishful listings. EG:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255632976869

"Rare Two Cent George Washington Stamp 1890s" for only $2,320.00.

I would toss it in the trash.

My goodness. It makes you wonder whether some of these people on e-bay team up to create a market around certain stamps in the hope that someone buys at least one of them. I find it hard to imagine, though, that anybody with any kind of interest in stamps is going to shell out anything like that amount of money having not done some decent research.

As P.T. Barnum was reputed to have said, "There's a sucker born every minute." *

In this case, I really hope no one is buying at such an elevated price. The sucker is the vendor who wasted his or her time to create the posting (albeit probably only 2 minutes of time).


The saying, while credited to Barnum, may well have been uttered by banker David Hannum. The rather interesting story is at https://medium.com/skeptikai/the-re...1db9a7220d34 You can visit the Cardiff Giant today in Cooperstown, New York, where it resides in the Farmers' Museum which is an interesting place.

Ebay has worse examples, rather modern used stamps priced in hundreds to thousands of dollars (and they always seem to be faulty, too). Even as of today there's a listing for a used strip of 3 1-cent Jefferson (Scott 1278, issued in late 1960s) for $750.