Blue Paper Issues
I have been looking for reasonably priced 359, 362, 364 issues for two years now. They seem to have made enough of them. But they sure are hard to find. One guy had them all. But his prices were not reasonable. And now he is gone.
Comments
What condition also? Used, unused, what centering?
This is all about market. Your comment "They seem to have made enough of them". Only about 4,000 of them were ever issued. Compare that with the Scott #39. There were around 3,000,000 printed. It sold very poorly, but around 50,000 were sold, mostly as unused examples to early stamp dealer (who bought several pages, and why the unused 39 is much easier to source than a used 39).
The market drives these values. I would suggest, your estimate of $1,000 each would be for poorly centered, OG stamps.
SMQ for 359 at F (Grade 70) OG is $900, 362 F is $625 and 364 F is $850. If this is what you're after, I'm sure you can find them. But if you're expecting VF centering to be around $1,000 each, that expectation is unrealistic, as SMQ shows 359 VF OG is $1,800, 362 VF is $1,250 and 364 is $1,750.
The Siegel sale Robert mentions the 359 has apparently "inherited" an internal crease, so maybe you get that one for less than $1,000, there are 2 362's with VF centering, you may get lucky on one of those at $1,000, and the 364 is graded XF (90), that has an SMQ of $3,250, I would suggest, you have no chance on this stamp below $2,750.
You have to remember that they collect 18% commission, your state's sales tax plus shipping of at least $25... the last number that would have many HIP buyers boiling the tar and pulling out the feather sacks. So you need to incorporate that into your net price expectations.
Stamp collecting was alive in those days, but not like it is today. So the survivability of those stamps, where there were 100,000's of thousands printed, most were discarded after letters arrived. Having one bought and stored for "collecting" purposes, or just forgotten for a century is really uncommon.
Fast forward to 1909 almost 40 years later, and collecting was thriving. There is news of an experimental stamp, which dealer houses are watching. When its released, they go and buy sheets of the unused stamps, to sell to collectors.
This is exactly why the used values of the bluish paper stamps versus the unused values are all higher than those of a hinged stamp. (It's only when going to MNH are they higher in some cases, but not all (351 and 365 are exceptions, because they were common rate, and had the most sold).
You're also seeing the force of a "free market". Where there is demand, and the supply is limited, the price is driving skyward. This is one of the appeals of collecting/dealing. It is sometimes worth the speculation of a rising stamp value. The bluish are a great example of this. They have never gone down (fluctuated) in Scott... only up.
140 - 10,000
141 - 80,000
142 - 2,000
143 - 20,000
144 - 28,000
Bluish paper FW's sold:
359 - 4,000
362 - 4,000
364 - 4,000
So by comparison, your comment of "They seem to have made enough of them", actually makes them more scarce (save for the 24c 142), but the postal use of LBNs was much higher. That resulted in a lower survivability, which is why their values are so much higher. You'll also note that the higher values are inverted compared to the bluish paper (that is, used examples of the LBNs are much lower value compared to unused examples, because again, the unused were either bought and forgotten, or more frequently, purposely kept by collectors, while used stamps were more abundant, despite the limited numbers, because at those high values, people generally bought, and applied it at the post office for shipping.)
Most of the bluish paper stamps survived because the majority were not used postally.
In any case, these stamps in both groups range from scarce to rare. (We generally classify a stamp as "rare" when it reaches a market value of at least $10,000). With the 142 unused being a unicorn, as there are no known examples to exist. (It was a strange rate, used to send mail to France as I recall, and it was scarcely needed.)
80, 81, 82, 85A, 85D, 142, the 143A is also unique, but is not available to collectors.
I'd rather reserve it for the truly deserving issues. If we call any material over $100 "rare", that's just devaluing the truly rare items.
Our "Scale" is:
Very Common
Common
Uncommon
Scarce
Very Scarce
Limited
Rare
Very Rare
Unique
I had forgotten that the 164 was used. I have aways found it funny that my Scott Minuteman album has a place for it.
Realize, there must have been at least 200 of them (plates of 200, panes of 100), or one could argue at least 100 of them. It is one of the most difficult types to detect as well, and many expertizers do not know how to properly look for it (ribbed paper). So it's always worth to keep a watch, and that empty spot is a reminder to check every 153 you encounter. You may just turn up a million dollar stamp. The 164 is ugly, terribly centered, and still sold the last time (circa 2004) for $325,000.
Since it is still available to collectors, it will sell again. For me, this stamp is infinitely more interesting and desirable than a C3a.
It does have an interesting leaf cancellation, but the face also has a number of pencil marks on it.
Oh, and I left off that $325,000 was the hammer price. The total cost to the buyer was $390,000.