RSA stamps : 1995 Gandhi joint issue : Things to consider in stamp collection.

Hello Gandhi Collectors,

In 1995 RSA (Republic of South Africa) and India issued Se-tenant stamp of Mahatma Gandhi along with soveuneir sheet.

This RSA stamps and RSA First Day covers are available in very large quantity on eBay as well as delcampe.

Recently on eBay I saw RSA stamp with First Day Cover selling for unbelievable price (it's buyer choice to price it's item, but I can still bring awareness to new stamp collectors!! by giving some hints about real things happening in Gandhi philately) so I decided to  do some research on it and found out that this seller is charging 5-8 times then recently sold Gandhi RSA stamps and RSA First Day cover.

This RSA cover are selling between $15 -25!!

If you buy at this price you might over pay it and regret whole your life because this are not rare or hard to find.!! They are available in plenty. 

Check following screenshot and you will see RSA stamps cover were sold for $2-$3.!!!

So now you have to decide what to do.!! It's your money and you have to pay it. I am not expert or appraiser.!!

It all depends on Current Market trends of stamp collection. (Which is DECLINING since last 10 years and it's going down tremendously since last 5 years.!!). 

In past this stamp sheet was sold for $5!! Yes $5 for 20 stamps.!! Check out of my blog post about it.

http://gandhistampsclub.blogspot.com/2011/04/south-africa-rsa-1995-mahatma-gandhi.html

Read my other following blog post to understand about stamp collection in DECLINE.!!

1) A Hobby in Decline : 1948 Gandhi USED cover case study.!!
2) A Hobby in Decline.!! - Part-2
3) How to invest when philately price is dropping.

If you see stamps are not even selling or selling like 5-10 times lower their value than mentioned in catalog.!!

There is nothing RARE or Scare in philately because this hobby is in downward trend because experienced collectors are loosing interest because value is not appreciating and new collectors are not coming in to this because there are lot of other things to do for them such as playing video games on Nintendo or X-box , social networking on facebook or google+ or  surfing on web through internet or SMS through iphone or android or watch games such as cricket, football or basketball.!!

Only way philately can sustain is to stop cheating in this hobby. Yes CHEATING.!! which is what you will see in order to increase value artificially by inflating the price by SHILL bidding, not paying to seller or mutual understanding cancelling transaction and lot more.

To know more about this kind of activity read my following blog post and think what are the possibilities.

1) 1948 Stamps False hope of Riches?
2) 1948 Gandhi Stamps: Are False hope of Riches - Part II ?
3) 1948 Gandhi Mourning Private FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part III?
4) 1948 Expensive Gandhi FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part IV?
5) 1948 Gandhi Stamps Early Usage cover :  Gandhi Stamps Are False hope of Riches - Part V?
6) Maxi Card sold for $5100 with 1948 Gandhi Stamps - False hope of Riches - Part VI?
7) Indian Philately Exposed 
8) Indian Philately Exposed - Part II
9) Gandhi SERVICE overprint stamp price fell from $1009 to $1.!!
10) How can you tell that Gandhi SERVICE stamp is FAKE or Forgery ?

I hope all this helps.

Thanks
Gandhi Stamps Club.

Amazing price of 1995 Mahatma Gandhi India Souvenir Sheet.

Hello Gandhi Collectors,

Recently I read that one seller listed his book to sell on amazon.com for 23 million dollar!! This was for sale by private seller (same like ebay). Read more about this by clicking following link from PC Magazine.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384102,00.asp

http://www.michaeleisen.org/blog/?p=358

I am seeing similiar pattern in Mahatma Gandhi stamp from India price selling on ebay, not because of any algorithm but by human brain.

Here they are looking for some NEW International buyer(as all Indian collector will know price about this) who is not aware of real price or current value of that Mahatma Gandhi stamp from India and seller thinks that some one will buy it by mistake.!! & then regert their whole life when it is selling for much lower value.!

In 1995 India & South Africa jointly issued Mahatma Gandhi Souvenir Sheet of Indian Rupees 8 which is equivalent to 20-30 cents. (Yes 0.20 US cents). This Souvenir sheet design shows simplicity of Mahatma Gandhi with all his belongings and his famous Dandi March picture. I also think India post issued very large quantity of this Souvenir Sheet so this is not rare.

Currently this stamp is sold between 4-7 dollars which is also on very high price(it's more than 500% ROI in 16 years) and if this rate is continue then it will surpass value of 1948 Gandhi stamps even though there are more Gandhi collectors and dealers in India than it was in 1948.

I think because of low face value( 8 Indian Rupees or 20-30 cents) of this Souvenir Sheet, it was accumulated by certain group of people and because of them we are even paying 4-7 dollars. I don't think this will happen in 2011 Mahatma Gandhi Indipex Khadi Souvenir stamp sheet from India because of high face value of Rupees 250 (5-6$) so it will be hard for dealer to keep high priced item.

But I was more suprised when I saw same sheet selling price is $26. !!! All credit to goes to seller "rajsukhani" for making this possible for stamp of India.




Yes it is $26 + $5.50 = $31.50!!

Also if you see this listing description of the stamp is also incorrect. It is 1992 instead of 1995.

If this souvenir sheet is used with some special postcard or unique used cover to embassy or redcross or united nations etc. than price of $26 or more is justified but this is just stamp sheet which is only 16 years old.!!I would rather pay $20 for Mauritius Register cover (if it is GENUINE) with 6 stamps on it than buying this souvenir sheet as there is lot of work to make that used cover.

But in this case it is just large quantity printed souvenir sheet and seller wants to get profit without doing any work to make cover or postcard etc.

Another example of 1995 SS when it was UNSOLD for 22.22$.


I am not sure whether stamp sellers/dealer thinks that stamp collectors are stupid.!! They just pray that someone will fall in their trap.

But this is seller choice how much they want to sell their item for so no offsense without any alograthim like Amazon book price. It's good that seller is giving option of Buy It Now only instead of auction and then starts increasing price with his/her other ebay id.(Shill Bidding).

But Gandhi Collectors, Do you think this souvenir sheet is worth $26?

It's 8500% return on investment. (0.30 cents invested in 1995 & today's current value $26)



In future we all might see something similar to that amazon book price and this sheet might be on sale for 26 million dollar.!! (if no listing fees is on ebay).

Thanks
KP.


BTW: Because of Low initial value (Rupees 8) some one can afford to buy a very huge quantity and can sell them at high price. I think Indian Goverment Post notice this and issued 2011 Indipex Mahatma Gandhi Souvenir sheet at very high value (Rupees 250) so it will be easily available to collectors and reduce profit margin for some dealers and reseller. Because of this high initial facevalue it will not appreciate same way like 1995 SS.


Update 12/27/11 :

2 sheets were sold for $3.75.!! (but still huge return compare to original price of  20-30 cents (0.30 dollar) with face value of Rupees 10 in 1995.

Want to know more about FAKE and FORGERY stamps then checkout other blog post click one of the following link and you will be surprised.!!!

1) Philatelic FAKE and FORGERIES.
2) FAKE AERO PHILATELY Covers.
3) Stamp collection CHEATING.
4) Stamp Collection Value
5) Stamp Collecting Facts
6) China stamp collection value.
7) First AirMail Post
8) World First Flight Cover
9) Greatest Stamp Collection Scandal 
10) Biggest stamp collection SCAM
11) SCANDAL in stamp collection 
12) How to increase stamp collection value

Now does it make sense to collect stamps after looking above blog posts?

Thanks
Gandhi Stamps Club.

South Africa RSA 1995 Mahatma Gandhi stamp sheet value - Price Declining.!! Part - 6

Hello Gandhi Collectors,

I was surprised by selling price of 2 sheets of RSA 1995 Mahatma Gandhi stamp sheet. It was sold for $4.99 + 1.00 shipping.!! .

Don't know why it sold at this price. Looks like really something is going on with Gandhi stamps.!!



This is really interesting that stamps value after 17 years is not appreciating at all and it's decreasing.


In past I had seen Great Britain, Ireland, Morocco, Malta  complete stamp sheet of Mahatma Gandhi selling at very low price.

Still want to do research  then please read my other blog post and have fun.!!

1) 1948 Stamps False hope of Riches?
2) 1948 Gandhi Stamps: Are False hope of Riches - Part II ?
3) 1948 Gandhi Mourning Private FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part III?
4) 1948 Expensive Gandhi FDC : Are False hope of Riches - Part IV?
5) 1948 Gandhi Stamps Early Usage cover :  Gandhi Stamps Are False hope of Riches - Part V?
6) Maxi Card sold for $5100 with 1948 Gandhi Stamps - False hope of Riches - Part VI?
7) Indian Philately Exposed 
8) Indian Philately Exposed - Part II

Thanks
Gandhi Stamps Club