A Skater-Skier Issue at New Uphill Rate

Question: Please advise me how and where I can obtain the 20-cent stamp that Eunice Kennedy Shriver unveiled commemorating the Third International Olympic Games for the mentally retarded. I understand that the stamp depicts a female figure skater and a male downhill skier.

--S.M. Answer: Get it at your local post office after March 25, when it is scheduled to be issued. Its cost will be 22 cents, the new first-class postage rate. Q: Please solve a problem for me. I want to collect the postal items issued by the U.S. Postal Service, but I don’t know where to begin. It seems like every time I go to the post office, there are more and more new issues, including post cards and commemorative stamps, which I can’t afford on my retirement pension. I like to collect full sheets of each new stamp, but at 20 cents per stamp this amounts to at least $10 per sheet. Should I specialize or just save plate-number blocks or what?

--F.K. A: In the last 10 years, the United States has issued more than 500 types of stamps, as well as post cards, revenues like the $7.50 duck-hunting stamps and airmails. Clearly, a collector on a limited budget would have trouble keeping up with all new U.S. issues in full-pane (sheet) form. When first-class postage rates were 3 cents or 5 cents per ounce, a $5 bill would buy a whole pane of new stamps, with often a bit of change left over. Inflation has raised postal rates to the point where collectors of modest financial resources have to decide what to leave out of their collection if they are to participate at all in accumulating new postal issues.

I suggest that you buy one stamp or a block of four of each new U.S. variety. Or you can collect them canceled from your incoming mail or from the envelopes that are saved for you by friends who know that you are a stamp collector. Or you can specialize by topics such as famous Americans or wildlife, ignoring those themes that interest you less. At $10 per pane, it is expensive, but most of us can afford a 20-cent single a couple of times a month.

Q: My old envelope has a picture of a shotgun on the left and was canceled in Connecticut. The stamp is a 2-cent George Washington head. It is in nice condition. What is its value?

-- P.A.R. A: About $10 and up, depending on the rarity of the firearms company that used this envelope. You have what is known to philatelists as an advertising cover, common around the turn of the century and avidly sought today. Some gun companies like Winchester are still in business, and their 1900-era advertising envelopes typically sell for $50 or more.

“Nice condition” doesn’t mean much in stamp collecting. Officially recognized terms to describe old covers (envelopes that passed through the mail system) are: superb, extremely fine, very fine, fine, very good and poor.

Superb is the best: pristine condition--as beautiful as the day it was made. Poor is the worst, indicating severe paper damage such as large tears or holes in the stamp or envelope. Few 80-year-old covers are superb due to normal paper aging, and very good or poor covers aren’t usually worth collecting.

Q: Please explain to me the difference between wholesale and retail prices. It seems that whenever I go to sell stamps, the dealers all offer me a lot less than what I think they are worth. But when they sell stamps to me, they demand top dollar. Aren’t stamp dealers supposed to be interested in promoting philately as a hobby? Why are they so greedy for the collector dollar from the very people who support them in their business?

--H.M. A: A couple dozen stamp dealers are listed in the phone books of Los Angeles County. In addition to these, there are maybe an equal number of part-time dealers here or mail-order dealers who don’t have walk-in stores. Some have been in business for many years; others recently got into the business.

One thing that you must always keep in mind is that dealers have to make a profit to make their efforts financially worthwhile. Some of them depend on their stamp income as their major source of living, the cash they use to pay their rent or mortgage and their food, car and clothing bills. Could you buy a stamp for $10, sell it at $12 and from the profit pay your business overhead and have enough left over to care for your family?

The world has many kinds of people. Some are crooks who are out to make a fast buck regardless of the consequences. I like to think that most stamp dealers are ethical business people who will offer a decent price when buying stamps from a collector and sell at equally fair prices. About 50% of the retail price might be a fair wholesale buying price for an average stamp. Many factors determine prices.

Q: What are the first Los Angeles Olympic stamps worth? I understand that there were two values issued.

--P.B. A: Correct. A 3-cent violet showing a runner at the starting mark, and the 5-cent blue issue illustrating Myron’s statue of a discus thrower were first sold on June 15, 1932, in honor of the 10th Olympic Games. Retail price is a couple of dollars for the set in mint condition; 25 cents canceled.