Dear friends, this evening I would like to discuss with all of you about a burning topic in our local philately, namely the infamous economic value of the stamps indicated in our catalogue.
Many speak of out-of-market values, prices that are too high, which deceive advanced collectors and scare novices; many argue that the market price is established by the results of public auctions or, even worse, by those relating to online sales platforms.
The reality is completely different.
For philatelic operators in the Italian area, the Sassone catalog is an important point of reference from which to start for a correct evaluation of the stamp.
First of all, it must be considered that the catalog price - unless expressly specified - refers to high quality stamps, absolute first choice, i.e. the top of the range of the cataloged stamp.
If, however, the specimen is less beautiful, even if it is first choice, it suffers losses which become exponentially lower in defective stamps, depending on the severity of the defect.
The table that the Sassone catalog reports at the beginning exemplifies very well how a stamp should be considered and how much it is actually worth commercially; today that the sector has suffered physiological declines, especially due to online sales, that table is to be considered reliable with a deviation of 50%, i.e. dividing the indicated percentages in half.
However, a second aspect must also be considered which the reader will certainly find interesting; not all the stamps in the Sassone catalog are easy to find and some are even unobtainable or unique. This involves a different perception of the rarity of that specimen which - obviously - will only be the prerogative of the great collector with great means, who will be ready to pay the right price (but sometimes even more!) to own it.
In essence, the catalog price is always adequate:
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to the rarity of the object;
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to the request there is for that type of object:
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the availability of a particular stamp on the market;
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the quantity of collectors who are interested in that object or that sector;
Consequently, the discounts on the marked price vary - for the same quality - depending on the type of stamp.
I can give several examples:
In the Polish Corps for example, there is no doubt that original cancellations are much rarer than stamps in new condition; but the used items of those issues are much less collected than the new ones, so the catalog value is often lower in the used ones than in the new ones despite it being considerably rarer, due to the lower demand in that sector.
In the tax post office in Bolzano (offices 1 and 3) the same thing happens, and so also in Rijeka.
In the Kingdom and the Colonies, however, second-hand stamps are much more collected and this leads to a valorisation of "original" postmarks over new stamps with intact rubber or hinged ones, and this has inadvertently caused the proliferation of ex-hinged or rubberless specimens with fake cancellations or favor, which have discouraged this type of collecting.
The catalog in fact puts generally high prices for used stamps of the Kingdom and Colonies, but refers to cancellations of certain and verifiable authenticity which - among other things - few experts are able to recognize without fail.
In the Ancient States the prices of new and used items follow a usage criterion; since the print runs are generally small and it is often possible with ease and good approximation to reason about how many copies have been used and how many have not, we will find issues in which the new one is very expensive (because very rare!) and the used one much less, or others in which is the opposite.
Think of the stamps of Romagna in which - with the exception of the 4 bajocchi which was the value always used in any case - the new one is always worth much less than the used one; or vice versa to those of Sardinia where generally - given the very prolonged use of its issues - it is the new one that has very high values while the used one is generally worth much less, except naturally for the high values (c. 80 and L. 3).
In short, there are many reflections that could be made on the Sassone catalog of the Italian area, but one thing is certain, it is an important and fundamental point of reference for all commercial operations linked to local philately, and the work behind it it is huge and done with great passion; beyond appearances and urban legends it remains an indispensable and reliable guide for both professional operators and collectors; the important thing is to adopt the right interpretation which is the fundamental basis for its correct and profitable use.
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Sono collezionista con particolare riferimento agli Antichi Stati del Regno di Sardegna e, all’interno, dell’Isola di Sardegna e del Regno d’Italia (usato). Condivido interamente l’analisi sul Catalogo Sassone, che personalmente trovo un irrinunciabile punto di riferimento che, per la tipologia del mio collezionismo unisco ad un irrinunciabile Catalogo Zanaria-Serra vol.I i Matraire d’Italia
Sono collezionista con particolare riferimento agli Antichi Stati del Regno di Sardegna e, all’interno, dell’Isola di Sardegna e del Regno d’Italia (usato). Condivido interamente l’analisi sul Catalogo Sassone, che personalmente trovo un irrinunciabile punto di riferimento che, per la tipologia del mio collezionismo unisco ad un irrinunciabile Catalogo Zanaria-Serra vol.I i Matraire d’Italia