UNITED STATES HIGH VALUE STAMPS

Todays postage rate is 46 cents, yet the Post Office keeps printing high value stamps for heavy packages, priority mail, and express mail. I now have up for 7 day auction a selection of these higher value stamps that you may now obtain for your collection. Go to eBay and then go to the 99centstampsandmore. Below are samples of stamps for sale. Mostly mint never hinged. click here

1995-1998 SHEETS 32 CENT

This is for the full sheet collectors. Listed today on the eBay site of 99centstampsandmore, 40 different 32 cent sheets all in mint never hinged condition, are offered auction style, starting at 99 cents. These sheets were printed from the years 1995-1998. Here is the opportunity to fill in your missing sheets at a great price. Remember this is a 7 day auction beginning today 7-19-13, don't miss out on this great opportunity Shown below is a couple of sample of items on sale. Check the listings near the bottom of the page: click here

2000 LEGENDS OF BASEBALL SCOTT #3408

Post Office honoring past greats of baseball, such as Jackie Robinson, first black man to play in Major League baseball. Honus Wagner, early great who set many records of the time. And of course such sluggers as Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig who between them made the New York Yankees the greatest team of all times. Great pitchers like Dizzy Dean and Cy Young are also featured on this souvenir sheet. Babe Ruth set the home run record in 1927 at 60 home runs. Since then, Roger Maris hit 61 home runs, with an asterisk after his name because the season was extended from 154 games, when Ruth played, to 162 games when Maris hit his 61 home runs. Since Maris, a lot more players during the steroid period in baseball, have hit more home runs, but baseball purists feel it was the steroids and not the players. In the early days of baseball Cy Young was considered the greatest pitcher of his era, that todays end of the year award to the best pitcher for the season is called, you guessed it, The Cy Young award. Another featured player Roberto Clemente who died at the height of his career in a plane crash during a humanitarian mission.

                               

1998 ALFRED HITCHCOCK SCOTT #3226

If you look in the upper left corner of the stamp, you will see the instantly recognizable silhouette of Alfred Hitchcock. What makes this different and unique, is the silhouette is actually die cut into the stamp. This was the Post Office first attempt at a new design featuring die cut. You have to click on the stamp to get an enlarged picture to see the silhouette.






                           

1995 COMIC STRIP CLASSICS SCOTT #3000

For the last 100 years the comics have been a purely American art form. The Postal Service estimates 113 million people read the Sunday comics regularly. The post office has printed a souvenir sheet commemorating the first 50 years of the funnies. A little known fact: the term "yellow journalism" got it's name from the first American comic strip, The Yellow Kid. On the front of each stamp is a picture from a comic strip and the rear of the stamp has a history of that comic strip. This "Comic Strip Classics" souvenir sheet will become to all collectors a classic sheet to collect.





                            

1995 CIVIL WAR SHEET SCOTT #2975

This sheet is for Civil War buffs as well as for stamp collectors. The designs for the 20 stamps were painstakingly researched by leading authorities. Each stamp is historically accurate, right down to the bridles used on the horses. See pictures of histories greatest people of that time, such as, Robert E. Lee, Clara Barton, Ulysses S. Grant, Jefferson Davis, Fredrick Douglas, and Abraham Lincoln, etc.






                            

1992 WILDFLOWER SHEET SCOTT #2647-96

Exquisite flowers in vivid colors make this 50 stamp sheet one of the most popular among collectors. The Postal Service was so sure this sheet would be one of their best sellers, that they actually printed 3 times the amount of this sheet than they would have of any other commemoratives. All of the wild flowers shown on these stamps are indigenous to America and at least one of the flowers can be found in each of the 50 States.





                             

 

1987 WILDLIFE SHEET SCOTT #2286-2335

Since 1976, fifty stamp sheets have been extremely popular. This colorful sheet was no exception, featuring wildlife from every state. Artist Chuck Ripper, wildlife designer for the Postal Service, researched and selected the animals, birds, and insects that are depicted on these beautiful stamps. Even if you are not an animal lover, you have to appreciate the beauty of these stamps.





                              

STATE BIRDS AND FLOWERS SCOTT# 1953-2002

On April 14, 1982, The United States Postal Service issued a 50 stamp souvenir sheet of the state birds and flowers of every state in the union. Each stamp depicted each state's bird and flower. What makes this issue interesting is that the state birds were painted by artist Arthur Singer and the flowers were painted by his son Alan Singer.




                         

"THAT'S ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND"

On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong  spoke the words. "that's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind", as he stepped out of the lunar module "Eagle" and onto the surface of the moon. 25 years later, the Post Office printed this souvenir sheet honoring the first moon landing.





                          

MODERN DAY ERROR---LEGENDS OF THE WEST

In 1994 the Post Office printed a souvenir sheet named "Legends Of The West". This souvenir sheet consisted of twenty 29 cent stamps of different famous characters of the wild west. The sheet consisted of 4 rows of 5 stamps each. Row two, second stamp from the left is a picture of the famous rodeo cowboy Bill Pickens. The problem was on the first issue the picture depicted was Bill Pickens brother Ben. As soon as the post office realized their error, they withdrew the sheets from sale and reprinted the sheet with the correct picture. Soon after, the Postal Service decided to sell 150,000 of the error sheets by mail order lottery. Today, that error sheet that originally sold for $5.80, sells today for about $300.00. Below is a picture of the re-printed sheet.



                     

24 cent INVERTED JENNY AIRMAIL Error

The most famous of all the printing errors in the world, and the most sought after stamp is the 24 cent inverted Jenny. This error was created May 10, 1918.  The center image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane was printed first, with the frame added second; it is the frame that is actually printed upside down, not the center image of the Jenny. Only one sheet of 100 stamps of the inverted stamp was produced, making this stamp error one of the most desired stamp in philately history.

In October 2005 Bill Gross bought a numbered block of 4 for $2,970,000.00 and then traded it to Mystic Stamp Company for  a 1 cent Z grill stamp, (only two exist).

On January 12, 2008, Stamp Wants.Com gave away an inverted Jenny as a promotion. This represented the most expensive stamp ever given away. The winner was a California man by the name of John Shedlock.



                       

FIRST U.S. POSTAGE STAMP SCOTT #1 BEN FRANKLIN

The first U.S. postage stamp went on sale July 1, 1847 with the picture of Benjamin Franklin, known as the father of the post office. Before stamps, letters were marked PAID by pen and ink with various hand-stamping devices. On July 26, 1775 Franklin was appointed by the Continental Congress as the first Postmaster General of the Confederation. Franklin known as one of the most famous of all Americans, was a statesman, author, and inventor. Without knowing we tend to use axioms every day that is contributed to Benjamin Franklin, such as a "Penny saved is a penny earned" and "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. As an inventor he gave us items such as bifocals, swim fins, odometer, and lightning rod. As a statesman he helped to write the Declaration of Independence,
The second U.S. stamp honor went to the "Father of the Country" George Washington. Washington was general of the army during the Revolutionary War and led us to victory over the English, he then became the first president of the United States.

WHY DOES eBAY BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS THEM?

Today's rant.

eBay recently raised their listing fees on auction type listings from 10 cents to 30 cents (200%) increase. They also raised their final value fee to 10%.  They want and encourage you to start your auction type listings at 99 cents, which I do.  Say the item ends up selling for the 99 cents, I now have paid about 40 cents to e-bay even before I collect the 99 cents from the buyer. When buyer pays for the item, PayPal (owned by eBay) takes their percentage. Guess who makes money on the transaction and guess who does all the work and loses money on the transaction?

WHY DOES eBAY BITE THE HAND THAT FEEDS THEM?

It's late at night, but I had to get this off my chest before I went to sleep. Good night!