![]() |
Canadian Stamp Auctions |
Stamp Market Commentary |
Commentary No. 79 - 17 January, 2006
The Market for Canada’s Stamp Booklets
For some reason, Canada’s stamp booklet prices have not advanced in a noticeable way over the years. This is the general case for which, as usual, there are some exceptions, particularly amongst the varieties. For example, take this booklet pane that sold at Charles G. Firby’s sale of the James W. Goss collection on June 29, 2003:
![]()
Lot 18
Estimate $2500 U.S.
Realized $3000 U.S. ($4050 Cdn)This booklet would ordinarily have a catalogue value of $180, but with the No. 6 inscribed in the tab, the price realized jumped to $4050. This was clearly an exceptional variety.
Canadian booklet prices
We have carried out a general review of the prices recorded for Canadian booklets in both the Scott and Unitrade catalogues and can summarize our conclusions as follows:
•With rare exception, the prices shown in recent years in the Scott catalogue for booklet panes issued between 1898 and 2005 show little or no change.
•Around 1995, Scott expanded its coverage of booklets and began to show prices for complete booklets as well. However even these prices have shown little or no change since their introduction.
•The Unitrade catalogue, on the other hand, has a completely separate section for complete booklets, ie, those still in their cover. It has tracked the values of these booklets from the start ie from 1898 to today. What we have found is that those prices remained unchanged in Unitrade’s catalogues for most recent years up to and including the 2005 edition. But when the 2006 catalogue was issued, the prices for many if not most of the complete booklets issued before 1953 saw substantial gains. Examples of Scott Prices for Booklet Panes
Here are the figures showing the changes in the prices of booklets in the past 5 years:
ScottDescription 2002 2006 $ $ 77 b2¢ Victoria 2000 2350 90 b2¢ Edward 1500 1500 104 a1¢ Admiral 35 35 105 a1¢ Admiral 90 90 107 b2¢ Admiral 100 105 149 a1¢ Scroll 30 30 153 a5¢ Scroll 160 160 163 a1¢ Arch 130 130 164 a2¢ Arch 35 35 195 a1¢ Cameo 105 105 196 a2¢ Cameo 105 95 217 a2¢ 1935 issue 75 70 232 a2¢ Mufti 15 16 249 a1¢ War 4 4 341 a5¢ Wilding 1 1 458 a5¢ Centennial 4 4 459 a6¢ Centennial 6 6 543 a7¢ Centennial 2 2 923 a30¢ Artifacts 10 10 926 d34¢ Artifacts 12 12 1163 b37¢ Definitive 18 18 1189 c39¢ Definitive 50 50 1315 b40¢ Gardens 6 6 1359 b43¢ Flag 20 20 1515 b43¢ Rivers 7 7 1696 a95¢ Maple leaf 6 7 1705 a46¢ Flag 18 21 1715 a45¢ Fishing 7 10 1765 a52¢ Christmas 9 12 1879 a60¢ Red fox 5 8We could only find two exceptions in all this period of time where the values increased in a noticeable way. The difference was sufficient to merit special mention and these were as follows:
![]()
Scott 1356b
2002 Scott $35
2006 Scott $70
Scott 1373c
2002 Scott $10
2006 Scott $14Until the end of the 1980s, Canada Post issued booklets sparingly. They were found almost exclusively amongst the definitive sets. However, beginning in the 1990s, booklets began to be issued containing not only definitive but also commemorative stamps. Here is an example of a commemorative booklet:
![]()
Scott 1273b
Unitrade Catalogue prices
The Unitrade catalogue provides far greater detail than Scott in its coverage of the booklet prices. The experience here is that, like Scott, the prices of the regular booklets have not advanced. However Unitrade covers two aspects of these booklets that are not found in Scott. First, it provides prices for complete booklets from 1898 to date whereas, as mentioned above, Scott only starts this process around 1995. Furthermore, for the earlier years, Unitrade provides prices for many booklet varieties not found in Scott. As will be shown below, the prices for the pre-1953 complete booklets have shown good advances in Unitrade this year as have the prices for a few of the booklet varieties.
Examples of Unitrade Prices for complete booklets
UnitradeDescription 2002 2005 2006 $ $ $ BK 22¢ Edward VII 3000 3000 4750 BK3c1¢ Admiral 45 45 250 BK 4a1¢ Admiral 200 200 700 BK 5a2¢ Admiral 250 250 750 BK 111¢ Scroll 150 150 200 BK 141¢ Arch 175 175 250 BK 201¢ Medallion 150 150 325 BK 21a2¢ Medallion 100 100 500 BK 271¢ 1935 issue 200 200 300 BK 28a1¢ Mufti issue 20 20 55 BK 29a2¢ Mufti issue 20 20 60 BK 32a1¢ War issue 12 12 35 BK 34a3¢ War issue 5 5 14 BK 39a3¢ War issue 20 20 44 BK 40a3¢ Geo. VI 7 7 11 BK 41a4¢ Geo. VI 14 14 30
Examples of Unitrade Prices for booklet varieties
UnitradeDescription 2002 2006 $ $ 104 ai1¢ Admiral-hairlines 35 100 107 bi2¢ Admiral-pyramid guidelines 3500 4200 163 cii1¢ Arch-tab 4 75 140 164 aii2¢ Arch-tab PLATE 75 200 164 aiii2¢ Arch-perforations on right 150 400 165 bi2¢ Arch-tab PLATE 75 120 166 cii2¢ Arch-tab 4 75 150 195 bi1¢ Cameo-tab PLATE 75 125 196 bi2¢ Cameo-tab PLATE 75 200 254 ai2¢ War-larger tab 3 10 287 bi4¢ George-stitched 75 90 460 aiii6¢ Centennial- HB DEX 2000 3500
ConclusionWhat does all this mean for the average collector? Unfortunately it means that all the money spent to buy booklets in the past 50 years will not bring much reward. This is similar to the conclusion we reached when we did a review of the prices for Canada’s First Day Covers in our Commentary No. 46. However, for those collectors who have carefully acquired complete booklets issued before 1953 or have invested in some of the more valuable varieties of the earlier booklets such as those listed above, the returns may have been very good.
It took a long time for the increases in the earlier complete booklets to be recognized in the catalogues. One obviously has to be very patient. It took over 50 years in some cases for the rarity of some of the booklets to attract collectors’ attention at auction. It may take decades before some of the booklets that are around today will become recognized as rare in future. It is this hope that keeps us all going but we sure have to be patient!
![]()
![]()
©2006, Canadian Stamp Auctions Ltd., Montréal, Québec, Canada