STAMPFINDER REPORTS ON 1999
PRICE CHANGES IN SCOTT VOLUME THREE

Continuing their review of the Scott Catalog price changes for investment caliber stamps (those cataloging $50 or more), StampFinder has completed their examination of prices changes for Volume Three which covers countries G through I. As with Volume One, this catalog shows relatively few price changes and those are restricted to a few countries. A total of 4,275 mint items cataloged $4,746,000, an increase of only .78% (less than one per cent) over 1998. Used items totaling 3,039 cataloged $4,474,000 for a .02% overall increase.

While the cover of the catalog announces it contains over 12,000 price changes, clearly they were in the cheaper material. Only 385 mint and 225 used items showed any price change. StampFinder suspects that most price changes were across the board factoring rather than discreet adjustments.

Major countries that showed little or no increase were Germany, Great Britain, Greece and India. Countries showing meaningful increases were Hong Kong (4.7%) and Iran (10.0%). Israel also showed some life with a modest 2.7% increase. Honduras showed an overall increase of 16.3% solely because of a price increase on one stamp (C12) which sold at auction for $75,000 and had a catalog price of $60,000.

Richard Lehmann, President of USID Inc., the owners of StampFinder, noted that a mere 31 mint stamps priced over $1,000 accounted for over 100% of the year to year change in Volume Three. Since only 385 items had a price change, it means the remaining items were equally balanced between price increases and decreases. He noted, "From speaking with dealers, we get the distinct impression that the stamp business is picking up. However, one is hard put to see this from looking at catalog prices. It seems that, so far, dealers are meeting increased demand by tightening up on discounts from catalog prices. As supplies tighten, however, we should see significant price rises as well."

Below is a year to date summary of price changes in the $50 and up category for Volumes 1 through 3: