The case for obtaining your New Issues from an expert specialist
dealer.
To this day, new issues remain the entry point for many collectors
embarking on "one country" philately. New Zealand is
no different, and for the tens of thousands of people worldwide
collecting New Zealand new issues - from singles to plate
blocks or other variations - they are the primary source of their
collecting interest. It has always been so.
These days, with the mass of "products" and souvenirs being
generated by many postal administrations throughout the world - again
New Zealand Post is no different - "new issues" may include
quite a large amount of material which traditionally would
not have been regarded as new issues at all. The question
of "what is collectable and what is not" is going to be a major
decision to make for most collectors. I believe that
most will simply opt for a new issue supply from a new issue
dealer or direct from the Post Office, including all of the
products and new issues which are brought out in any given
year. However, is this the best course to take?
In considering the options, clearly a specialist dealer - or
any other dealer for that matter - has to make a margin above
face value in order to justify his handling new issues and
coping with the large capital input that this takes to run
an adequate new issues service. And, as we all know,
capital costs money. As a result of this, some of the
new issue dealers in the UK and elsewhere add quite large margins
over face - up to 100% - in dealing with new issues.
At Campbell Paterson, for a new issue supply of single copies
of each stamp or set issued, we add 50% margin over face - a
little more where plate block, variety block, First Day Cover,
Miniature Sheet, booklet and so forth, are concerned. In
other words, where a selection of suitable material is required,
the margin is slightly higher. In return for the profit
he makes, the specialist dealer offers a range of advantages
to new issue collectors, which in turn provide strong reasons
why you should seriously consider him for your new issue supplies.
These are:
- Selection. Postal administrations today
add in a lot of special "products" and "souvenirs" to their
new issue supplies. Many of these will never had
a place in philately and probably never achieve listing
in the specialised Catalogues - in the case of New Zealand
Stanley Gibbons/Campbell Paterson. We can state this
with absolute certainty. The question then has to
be asked, "however 'collectable' a collector may consider
them, are such products in the right place in a traditional
philately collection?". The answer almost certainly
is "NO", except where they are validly issued through the
Post Office and display some difference in mesh, perforation,
or other characteristic, which may gain them a Catalogue
listing on legitimate grounds.
- A specialist dealers such as Campbell Paterson Ltd reviews
all of the products put on the market by New Zealand
Post and while giving the collector a full option of all
of those products, makes a judgment as to whether individual
issues fit into a traditional philately pattern. The
safeguards, to you the collector, are quite clear. Firstly,
you only purchase material which is going to obtain listing
in an authoritative and well-acknowledged traditional philatelic
publication like Stanley Gibbons or Campbell Paterson
catalogues. Secondly, you do not pour money into
items which are generated purely for the collectables market
and which, from a philatelic point of view, will ever have
any significance. The savings inevitably are considerable.
- You obtain the material direct from the source as soon
as it is issued. We review all of the new issues
coming out through New Zealand Post and plan our sendings
and submissions to collectors of new issues accordingly. You
should never miss out on an issue or receive it any later
than you require it.
- Absolute guarantee. The validity of all
issues sent out under our new issue service is absolutely
guaranteed, as is the condition, which carefully vetted
and reviewed. The advantage of having a specialist
dealer check your material for condition and long-term
value-holding becomes immediately obvious. It means
that all of the stamps which go into your collection will
be of assured and guaranteed quality and value holding
in the future.
Regrettably, Post Offices generally do not have the time, or the knowledge
and experience, to apply this sort of expertise to your new issue sendings
and the results may be disappointing for those who accept and pay for
less than top quality material, however seldom this may happen.
- Approval or return. All sendings are strictly
on approval and you are never obliged to hold any material. If
you change your mind about any category of material to
collect, then you may send it back within a fourteen day
period with a simple explanation.
- Cost savings. For all of our new issue/variety
sendings, we use unregistered mail at our own risk which
in the long run means considerable savings for you, the
collector, and considerably more security as sendings are
not interrupted and opened, with the possibility of interference
and loss/damage. The gains to you as a collector,
over time, are obvious.
- Used. You receive circular date stamp used
copies and where possible these will be genuinely commercially
used. While all stamps cannot be supplied as genuine
commercially used for obvious reasons - mainly availability - the
advantages are that you would receive value c.d.s. cancellations
and top quality used.
- A chance to receive really scarce issues. Dealing
with a specialist dealer like Campbell Paterson, the expertise
which is applied to the sourcing, selection and supply
of your new issues, may include the benefit of scarce - even
rare - varieties being included from time-to-time in your
sendings, usually at a new issue rate. This can have
huge benefits for a collector where issues are short-lived
and may not after a week or so, be available through the
Post Office. For instance, we have been known to
scour local Post Offices for scarce issues of booklets
or hangsell packs where it has been necessary to complete
short supplies for our new issue clients. These we
have been glad to send out at little over new issue rates
and they have later appeared in the catalogue at considerably
enhanced valuations. New issue clients and new variety
collectors dealing with us have reason to be pleased about
that! Collectors would otherwise not be offered such
material perhaps until years later to complete their collections
and the fact that an experienced expert dealer was working
on their needs from the first day of issue means that they
receive a considerable benefit in the completion and long-term
value of their collections.
This applies to all categories of scarcer material like short-lived
issues, booklets, rarer plate blocks, hangsell packs, miniature sheets,
and any other valid issues which for one reason or another may simply
not be available in sufficient supplies through New Zealand Post. While
we cannot guarantee to get every item, we go to considerable lengths
to make sure that collectors are offered a complete range of new issue
and variety material and the results of that in the collections of
our clients become obvious over time.
Collectors interested in receiving these and all the other
benefits of dealing with an expert should consider purchasing
their new issues through CAMPBELL PATERSON LTD and should contact
us asking for further details or an approval sending without
obligation. |
