This weekend there were lots of stamps dealers out in the sun. Funny, in a big city like this with so much wealth there are few dealers - the only street level dealer is Champion on West 54th Street, they are only open M-F 10-4. So it is hard to find dealers many times in the city that never sleeps. Part of it was the Pier 51 show, where a few dealers hawked stamps among the antiques.
There are of course top specialists, Harmer, Anglo-American, Cherrystone, etc., and lots of eBay dealers. But gut level stamps dealers are few and far between. For 20 years Terry held court at the Chelsea Antiques Market inside the garage; the owners of that facility were given a large stack of cash to let it be torn down and so the dealers moved across the street to the outdoor market, which now charges patrons $1 to enter. Lots of angry regulars decided not to go anymore, and the stamp dealers there moved to W39th Street, in what is known as Hell's Kitchen Market, between 9th and 10th Avenues.
I happened to notice a number of butterfly stamps there, spectacularly displayed under glass, including the 1960 China set, of which there are 20. Along with that were lots of other Chinese offerings, many in that same 1960s Cultural Revolution era; including the Mei Lan Fang stamps, which are with some more popular even than Chairman Mao. Fang was a female impersonator.
The prices were great too, with better deals than eBay for many issues in the best of condition/MNH. Hopefully they will continue to set up midtown, this part of Manhattan is by the way getting to be a very hot locale what with the Highline and all the surrounding development.
The reason for so few approachable dealers is the rent; decades ago stamps dealers were abundant on the Bowery, but the prices of a storefront drove them off and the prices up. Flea markets can be good places to buy stamps - but also particularly bad as many dealers get absolute common stamps and either from lack of knowledge of the price of just sheer greed, charge many times the price. At the same market on hapless dealer tried to tell me an item was well over $50 as it was marked so years ago; the item hardly commands $5 and it was marked 50c years ago. But that does not stop some of the delusional merchants from trying to get a high high price. My advice is to deal with those who give you the catalogue price and number and allow you to examine the stamps with a pair of tongs.
With that in mind, you can have a great time both adding to your collection in the city while strolling about the town.
Do, by the way, check out the aforementioned Highline, it starts at Ganesvoort Street and stretches to 34th mostly along 10th Avenue.
Saturday, September 27, 2014
Monday, September 8, 2014
Upcoming stamp show in NYC 12-14 September 2014
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