I stock and sell more Australia Post Stamp Annual Year Books than anyone in Australia - by a country mile, as no other dealer bothers basically.  40 years of them have been issued now, and they come in Deluxe and Executive for each year - they literally take up a full storage room here! 

I keep them all in stock, 20 copies of most years, and some of the recent ones are quite pricey.  The 2018 seems unusually hard to source for some reason, and it sold out super fast  (possibly the Bird topical cover?) and my retail already on those is $A260 and $A290 - see for yourself the current Australia yearbook prices here - tinyurl.com/APyear 

The lesson is hopefully clear to all readers - do NOT miss out buying them each year, or you will get serious “sticker shock” if you do!  The last 5 years sell for well over $1,000 alone, for the cheapest versions of the PO Annual albums. 

I packed an order yesterday for those same 5 years, and the buyer near collapsed when I told him the invoice price!  Folks think nothing of paying $260 for an older stamp, but for a 2 year old yearbook??  Hard to grasp really.

Why is this so - because the recent ones are truly SCARCE.  If you asked me for TEN x 1932 5/- Sydney Harbour Bridges CTO, I can supply them ex stock on hand at around $A260 each - no problem.  Phone 20 other dealers, and you can round up 100+ more 5/- Bridges most likely.  Easily done. 

Ask those SAME 20 dealers how many 2018 Post Office Year Books they have in stock, and the TOTAL number on hand nationally will be pretty much zero.  I kid you not.  Ebay has none offered globally.  The same price point as the 5/- Bridge, but one is truly scarce, and one is not.  

Anyway, a 2020 Error Block with a future I suspect.  Visually very striking large stamps as you can see, and all are of important Aboriginal artist paintings hanging in the National Gallery of Australia (the error stamp) and Art Galleries of NSW and Victoria etc, etc. 

I had a few blocks central cancelled on the first day of issue of the Year Albums, and a few clients even asked me to use them as Registered franking on their orders, protected under plastic - postally used in the correct period will be very SCARCE

A 250g to 500g large letter now costs $5.50.  This block 4 is $5.50 face, the exact legal rate for that heavily used mail piece.  An A5 size envelope weighing 251 grams costs exactly $5.50, and easily fits a Hagner page etc when it arrives.  This block 4 affixed, pays the exact postage rate for such an A4/A5 size letter.

Indeed If mailed tomorrow, it was legally mailed at exact correct rate, within a week of being issued etc.  Getting such pieces BACKSTAMPED on arrival is really essential as 100% proof.  Many collectors for such items, print out the PO tracking path as well from the AP website, which confirms the lodgement, and transit and arrival dates and times etc.

All in all, something different and unusual, and pretty exciting, and stampboards.com as always, was the first globally with the breaking news that these errors existed, and alerted many readers to grab them if they could source any.  Many members were able to secure them in time.

Most relevant is that 99.9% of Annual album buyers will be TOTALLY unaware of this error, place it on the bookshelf, along with their other 40 volumes issued since 1981, so there will be surprisingly few blocks or books around in the stamp market, I feel sure.

Take a CLOSE look at the 1969 Hong Kong cover shown nearby.  It is a common 40c stamp, SG 259, and if this ugly hand addressed cover turned up in an estate lot here, it would end up in one of my weekly $100 Nuclear Waste Junk Cartons for CERTAIN!   Collectors of QE2 era FDC despise handwritten addresses, and this one looked like a Junker - to me anyhow.

A stampboards member called Anadon in the UK asked others this month did they have any idea why he was getting lots of emails and bids for it on eBay.  My comment was as above - it was an instant Junk Box item for me anyway - all day long.  Dreary and ho-hum subject matter, lowly catalogued stamp, and ugly addressed.

He started it at 99p, and within a short time the bidding had passed £100.  Anadon advised he had received private offers of £200 and £400 for it, and then one for £600.  The chorus was resounding to take the £600 offer (near $A1,200) and hope like heck the buyer was not playing silly games of some kind, which is commonplace on eBay. 

He cancelled the auction, started a Buy It Now listing for it, and got paid the £600.  He also charged buyer for full tracked/signed for/insured postage, to ensure there was not the widespread eBay scam of “Goods Not Received” where seller then loses the lot - the goods AND the postage cost.  Seems like it was all legitimate - in this case anyway.

Indeed, Anadon advised on stampboards that 10 minutes after he got paid the £600 plus shipping, someone offered him privately £700 = near $A1,400 for this cover!  I guess the one great sale like these makes up for the many Auction items that only sell for a small fraction of retail, or a scammer claiming it “never arrived” etc, and you lose the lot. 

I sold a superb used £1 Brown and Blue Kangaroo stamp for about that $1,400 sum!  The world has gone crazy when you see things like this, but it shows time and time again that not everyone knows everything, about all areas of stamps.  In 5 years’ time, would you rather own this rather boring looking cover, or a superb used £1 Brown and Blue Kangaroo stamp?   Hmmmm.  

An exciting and very significant new find was offered by Philas Stamp Auctions in Sydney in mid-November, as Lot 2208 in their Auction No. 136.  A set of 3 Die Proofs of the 1945 Duke and Duchess of Gloucester issue, was of a type that has not been previously seen for Australian Die Proofs in collector hands.  They were invoiced for near $A8,000.

As the proposed stamp design featured Royal portraits, it was necessary for the design to be approved by King George VI before printing.  For this purpose, a set of three die proofs was prepared by the Note Printing Branch Melbourne, in the proposed colours of the three stamps - 2½d Lake, 3½d Ultramarine and 5½d Indigo.

HOWEVER, uniquely here, each Die Proof was pulled from only the 2½d master die.  This procedure was followed so that, if adjustments were required to the design, these could be made to the master die, and then the 3½d and 5½d dies could be derived from the approved design.  No other set of proofs is recorded showing the proposed colour scheme using the master die only.

The three proofs are mounted in sunken matted frames as was usual, but unusually, they were then added into in a blue leather folder.  This folder would have been submitted to the Post Office for forwarding to the Australian High Commissioner in London, who in turn would have sent the proofs to Buckingham Palace for approval.                                                      

The proofs were accompanied by a letter from the Palace returning the proofs to Australia House, noting that King George VI had approved the design, and that the Duke had also seen the proofs.  It would seem that the proofs were not returned to Australia, but remained in London, where they may eventually have been souvenired by a staff member etc.

The set of 3 stamps were issued as we know, on February 19, 1945, and these proofs were mailed to UK in November 1944.  All very formal, seeing WW2 was still raging fiercely - the German unconditional surrender only took place on 8 May 1945, and Japan did not surrender until August 1945.  A very classy piece of history, that Temora on stampboards.com kindly shared.

COVID has left a terrible legacy re mail services.  This is my record trackable mail delay of all time - OVER EIGHT MONTHS from being mailed.  Can anyone beat this?   As far be seen, perfectly and clearly addressed.  No “mis-sent” or redirection notices etc - it just sat somewhere for 8 months.  We will never know where.

Containing 1000s of Rand at my cost, a £2 stamp, it was mailed Registered Airmail on MARCH 25 from Somerset, Cape Town, South Africa.  Weight was assessed at 28 grams, and 53.80 Rand postage was paid, as can be seen.  The letter recently arrived at my PO Box.  Over 8 months since being posted.

"SWLF" (South West Sydney Letter Facility) arrival in Australia, ink jet spray cancel of Nov 25 at top, and I asked my postmaster to handstamp it on arrival November 27, as can be seen.  I had written it off long ago as lost, and fully assumed I’d never see this stamp.

The sender seller was someone called Clinton Hale from "Cape Philatelics"  in Cape Town, whose website as shown on his letterhead in with the stamp, is now selling concrete sealant in 10 litre tubs, all in Chinese writing - www.capephilatelics.com - take a look - that inspires HUGE confidence!  NOT.

Hale was not responding to any of my emails in recent months to his various email addresses, asking him for a Registered number that I could track, so assumed I was sadly wearing the loss on this, and he had gone to ground, or had gone bust etc.  Or both. 

I could not even do a credit card/PayPal chargeback etc, as is usual in cases of non-receipt, as I had asked a local South African client to pay Hale direct in Rand in March, by local bank transfer.  They cannot be reversed.

Cape Philatelics at first glance appeared to me to be kosher, with lots of expensive material in stock on his site, so no way was I too worried initially, but I had never had any contact before with him.

However, now upon detailed checking, I see that Clinton Hale appears to be a member of NO stamp dealer bodies, not even the South African one. Always a flashing red light - so do keep that in mind for folks you have not bought off before.

Anyway, I'd long written off this scarce stamp, and it fortunately has now arrived.  South Africa has been a disaster for mail sadly, and even now, no letter mail is being accepted from here to there.  PARCELS take 2-3 months the AP website says, and one would ASSUME First Class letter mail would also be going sea, but in this case, clearly not.

If anyone has a sideline collection of COVID delayed mail, this one probably takes First Prize!?   Let me know - it will pay for a couple of beers!  Postal History of the future for sure, like Strike Mail and Crash Mail etc.  DO check your Post Office website re mail delays.  I have a banker in the Czech Republic wanting me to mail him a $500 Mafeking, Baden Powell stamp.

HOWEVER - near all mail to the Czech Republic is restricted (likewise to MANY other countries) - all Express and Courier services letters are simply not accepted to there from here by any Post Office, as can be seen on this constantly updated Australia Post website black list - tinyurl.com/AP-Covids  

I can send Registered Mail letters which is not cheap, and with the Third World Australia Post non-system, those are not tracked from here, which as you can see, they are saying is taking "25+ Working days" (= 5+ weeks) or more in transit, and is NOT signed for on arrival on the link above, Czech Post are clearly saying.

For some countries it is essentially impossible to mail stamps even now, and be SURE they will arrive, and get tracked.  And if they are not, buyer can simply initiate a refund from Credit Card company or PayPal, who pay out the total cost or goods plus shipping to buyer, if you cannot give them a link that PROVES it arrived.  So for stamp buyers in MANY countries this is the current mess.  And for about 9 months it has not got better.

Our totally incompetent Post Office here STILL does not offer any tracking whatever on the $16 Registered Mail pre-paid overseas envelopes.  Way too busy handing out $5,000 Cartier watches to the Executive team, which saw the current CEO Christine Holgate kicked out the door recently.  Good riddance - she achieved nothing much at all except huge price hikes.  Yes, we get a lodgement receipt for the article, but that is it.

 So if we use them, and the overseas buyer quite understandably wants to track it online, to see where their goods are, they simply cannot do that.  They cannot even see they have been lodged.  Zimbabwe level service, for a $16 "Registered" letter size price.  Foreign buyers think I am lying when I tell them that, as on the cusp of 2021 that is unthinkably primitive for most.  I agree.

I bought a carton of these very thick, Rigid card Express Post International envelopes shown nearby, some years back.  Good for a whopping 500 grams, and a generous 20mm thickness too.  PO offers nothing like that these days sadly.  POs here can still enter them into the computer, and give a lodgement receipt. 

Most countries these can be used to readily, and they DO seem to get signed for on arrival as they look "important" to PO staff overseas, but PO here cannot (now) accept them to places like South Africa or Czech Republic etc, that are on their website black list.

A normal air letter totally UNTRACKED from 250g-500g costs $A20 right now, and can take 3 to 5 months.  These get there very FAST, and get tracked as can be seen, and if anyone needs some, I sell sealed packs of 10 for $A180.  For eBayers and direct mailers, it is right now the ONLY thing that works to save you chargebacks, and hours of wasted time, and raised blood pressure, AND the real risk of losing the lot.

When THEY get into somewhere efficient and First World, like into the USPS system they provide total tracking events texted/emailed to you in real time.  Australia Post can tell me nothing about any of their Top End overseas mail items - only when they enter REAL PO systems, can we find out where they are! 

Crazy - but when it enters into a REAL and efficiently run Postal Service, such as the USPS still offers, despite Trump, we see this huge and helpful detail as shown on link here - and you get text/email updates for each movement of the item – take a look - tinyurl.com/GlenUSPS