I added the superb 1913 Brown and Blue £1 Kangaroo stamp shown nearby into stock this week for way less than the very heavy “MD47” postmark sold for at Public Auction.  Probably the finest SG 15 you will ever see, so we are in a strange hobby at times.  In 10 or 20 years times would I rather own the 1913 Brown and Blue £1 Kangaroo, or the heavy MD47 postmark, I ask myself?!   Hmmm. 

Often postmarks that you can barely read, can get very good money.  The 1905 postcard shown nearby was invoiced for $A4,775 in March 2021 at a Perth WA Public Auction.  Again, a LOT more in cost than a really superb mint 1913 £1 Kangaroo stamp.  Please excuse the very fuzzy ‘’C grade’’ scan - it was the very best one they offered on website.

The monocolour photo view card is franked with a common 1d red Swan, with usual “B” in bars Bunbury Duplex cancel of January 31, 1905.  Auction stated the faint oval cancel over the address reads "Post & Telegraph Office - 1 FE : 05 - Balbarrup W.A."   I cannot read either the date, or the town, from the poor scan, but the pen address is to Blackwood via Balbarrup, so it makes sense.

It was stated that this oval cancel had not been recorded before.  Anyway, clearly it created a good deal of interest in late March - described as only being in “fair” condition, estimate was $100, but it ended up being invoiced for $A4,775.  On WA stamps off cover, these violet oval WA cancels are often assumed to be fiscal, as they certainly have the appearance of them - so do keep your eyes open!

And other states like Tasmania also have an active and passionate following for numeral and town cancels, and have good rarity rating handbooks of course.  And that has been the case for many decades.  I have reported here before of the scarcer Tasmania town cancels fetching MANY $1000s, on the pictorial stamps, that otherwise are worth only pennies apiece.

I recently put into stock a pretty cds on a common 2d violet Pictorial stamp on small piece reading: “COMSTOCK - FE 21 - 02 - TASMANIA”  Comstock was a tiny remote speck of a Mining post office on the map, near Western Coast Zeehan Tasmania, that mined Silver and Lead mainly. 

The PO was opened 23 September 1901, and closed March 1903, so clearly few strikes were made, much less survived 120 years.  It has a high rated “RRRR” scarcity grading.  I have only put a few $100 on it, but complete cds cancels are highly sought.  Looks awful cheap compared to WA and Victoria!

Cancel collectors of course are pretty fussy with the quality of the strikes.  For some rarer offices only 1 or 2 or 3 examples are known, so a part strike will have to do.  Sometimes, that is all that exists.  But keen collector are always upgrading the strikes on those they have, and clear FULL cancels are what the Gold Standard is for them.  Be discerning.  You will not regret it. 

As I have typed many times before, postally used BLOCKS from his region are well worth securing when you see them offered - which is FAR less than you might imagine.  Demand is growing all the time, and prices often reach surprising levels when attractive blocks come onto the market.

The Melbourne Phoenix Public Action of April 15, 2021 had one block that caught my eye, as it had frantic bidding for it, and it is shown nearby.  The 2d brown-lilac roulette, 1858, SG 69, cat £13 a stamp used.  Rather attractive, with a central barred numeral 54 of Kilmore - not a cancel of any real scarcity.

The auction estimate was $A200 - a figure most dealers on the planet would have happily retailed it for I am sure, for a block cat only £52 = $A100.  After some intensive bidding, it was finally invoiced for $A4,775.  Or nearly 50 times the full Stanley Gibbons catalogue value.

The demand is there, and the supply is limited.  As the old saying goes - “Show Me Another”.  Maybe someone had an exhibit of this issue and needed a nice-looking piece to spruce up the pages - who knows?  But there were multiple bidders, and that is all it takes to get wacko prices.

One of these days, POSTALLY USED BLOCKS of Australian stamps will be listed in the ACSC, alongside the current columns of mint, used, and on cover - exactly as they are right now, in many European catalogues. 

When that occurs, prices will go quite insane, as quite simply - no dealer stock of these things exist. They often have enormous facial eye-appeal, as you can see in some of the photos in this article.  Each block is essentially unique.

One of my long term campaigns has been to convince readers - dealers and collectors, to put aside EVERY postally used block of Australia you ever see.  Right NOW most do not command much, if any, premium over 4 singles.  Grab them from ANY era - from 1913 to 2021.

I sold used blocks of 5/- mid 1930s 5/- Roos last month for $450 each to numerous enquiries, yet I just added to stock a Hagner of pre-decimal used blocks with a mid-60s 5/- postally used blocks for $A50!  There are still opportunities out there.

It was only 25 years back, that Monogram and Imprint blocks of Kangaroos sold for typically just 5 or so times the single stamp price. i.e. just a 25% premium for the margin monogram or imprint.  If a single stamp was retail $10, it meant an imprint or Monogram block 4 was $50 or so, if one were in stock, and this was the dealer rule of thumb here.

Arthur Gray’s collection of largely such rare Roo pieces sold for $A7.15 million at auction in New York, and he was buying them when they were surprisingly cheap, and not too long back, at a time when they oddly were largely ignored by all the rest of the stamp world – collectors and dealers - globally.

A world record price was obtained in that sale for a single Australian postage stamp.  Lot 287 was a facially attractive 1913 £2 black and red Kangaroo with lower sheet selvedge. This selvedge bore the "JBC" margin monogram of the Commonwealth stamp printer, J. B. Cooke. 

Every post office sheet of 120 printed at that time contained two marginal monograms.  One at base of each pane of 60.  Despite that reality, the copy shown on the photo nearby is the only example recorded outside the Royal Stamp Collection and the Australia Post archives.

This stamp was hinged, had a crease and a toned perforation, but sold after vigorous bidding for $US132,000 = then $A176,930, to the Australian dealer the late Simon Dunkerley - who was buying for a client here, so clearly he paid Simon more than that.  The estimate was "only" $US50 000-$75,000.

This stamp is SG 16, and was then catalogued in Gibbons at only £3,000 as mint hinged. The basic mint stamp within a few years was cat £6,500 - showing perfectly, that buying the tougher, and pricier, stamps from ANY country, as soon as you can, always pays off pretty fast!

This record price means the buyer effectively paid over $A170,000 for the tiny piece of selvedge paper!  The full ACSC catalogue price for this very same Monogram stamp in 1988 was just $9,000 (and $4,000 for NON monogram.)  So within 19 years it sold for TWENTY times that.  Current ACSC value is $200,000.

Without the marginal marking, the stamp would not have even realised anything like £3,000 then, due to the condition issues in my view.  No other country places such gigantic premiums on Monogram, or Imprint, or plate number markings.  But as I said earlier - 20 or 30 years back, oddly no-one was especially interested.

The auctioneer of the Arthur Gray Kangaroos collection Charles Shreve in New York, was VERY nervous when I was having this photo taken nearby, in case the $177,000 stamp fell into my coffee, and torpedoed his record sale price!

Many major European basic catalogues as a matter of course, list stamps mint, used, FDC, on cover and in USED blocks of 4.  Look at a Swiss/Liechtenstein Zumstein, or leading Italian or Scandinavian catalogues etc, and you will see what I mean.

Even the Stanley Gibbons Specialised catalogues for GB list and price near all pre-war issues from 1840, in used blocks of 4.  So it can be done here, and it should be done here.  And hopefully with all the refinements and additions to ACSC, they will be listed soon.

Stamps worth peanuts as singles, are often worth a FORTUNE in a postally used block, in many European markets.  Swiss stamps issued in the Kangaroo era can catalogue 500 times as much in a used block, as for a used single.

The 1914 3Fr Jungfrau is in the basic Zumstein catalogue I have here is 3,250 SFr a used block, but only 8 SFr for a used single.  Many Kangaroos should rate high multiples like that in blocks.  But right now they sell for 5 or 10 times a single stamp!

The same rarity level applies in some Australian stamps of course.  But NOT the prices - YET.  The market leading Facit catalogue does the same for Sweden and Scandinavia area stamps, and has done for 100+ years. 

In my office Facit catalogue, the common old cheapie Sweden 1858 12 öre blue Arms (Facit # 9) is priced at “x 500” for a block of four.  That stamp is 18 SEK for the cheapest shade for a used single, but 9,000 SEK for a used block of four of the cheapest shade. 

Australia’s leading collector, the late Arthur Gray and I discussed this subject at length, and he agreed with me there are very few instances where no used blocks are recorded from 1913 to 2015 - and even then, we are only guessing they are not out there. 

The £1 Bi-Colour Kangaroo block 4 shown nearby was used in 1923, and first surfaced on the market in late 2008 - 85 years after being used. Until then it had been “assumed” no postally used blocks of this value existed.

For years I have been urging the editor of the ACSC to list used blocks of 4 of all Australian issues, and I feel sure one day they will relent, and create this new category.  Adding a large slab of brand new collectors, seeking these elusive pieces.

It will give added reason for folks to buy each new edition of each catalogue, and will not take any more space or pages than they do now, as they will simply add the universal cross hair “block” symbol to all current listings as they now do in Europe =

I have discussed this with leading dealers, and all agree the demand for used blocks is increasing all the time.  Richard Juzwin told me he fully agrees the market vastly under-values such material at present, and that he is actively buying them whenever he sees them on offer, and hopes the ACSC lists them in future.

Juzwin told me he was the under-bidder on the used block of £1 Bi-Colour Kangaroos shown nearby, at Leski’s auction in Melbourne some years back now. Those stamps are 3rd watermark, and were invoiced to the buyer at just on $A20,000.  As 4 singles they would have sold for under a QUARTER of that sum.

Indeed both the block 4, or 4 singles, would sell for far more today … the market on £1 Kangaroo bi-colours is extremely strong in all forms and variations.  A popular stamp in all its possibilities, and is the Westpac Bank Share of the stamp market. 

The auctioneer Charles Leski, told me the vendor bought the block in to show him, housed in a cheap $5 type “Chinese stockbook” of otherwise quite unremarkable stamp junk.  The vendor had no idea it was valuable, so the $20,000 price must have amazed him.

This block had been in the family for decades, and was never sold for 3 generations.  It had presumably been soaked off a parcel at the time of receipt, in 1923.  An equally nice looking 1913 £1 FIRST Watermark Roo, postally used block of 4 came up at a stamp auction in Wales UK, some years back.

Myself, Simon Dunkerley and Tony Shields and several others, all bid strongly on it, only to see Stanley Gibbons London outbid us all.  So these high value used Kangaroo blocks DO exist for sure, and are worth seeking out and grabbing when you see them.  You clearly may NOT see it offered again.

Most if not all of the Kangaroo stamps in all watermark are known in used blocks, and the PO archive sales offered the First Watermark bi-colour high values up to £2 in used blocks, with Brisbane cancels.  Several of which to £1 I have handled and sold since - the 10/- is shown nearby.  A very pretty piece.  Wish I had not sold it!

The 1913 £2 with that same cancel was on the front cover of the last ACSC “Kangaroos” catalogue in a used block of 4.  There is also a used imprint block of 8 of the £2 Third Watermark “OS” in private hands, and other £2 used blocks etc. 

Even relatively late issue Roos get good prices in blocks.  I offered the 1932 CofA 5/- in used blocks on my Rarity Page for $425 each earlier this year.  As 4 singles - only a fraction of that retail.  One was postally used at CUE Western Australia in 1935, the other at Devonport Tasmania in 1936.

On both occasions I received several orders for both, within a day.  My system is to place a fixed asking price on items, and the first person to complete an order form, secures the lot.  Sometimes I wish there was an “Auction” type option there, but fair nett asking prices seem to work pretty well.

In these cases the fast response underscores the latent demand out there, and trust me, if you phoned EVERY stamp dealer on this planet and asked them to quote you on a USED 5/- Kangaroo block of 4 in ANY condition, you would find no-one could assist. They are truly scarce.

Contact 100 dealers and ask them to quote you on a 1932 5/- Sydney Harbour Bridge stamp, and most will respond - “mint or used sir, and how many do you require?”   So used blocks of 4 of 5/- Kangaroos etc for around the same money, are placed into sharp perspective!

Like many Australians I’ve owned several of these, and the new stamp set bought back some fond memories.  My father bought an “FJ” Holden brand new, the year I was born, when it was released in 1953.  Gawd knows how, on his salary - I think it was on the time payment “never-never” for a decade or so! 

“Through our stamp releases, we are in a unique position to highlight and honour important Australian icons and this stamp issue recognises the incredible impact that Holden had on the Australian cultural fabric,” said Nicole Sheffield, Australia Post Executive General Manager Community and Consumer Division.

Marc Ebolo, Managing Director of GM Australia and New Zealand, said it was a privilege for the Holden brand to be honoured in this way: “These five stamps feature iconic vehicles which encapsulate the passion people have for the brand, whether they be past employees who helped develop these vehicles, or those who purchased them."