BARGAIN BRITISH STAMPS FROM A YESTERYEAR ! (FREE CALCULATOR)
Posted: Wed May 20, 2020 10:05 am
I was fortunate enough a couple of years ago in obtaining a calculator that gave you what the £ was worth in the past in comparison to it's worth today and as a stamp collector of many British periods, I thought it would be nice to know just how much people had paid for a particular stamp or set of stamps when they were on issue at post office counters in the past, taking into consideration inflation and as to what the face value would be today for comparison.
The calculator was created by Kate Rose Morley and is free to download for anyone wanting to obtain it. The site for this device can be found on the following :- http://inflation.Iamkate.com/
All you have to do is to enter a specific amount in the top column that the stamp or article was originally purchased for. If the stamp purchased was prior to 1971, and the amount of less than a £ be required you will have to convert the old money into decimal as there was 240 pennies to the old £. The calculation is as follows .....
Say it was 5/6d, the 5/- would be 5 x by 12= 60+the 6 odd pennies, giving a total of 66 you then ÷ the amount by 240 to give •275, it's only worth taking the amount to 4 decimal places. It's a pity that Kate didn't include the conversion as an optional input for these amounts other than the complete £.
We all know that over the years the £ has depreciated due to inflation, and with this little gadget you can seek out bargains that you never thought existed. Take for instance a 1/3d common definitive stamp purchased in 1963, once converted the amount comes to •0625,when you enter this amount into the calculator you will find that it's now worth £1•27 at 2018's valuation, the same stamp purchased from a dealer (dependent on where you go) is being offered for sale of between 15 to 20p. A stamp with a current face value of £1.27 based on inflation that is now being sold for around 15 p ! That's a laugh
One of the best bargains of the earlier Queen Elizabeth commemoratives would be the 1961 C E PT set with a face value of one shilling and 4 pence, the equivalent now being worth approximately £1•46 based on its original face value in 1961 taking inflation into consideration which is currently being sold for around 15 to 20p ! That's a whopping 88½% off the original face value to take into account, add to the equation that less than 5½ million were issued/sold of the 10d value, much less than most commemoratives of that period. The very fine used of this set are also worth snapping up if you can find them around that price
By the way did you know that in 1840 68,158,080 1d blacks were sold, comprising of 283,992 sheets (just for the record) and comparison.
CEPT : Quantities sold/issued :-
2d 47,530,920 : 4d 7,614,480 : 10d 5,427,780 You will also notice on the u/m 4d there's a definite blue upper shift above the bird and Queen's portrait as with the insignia giving a ghost-like image, another interesting feature is the pink to the upper right of the " T " in the insignia has also shifted, but not listed as a flaw, I would still classify it as a variety though as this would have affected the whole sheet during printing, here is a close-up of the occurrence :- The last scan depicts the set very fine used Now that's what I call the bargain of the century if purchased for 15p, and all due to inflation, this period however unlike the later 60s was not overly speculated on, but unfortunately have been tarred with the same brush, it would appear that the property market has gone in the opposite direction, therefore, I would never recommend stamps to be an investment, as the hobby relating to collecting in general should be on a "purely for pleasure" basis.
Back in 1961 Viv & Keith Nicholson won £152,319 on Littlewoods pools, a fortune in purchasing power then, but by 2018 (due to inflation) would only be worth £6955•21 in purchasing power, so do you spend spend spend or invest wisley ? It would appear that stamps with a face value are depreciating on a yearly basis whilst the NVI stamps are increasing in postal validity in retrospect !
Hope you enjoy your new toy (I'm a poet and didn't know it). TTFN,WM.
The calculator was created by Kate Rose Morley and is free to download for anyone wanting to obtain it. The site for this device can be found on the following :- http://inflation.Iamkate.com/
All you have to do is to enter a specific amount in the top column that the stamp or article was originally purchased for. If the stamp purchased was prior to 1971, and the amount of less than a £ be required you will have to convert the old money into decimal as there was 240 pennies to the old £. The calculation is as follows .....
Say it was 5/6d, the 5/- would be 5 x by 12= 60+the 6 odd pennies, giving a total of 66 you then ÷ the amount by 240 to give •275, it's only worth taking the amount to 4 decimal places. It's a pity that Kate didn't include the conversion as an optional input for these amounts other than the complete £.
We all know that over the years the £ has depreciated due to inflation, and with this little gadget you can seek out bargains that you never thought existed. Take for instance a 1/3d common definitive stamp purchased in 1963, once converted the amount comes to •0625,when you enter this amount into the calculator you will find that it's now worth £1•27 at 2018's valuation, the same stamp purchased from a dealer (dependent on where you go) is being offered for sale of between 15 to 20p. A stamp with a current face value of £1.27 based on inflation that is now being sold for around 15 p ! That's a laugh
One of the best bargains of the earlier Queen Elizabeth commemoratives would be the 1961 C E PT set with a face value of one shilling and 4 pence, the equivalent now being worth approximately £1•46 based on its original face value in 1961 taking inflation into consideration which is currently being sold for around 15 to 20p ! That's a whopping 88½% off the original face value to take into account, add to the equation that less than 5½ million were issued/sold of the 10d value, much less than most commemoratives of that period. The very fine used of this set are also worth snapping up if you can find them around that price
By the way did you know that in 1840 68,158,080 1d blacks were sold, comprising of 283,992 sheets (just for the record) and comparison.
CEPT : Quantities sold/issued :-
2d 47,530,920 : 4d 7,614,480 : 10d 5,427,780 You will also notice on the u/m 4d there's a definite blue upper shift above the bird and Queen's portrait as with the insignia giving a ghost-like image, another interesting feature is the pink to the upper right of the " T " in the insignia has also shifted, but not listed as a flaw, I would still classify it as a variety though as this would have affected the whole sheet during printing, here is a close-up of the occurrence :- The last scan depicts the set very fine used Now that's what I call the bargain of the century if purchased for 15p, and all due to inflation, this period however unlike the later 60s was not overly speculated on, but unfortunately have been tarred with the same brush, it would appear that the property market has gone in the opposite direction, therefore, I would never recommend stamps to be an investment, as the hobby relating to collecting in general should be on a "purely for pleasure" basis.
Back in 1961 Viv & Keith Nicholson won £152,319 on Littlewoods pools, a fortune in purchasing power then, but by 2018 (due to inflation) would only be worth £6955•21 in purchasing power, so do you spend spend spend or invest wisley ? It would appear that stamps with a face value are depreciating on a yearly basis whilst the NVI stamps are increasing in postal validity in retrospect !
Hope you enjoy your new toy (I'm a poet and didn't know it). TTFN,WM.