Tasmanian Pictorial CDS-an alternate rating scale
Posted: Wed May 30, 2012 11:53 am
Fair call to say that the collecting of postmarks on pictorial stamps of Tasmania both provide the highest degree of interest of any area of marcophily in Australia and that they command the highest prices as a result. It has been 37 years since the rating of the pictorial period were really looked at seriously. I freely discount Keith Lancasters otherwise excellent work on the pictorial stamps of Tasmania as Keith never wanted to comment on postmarks let alone ratings at all in that book but was persuaded to do so.
Because of their popularity and the prices commanded there has been a school of thought for some time that the rating need to be "finer" and that the gap between classifications are quite large. ie Liena is rated RRRR yet never commands much more than $400 at auction. Teepookana is rated RRRR yet brings $1500+. There are also some notable over ratings and a few CDS that are certainly deserving of rating yet have not been rated previously. I some cases, the rating as originally stated in book 1 have stood up. I have rated the CDS on a two point scale, firstly a rating scale from 1-20 in increasing scarcity. These ratings sit inside the standard R-RRRR ratings scale. ie ratings 16, 17 and 18 are all RRRR, with 18 at the higher end of RRRR and 16 at the lower end. I have added a RRRRR rating for the really top end CDS and ratings of S(scarce) and U(uncommon) that sit below R.
The most important thing is to garner peoples thoughts and feedback, so we can see what people who collect this material and buy and sell it think, both about the layout of this rarity scale and also the ratings as they apply. This will help us refine it. So be free with both your thoughts, encouragement and (definitely) criticism. I welcome it all.
The ratings and preamble as listed currently may be accessed at the following links:
http://www.tps.org.au/PDFs/Pict_cds_rat ... tes-wm.pdf
http://www.tps.org.au/PDFs/Pict_cds_rat ... ril-wm.pdf
Because of their popularity and the prices commanded there has been a school of thought for some time that the rating need to be "finer" and that the gap between classifications are quite large. ie Liena is rated RRRR yet never commands much more than $400 at auction. Teepookana is rated RRRR yet brings $1500+. There are also some notable over ratings and a few CDS that are certainly deserving of rating yet have not been rated previously. I some cases, the rating as originally stated in book 1 have stood up. I have rated the CDS on a two point scale, firstly a rating scale from 1-20 in increasing scarcity. These ratings sit inside the standard R-RRRR ratings scale. ie ratings 16, 17 and 18 are all RRRR, with 18 at the higher end of RRRR and 16 at the lower end. I have added a RRRRR rating for the really top end CDS and ratings of S(scarce) and U(uncommon) that sit below R.
The most important thing is to garner peoples thoughts and feedback, so we can see what people who collect this material and buy and sell it think, both about the layout of this rarity scale and also the ratings as they apply. This will help us refine it. So be free with both your thoughts, encouragement and (definitely) criticism. I welcome it all.
The ratings and preamble as listed currently may be accessed at the following links:
http://www.tps.org.au/PDFs/Pict_cds_rat ... tes-wm.pdf
http://www.tps.org.au/PDFs/Pict_cds_rat ... ril-wm.pdf