These Miscut Stamps Sold For More Than You Might Think On Pawn Stars
Stamp collecting is a mysterious hobby to outsiders. Some stamps are worth a lot, but you'd never know it just from looking at them. Others look like they should be worth a lot because there's something unique about them, but they're not in demand. It takes research and dedication to be a serious stamp collector. Not even the Pawn Stars guys are super well-versed in stamps compared to other things they know a lot about.
The great mystery of stamps was on display in a memorable season 6 episode, where a customer named Fred came into the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop with some miscut stamps he was hoping to get some cash for. He told the camera he wanted $800 to $1,000 for them. He was joking about that, but he really was hoping for a big payout.
The stamps in question were a page of eight-cent USPS stamps from 1971 with President Dwight Eisenhower's face on them. The page was all messed up, with corners cut off, missing perforations, and a print that goes this way when it's supposed to go that way. Fred got them from his father, who worked for the Postal Service and put them aside because he thought they might be worth something someday. Now, it was time to see what Rick and the Old Man would give him for them.
Rick likes Ike
Rick and the Old Man took a look at the stamps, but weren't sure how to value them, so they called in their stamp and coin expert Jay Tell to evaluate.
Tell explained that this was more than just a simple miscut. "This is four or five errors combined in one," he said. There were "clips" in several places where the stamps were cut off, a miscut that made the stamps an imperfect shape, and an "imperforate error," where the perforations that were supposed to separate the stamps were missing. "Out of millions of these panes produced, you don't see this too often," Tell said.
Rick asked him how much he thought the rare stamps were worth, and after a long (edited) pause, Tell gave his answer: between $500 and $700. Fred was aghast.
That figure was more than Rick was expecting, however. "I thought you were going to say 50 bucks," he said with a laugh.
Rick asked how much Fred wanted for the stamps, and he asked for $500, the low end of the quoted figure. "That's not the low end, son, that's retail," the Old Man grumbled. Rick countered with $400. Fred really struggled with that — he clearly had his heart set on thousands — and finally countered with $425, which Rick accepted.
While $425 is not a windfall, it's a lot for some stamps. The whole book only cost $2 in 1971!