A Blast from the Past

I bought a box from Jeff Goulette last week that contained about two
pounds of worldwide, on "dealers' squares" - pieces of paper about 2"
square, with a single stamp mounted on it. Apparently these dealers
squares were the product of a company called "Globus Stamp Co.",
located on the famous Nassau Street in New York City. The only
information I can get from Google is that Globus was apparently in
business from 1928 through the late 1950's. Certainly only a few
items I have on these pages were from later than that. There's a
company in Iowa that uses the name Globus Stamp Company, but I don't
think it's the original one.

UPDATE: It apparently IS the original one, but possibly with a new owner/manager. I've seen several additional lots on Jeff's eBay listings that included the Iowa address.

I bought the box for the Portuguese Colonies that were in it, and I'm
not disappointed. There are several other countries that are well-
represented, mostly from Latin America (primarily Argentina, the
Dominican Republic, and Ecuador). There is quite a bit of
duplication, but that doesn't bother me. There's more than enough in
the box to make my purchase worthwhile to me, just for what I'll add
to my collection. Some of the material is pretty unusual.

There are thirteen ancient glassines (falling apart) each containing
five different mint stamps from Eastern Rumelia, plus at least two
dozen more stamps on single dealer squares. The five different stamps
are Scott # 12, 15, 16, 17, and 18. They are all mint, and catalogue
$.60, $.30, $.20, $.30, and $.60 ($2.00) respectively in the 2006
Scott Catalog. The original packets are priced from $.23 to $.26,
showing a "price rise" of a total of three cents over the period from
which I have packets. Nr. 18, valued $.60 in today's catalogues, is
indicated of being valued at ten cents on most of the dealer squares,
but a couple show a rise to 12 1/2c. Nr. 12, also cataloguing $.60
today, was offered at 2 1/2c.

This lot has been a fascinating look into what stamps were sold for
50, 60, or 70 years ago. Some stamps priced at 25c are today worth
$10 to $15. Others, priced at $1 (Afghanistan 332), sells for about
the same today. Some stamps that you rarely see today, and certainly
not in approval packets, apparently were quite common back then.

You also have to wonder where these stamps have been over the past 50
or 60 years, and what other troves are out there waiting to be
discovered. The box I purchased has stamps worth about $3000 total
catalogue value.