Wedding planners and the stamp aftermarket

Stamp Market Tips by Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

Sometimes prices in the aftermarket for recent issues of modern U.S. stamps have little or nothing to do with demand from stamp collectors, and demand from noncollectors drives up the prices. A good example is stamps that are in demand for use on wedding invitations.

On March 21, 2014, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 70¢ Flowers and “Yes I Do” Wedding stamp (Scott 4881) in panes of 20. Reusing the design of the 2013 66¢ Wedding Flowers stamp (Scott 4765), the 70¢ stamp was printed by lithography with gauge 10¾ serpentine die cuts.

The 2020 Scott Specialized Catalogue of United States Stamps and Covers values a mint pane of 20 of the 2014 70¢ stamp at $28, the Scott catalog minimum of double face value for recent mint stamps.

These 70¢ stamps are ideal for mailing wedding invitations at the 2-ounce rate. They are selling at close to double face value, and mint panes are becoming harder and harder to find.

Contrast this with the earlier 66¢ Wedding Flowers stamp with the same design that commands little demand as an additional stamp is required to use it for the 2-ounce rate.

Weddings are big business. High-end professional wedding planners can easily outlay $50,000 to $100,000 for a wedding. These planners are fastidious about every detail of their wedding productions, including the stamps on the invitations. It’s a strange twist to a normally predictable stamp market.

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