Eye-catching French colonial series selling below Scott values: Stamp Market Tips

By Henry Gitner and Rick Miller

Being exotic and colorful with intricate designs, French colonial stamps are very popular with collectors of classic stamps (1840-1940).

The high-denomination stamps from the Indochinese Women definitive series of 1907 (Scott 54-58) is a group that never fails to capture the eye and stimulate the circulation of a classics stamp collector. 

Each bicolor stamp pictures a woman from one of the regions of Indochina. 

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Cambodian women are shown on the 75-centime and 10-franc stamps. The 1fr, 2fr and 5fr stamps portray an Annamite (Vietnamese) woman, a Hmong woman, and a Laotian woman, respectively.

The 2016 Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stamps and Covers 1840-1940 values the five stamps in unused hinged condition at $13, $57.50, $18, $45, and $95, respectively. 

Actually, those values are closer to what you can expect to pay for these stamps in mint never-hinged condition. Stamps in unused hinged condition are selling for about 50 percent of Scott catalog value.