Parker Envelopes
 

What do our readers think about the envelopes advertised on ebay as "NOS" and "Vintage" items? Does anyone think they are real? Thanks for your opinion.

Bill,
He seems to have multiple copies of all his vintage envelopes. They are priced very reasonable. I think I will pass!

Very doubtful that they are real. Too clean and the postage rate appears wrong. Three cents, or less, during the time that Parker was using advertising envelopes. My guess, they were made in the last year.

It is a federal crime to print US paper currency or US postage stamps.

Dean, you are correct and it is a Federal crime to counterfeit U.S. coins yet the Chinese are mass manufacturing old and not so old coins for sale to collectors. The secret service is well aware and nothing is done. These envelopes may not fall under the law as they are a "fantasy" item--not a true copy as the postage is wrong.

I checked the postage on google. First class was three cents in the time period I asked about. The envelopes may not be faked, they may be real. The Parker logos are probably faked since they are being sold by more than one vendor and appeared at the same time.

If the claim is made that they are "new old stock", should we ask the vendor if it would be OK to use the three or four cents as partial postage to mail one of these envelopes?

I think that would be quite appropriate.

I have plenty of time, so I may do it.

OK, it's done, for both vendors. I'll let you know.

OK, the Kansas guy says he bought the envelopes in an auction in Oklahoma. The Oklahoma guy and the Kansas guy says that the envelopes are original. The Oklahoma guy says that the Parker logo is original. Are we being too suspicious?

You can never be too suspicious.

If they were original wouldn't the starting price normally support that?

OK Bill,
I ran your message through my decoder ring and here is what came out.

1. Someone saw original Parker envelopes going for $100+ dollars on eBay
2. Someone said Hmmm.... I can do that
3. Someone bought a gross of vintage USPS prepaid 3 cent envelopes online
4. Someone scanned a Parker advertisement image for source
5. Someone made some new vintage Parker envelopes.
6. Someone sold a new/old parker envelope for $130+ dollars on eBay
......... and a new industry was born. Suddenly every vintage gun maker or powder maker of the 19th/20th
century is reborn through NOS unused postage.


I hope the decoder ring is working correctly.

Patrick

Buyer beware

Bill, the envelope I looked at, and still on Ebay, has 4 cents postage. Which one are you looking at ?

There is a 3 cent and a 4 cent. Take your pick. The 3 cent is from Kansas and is $15.00, the 4 cent is from Oklahoma and is $9.95.

The Oklahoma guy has a bid at $9.95. He also has letterheads and envelopes that would be worth thousands of dollars if they were original. His Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley memorabilia would be astounding finds if original. Reread Patrick's post.

I agree with Patrick. Easy to do with todays technology.

For everyones' info, the same thing has been going on with Winchester gun boxes, labels, and hang tags for years. Anyone with a nice condition Pre 64 Winchester can have an almost NIB gun very easily. Manufacturers were in Florida some years ago. Their output is probably all over the country today.

Caveat Emptor...

Why aren't the Winchester box guys making Parker boxes? I want one. I guess they can find an original to copy.

The Parker envelopes game has a couple of new players. One guy is actually selling 50 Parker envelopes for $600.00. Yup, he is claiming they are original old stock. Another fellow is selling two "original vintage" Parker Brothers catalogs in a color that Parker never made. Maybe the days of buying original Parker paper on the internet are over.