I recently had the frustrating experience of having to tell a reader stamps he paid about $1,000 for are worth considerably less.

He wrote to me a few days ago after coming across the Dec. 27 entry on the blog about the popularity of the U.S. Elvis Presley commemorative, saying:

“I have a sheet of inverted St Vincent Elvis Stamps that I bought from Windsor House International in California for about a thousand dollars. Did I get ripped off? They said they would try to sell them at a show and they would get 3 percent of the sale. I can’t get ahold of them now. Can you tell me what they are worth and should I hold on to them.�

I hadn’t heard of the stamps, but my first thought was that his fears might be justified, and a Google search seemed to confirm that. Here’s my answer to him:

“Your inclination that you might have been a victim seems to be correct. I found this Web site that says such items are generally considered printers waste prepared after the original printer’s stocks were sold in bankruptcy. I can’t verify this, but the person who owns the site seems to know what he’s talking about. It’s at least a starting point for further research.

“A Google search for Windsor House International, which I assume you also tried, found nothing. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. (I did find an ad from Shop at Home TV offering the stamps for $349.98 and some possible listings on eBay, although those might have been for the properly printed stamps.)�

I’d advise anyone who collects the stamps of St. Vincent or who is interested in error stamps from other countries to check out this Web page before buying such items. Unfortunately, according to the page, letters to the postmaster general about the matter remain unanswered — possibly, the Web site owner, Peter Elias, speculates, because “the chances of these stamps ever being used for actual postage in St. Vincent are fairly slim and … they are thus not defrauding the St. Vincent Postal Services.�

He also mentions similar difficulties with the U.S. stamp issued for former President Richard M. Nixon.

As Elias says at the end of his discussion of these inverted centers and a batch of other reputed St. Vincent errors:
“As they say: Caveat emptor - ‘let the buyer beware.’ �