There are millions of common stamps on the market. But some common stamps may become rare due to certain changes. One such example is the Czechoslovak stamp from 1984, Pofis catalogue number 2663. This stamp was issued in 7.01 million pieces and is even after almost 40 years almost worthless.
On the occasion of the Olympic Games in 1984, these stamps were overprinted with the text „HRY XXIII. OLYMPIÁDY / LOS ANGELES / 1984“ (XXIII. OLYMPIC GAMES / LOS ANGELES / 1984)'. For political reasons, they were not issued in the end. It is well known that the most of socialist states - vassals of the Soviet Union - boycotted these Olympic Games. Why? In 1979, Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan and a long war broke out. The United States then armed the Taliban to fight the Soviets – isn’t it interesting how is the history turning around? – a few decades later, the United States invaded Afghanistan and fought against its former ally.
But let’s go back to 1980. In protest against that occupation of Afghanistan by the Soviet army, most Western countries boycotted the Olympic Games in Moscow, which took place in 1980. And the socialist countries then boycotted the following games in 1984 in Los Angeles. The Czechoslovak Post had previously prepared an overprint of the above-mentioned stamps, but for political reasons their issuance was prohibited and shredding was ordered. However, as it happens in such cases, someone stole some of them in the paper mill in Štětí (a town in southern Bohemia) and sells them step by step until today. It is estimated that about 100 of these stamps have been preserved, which makes them decent rarities, if we consider that Czechoslovak stamps are collected by tens of thousands of collectors and, of course, all of them would like to have their collections complete, including these rarities. Stamps with this overprint are usually sold at prices between 700 – 1,100 USD and there is worldwide interest in them, as they are also sought after, for example, by philatelists thematically focused on sports. I read somewhere a few years ago that one of these stamps was sold in the mid-1990s at Cherrystone, New York for an incredible $ 5,000!
I’ve recently managed to get for one investor one of these stamps with the overprint. What is even more interesting, this stamp was with a shifted horizontal perforation! I have been collecting stamps for many years, but I have recorded a maximum of 4-5 pieces of this variety and they practically do not appear on the market. Taken in consideration that I obtained that stamp for a given investor significantly below the market price, this is an investment with a very interesting appreciation in the future. The investor already has repurchase offers with 100% appreciation.
