Collectables
Buy and sell collectables in Panama.
Some things are made to be collected: a boxed Hot Toys figure, a sealed booster box, a Lladró figurine bought as a wedding present. Others become collectable simply by surviving, like a grandmother’s porcelain or an album of Canal Zone stamps. Both kinds change hands, new and pre-owned. Panama adds a strand of its own: for most of the twentieth century the Canal Zone ran its own post office, and its stamps, envelopes and the old bottles residents dug up still come out of family cupboards. A piece is worth what its originality and condition say, far more than what someone once paid for it.
Pieces made to be collected and pieces that became collectable:
split the hobby in two, and each half is judged differently. Action figures, trading cards and Swarovski crystal are produced in series and editions, so their value rests on staying exactly as they left the factory: the box, the inserts, the seal, a card that was never played. Antiques, porcelain and coins were made to be used, and there the questions are who made the piece, how old it is and how little has been done to it since.
Stamps and bottles left behind by the Canal Zone:
are a kind of collecting only Panama can offer. The US-run Zone kept its own post office for most of the last century, and its first stamps went on sale at Ancón, Cristóbal and Culebra. They were Panamanian stamps with CANAL ZONE applied by hand with a crude rubber stamp, and Panamanian and US stamps went on being overprinted for years, so the overprints come in many varieties and forgeries were sold on the Isthmus almost from the start. Later issues carried their own designs, and the best-known error among them is the Thatcher Ferry Bridge commemorative printed with the bridge missing. Collectors often prefer an envelope that actually went through the mail, with a clear Zone postmark, to the same stamp loose. Zone residents also dug old medicine and drink bottles out of town sites and dumps, which now make up collections of their own.
A Canal Zone overprint against a Lladró figurine:
shows how differently the two halves are priced. A Panamanian stamp with the Canal Zone overprint can be worth a few dollars or several hundred depending on which variety it is, which is why an early one is worth having checked by a specialist before serious money changes hands. A Lladró that is still in the catalogue runs the other way: buyers can still get it new, so a used one rarely gets back what it cost in the shop. The pieces that hold their price are retired, boxed and without a chip.
Turning a figurine over before you pay:
tells you most of what you need. A Lladró carries a blue logo on the base, and if the little flower in it has been ground away the figurine left the factory as a second. Nao is the company’s cheaper line and is priced as such. Run a finger along fingertips, petals and lace, where a glued break is easier to feel than to see. On anything boxed, check that the window is clear, the inserts are original and the flaps have not been opened and re-taped.
Damp and the album in the wardrobe:
do more damage to a Panamanian collection than handling does. In a humid closet the gum on mint stamps softens and they stick to the page, and peeling one off leaves a thin that ruins it. Paper and card stock pick up brown foxing spots, cards in binders bow and foil cards curl, and a cardboard box that has been in a damp cupboard smells of it as soon as you open it. Ask where a collection was kept, look along card edges for warping and turn album pages to see whether anything is stuck.
Listing a collection someone else built:
is how many of these pieces reach the market, so describe what you have rather than what you think it is worth. Photograph bases, backs and marks, and both sides of every envelope with the postmark readable. Leave stamps on their album pages and blister packs closed, however much a better picture tempts you. Say whether the collection goes as one lot or piece by piece, and where it was stored. Canal Zone albums tend to surface when a family house in Balboa or Diablo is cleared out, and whoever comes to look at one will want a table, good light, stamp tongs and an unhurried hour.