Catalog value...

The value of a stamp is whatever "the market" is willing to pay for it, "catalog value" be damned.

But it does seem to me that, over the past couple of years, prices for stamps on eBay (really the only "market" one can point to for philately) have become depressed. Feht says it's because nobody's got the money to buy high quality stamps, and I can't disagree.

So if one has a few extra bucks, it would appear to be a good time to buy.

Tick, tock.