Stamps As A Investment.

Got a chuckle out of this one.

http://money.msn.com/exchange-trade...93>1=33016

1775mac, yes it is funny to read that Michael Brush, MSN Money considers investing in stamps as a potentially profitable investment instead of stocks, bonds, etc. In addition to being too conservative to make much of a return from my investments, I am too cheap to be buying those extremely expensive stamps that might generate a big return down the road. Stamp collecting in my opinion is a hobby to enjoy and the most you can hope for from a monetary standpoint is to break even if you sell your stamps in the future.

Ok so my 3-4k in mnh stamps will soon be worth face value again Yahooooo. Unless you can afford the vintage high end I don't see stamps as a good investment short term. Now assuming their is postal anything years from now a big stash of forever or P stamps may be worthwhile as the more post office closings and increased debt to profit ratio will demand sharper increases in per stamp prices. But then again between Can post , US post and Uk post not cancelling anything buying lots at 30-40% of face without gum will thrive. Black market always wins . Invest in glue sticks!

i have to say that stamp investment is ok, maybe not for us but for our children and grandchildren for the future. Someday I believe that mail by stamps will be obsolete, and stamps not only capture history of events but they remind us of our past. As a young collector I enjoy going thru my grandfathers collections and seeing his notes and stamps which connects me to the past in some way

Like da man said.."whos going to buy our dang stamps?" some of the replies are amusing !

He just may be right.

Certainly an amusing article. Of course most of us know that stamp collecting is not exactly the world's best investment (possibly the worst?) but the article was no-doubt inspired by the story of Bill Gross who admittedly began purchasing stamps as an investment and thankfully had done his charities much good. I would say that in the case of 99.9% of us mere mortals, hoping to "invest" in stamps (and see a return) is 99.9% of the time a losing proposition. In the case of those .01% with immense wealth, interesting, and knowledge to build an exceptional collection your chances are maybe 50/50? As many have alluded to, the future price of stamps depends entirely on the future generation of stamp collectors!

I think it all very much depends on the country you're collecting. That Chinese collector who 30-odd years ago socked away the sheets of 8 fen Monkey stamps is still laughing.

Pick the right country to collect, study your stamps carefully, and you'll make a reasonable return on your investment, without having to outlay six- or seven-figure sums.

My suggestions? Carefully selected China, obviously; India and Turkey also look like taking off. Again, of course, you have to know what you're doing. Mint sheets bought today from the Beijing, New Delhi or Ankara Post Offices probably won't do all that much, but modest investments in better older sets should better than hold their own.

YOU GUYS ARE BEING UNFAIR ------First Bill Gross didn't buy any stamps ,he had a agent who was also a owner of a stamp auction house do his selections and buying for him ,I think he broke even over time with the total purchases and took a huge tax write-off for his effort .
Everybody had a chance to make a killing in the philatelic marketplace . If you remember before E-BAY and other websites came into being . The stamp auctions houses were busy with very nice material for sale but at the end of each stamp auction catalog were many lots of collections and big lots, many would call them junk lots . These end of the stamp auction junk lots went begging for bids and huge inventories of supplies and albums went begging for bids . Remember this wasn't kilo ware material just low price stamps at a small fraction of catalog ....there was tons of this stuff lying around to be bid on . THEN....THEN .......Ebay comes along and this junk lots take off in price ......what was begging for a penny a stamp ,goes on e-bay and starts selling at huge prices as mixture lots its not out of line to say this mixture stuff went up 9 times in price ....let me say that again ,you could of made 900% on a investment of stockbook junk and put it on stock cards or cigarbox lots on e-bay and got 9 cents apiece for the stamps that you paid less than a penny for .....work ...yea but look at the return .....just my two-bits

The Internet,on-line sales and places like
SCF have given stamping a rebirth that will
increase many fold in the next decade.

It will not be long and stamps will be made but not for mailing.

We have a bubble of interest for the next couple of decades as baby boomers look to ocupy themselves after rediscovering their schoolboy collections.

The increasing wealth of China and India will create a new group of untapped collectors.

Both these will serve to improve prices.

The practice of post offices to avoid cancelling stamps will create a problem. We all prefer CDS cancellations as these are perceived to be more attractive. The closure of smaller post offices will remove the use of these cancellers (so they will become more in collectible) but people will discver the variety within the various types of cancellations seen on all typs of mail. The failure of the Post Office to cancel stamps at all is counter productive, it leaves an envelope or parcel that can't tell a story. The failure of the Post Office to leave markings of interest on too much mail is the biggest concern I have about the future value of stamps.

Any investment can be undertaken with research and the development of knowledge. Whether it is wine or barbed wire or stamps or anything else, you make money by identifying an opportunity before it becomes more commonly known.

I like to think I'm building a valuable collection, but most hobbies or sports don't pay for themselves, do they? I choose not to maintain a careful account of the cost of my hobby so I can delude myself into believing I am making money!

Little Johnny stood in the doorway of the den and watched quietly as his grandfather poured through an album of stamps.

"Gee, grandpa. You really like your stamp collection, don't you?" he observed.

"Yes I do. It's something I really enjoy," was the reply.

"They must have cost a lot of money. How much do you think you spent on them?" asked the boy.

"Over the years? Oh, I guess I have probably spent thousands of dollars in total," grandpa answered.

"Gosh! And how much are they worth now?"

"Why, I guess they must easily be worth ..... hundreds!"

And Lets not forget the little sign in the window... Free Wi Fi

This is the key to it all!




If you enjoy your stamp collection, it's not a waste of money or a bad investment. Most stamp collectors always hope for that "rarity" or "valuable" stamp to come their way, but in reality most collectors are satisfied with just the enjoyment of the hobby and should a great "find" be uncovered, all that much better.

Except, perhaps, for the big money investor who can obtain rare stamps at big prices that do appreciate in value, most of us should never look at our beginner or intermediate stamp collection as a money making venture, as most who do will surely be disappointed.

wt1, as I discovered last week with my "one that got away", you are SO right!