Is There A Market For Lower End Collectible Stamps ?

Perhaps I can head someone off before they follow the route I did..years ago I toyed with the idea of being a small time stamp dealer..i purchased box lots for 250 dollars or so..with many low end stamps....i had no idea of what kind of money and energy would be required to be a stamp dealer..other friends learned quicker than I and spent their stamp money on collectiong countries one at a time and building something beautiful to see..my boxes..even my stock books are not particularly attractive..granted I had fun going through the box lots..but the results would have been a lot more tangible if I had stuck to working single country albums instead of hodge podge !!

I can understand your comments.

While I never did anything to the level of ever thinking of becoming a dealer, I have, starting from my childhood and into adulthood, been given boxes of stamps and I truly enjoy going through them even now, without any rhyme or reason. To use your term "hodge podge" is probably good, too. I can go through packets of stamps, often more than once, and come up with new finds everytime, especially as I learn more of what to look for. While some could consider it work, or even a waste of time because of the relative worthlessness of some of the common material, I consider it relaxation and fun!

Only in recent months have I started to give some semblance of order out of otherwise unsorted boxes. With today's storage devices, PC's with internet access, and color ink jets and even laser printers, and the array of different paper stock to choose from, the ability of a collector today to customize album pages to suit his or her collecting requirements is virtually limitless.

As to the topic of this post "is there a market", my feeling is that there will always be a "market", especially as stamps become less common in today's mail system. Of course, that's not to imply some of this material will ever become any more valuable than pennies on the dollar in terms of "catalog value", but that's just the way the hobby is.

If you're looking to make a quick profit, stamp collecting is not the way to go; but if you are inclined to analyze catalog values, the trend is that the "better" material has a proven track record of appreciating in value.

Yes. In box lots.

WT1 like yourself I go through the same stamps over and over..each time I pull something and catalog it in a 102 card..but the time it takes !! I admire the work that stamp dealers put in..one smaller dealer at the Charleston show was telling a customer that he sometimes buys $50,000 accumulations..he must certainly box lot out the under $1 material or go mad ! It takes real money to build up enough dealer stock where you can rent a table at $500 to $1500 dollars at a stamp show....

Sometimes over the years stamp magnetism takes over. Every single world stamp that I have in my collection is a result of someone having either given me an old collection or they came with some US lot that I had purchased at a flea market or auction. It's funny that we will pay $10 for that auctioned lot because we saw three stamps we needed (and it was worth the $10, but in the process you get 300 world stamps to go with it). After a number of years your world collection all of a sudden has thousand of world stamps that are out of your area of expertise. But it still feeds the frantic philatelitis.
It is the finding new things each time I look at them that amazes me. Like you WT1, every time I look over a set of stamps, I find something new, a special postark, a new overprint, something I had missed the time before.

I've had success with a lot of lower priced items. It's just a matter of getting a system down and making the connections. Box lots are the way to go and in most cases the sum of the parts are greater than the whole. Aside from the fun of going through a box o'mystery, many times I can find items here and there that more than make up for the price of the lot. You just have to be willing to do the labor.

Its true a market has to be established..tis easier to buy the stuff than to sell...i miss the days when I had snail mail trading partners..but sooner or later they get exhausted and can send no more new material...i must be down in the dumps...things will get better !!

Philb

I can well understand your thoughts here.

I too enjoy going through large mixes of stamps. On different occasions I have been given different offers to buy collections outright and the owners will say, if you take the whol lot and caboodle, I'll give you a special price for everything. Usually, I end up taking everything.

Just recently (August of 2010 actually), I purchased 2 plastic tubs of stamps off paper and there was an estimated 225,000 to 250,000 stamps in these bins. I 'sifted' through these bins on numerous occasions and each time I did, I kept finding goodies for my collection. I bought the 2 tubs for $350.00 total, and yes, that included the 2 tubs themselves and I have literally found hundreds and hundreds of stamps over $1.00 to $5.00 CV not to mention many many stamps up to $25.00 and even higher on occasion. So, the real secret is, if you want to take the time, you will be rewarded for it as a rule. Without exxaggerating, I believe the CV of the stamps I could use was well over $8000.00! This does not count what is left in the bins either, although, to be honest, I probably got the best out of them now, but, you never know what you passed, especially with so many stamps.

I now have great trading power with my local club and people I have traded overseas with as well.

I guess this is what part of this hobby is really what it is all about

Chimo

Bujutsu

Wow..Bujutsu..that is an awesome amount of stamps...at times I find gobs of the 5 dollar and up catalog stamps..but everyone seems to have them already...i believe I am heading in the right direction...i have not purchased any bulk recently and trying to divest..would be great to find collectors I could help and would help at a fraction of the 50 to 100 percent of catalog a dealer would charge them !!

Phil,
I am sure there are a lot of collectors here that could use some good deals. I think that it is time to start listing on the Sell forum by country or lots. I am sure you would lessen your load.

Dude, I will..i just don't want to be a hog !!