Stamp Enthusiasts Preserve Old Hobby In Digital Age

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Always Happy Stamping. KGV

Cephus. yes, common in stamp forums.

It's difficult to know how a new collector will feel/act once their question receives answers. In the long run best action is straight forward honest replies, without public humiliation (Aust-SB's).

After the penny drops - maturity, many of these people re-new their stamp interest with real understanding of the word Hobby and that hobby's cost money not fund a new car/house. IMO

Hello finches!
I have been thinking about your comment while I have been up to my neck in stamps today which is a great feeling.

A dealer once told me the saddest thing that he had to do as a seller was to tell the wife's who were looking for money to bury their husband, to find out his stamp collection, he kept telling his wife was worth $1000s, turns out to be worth not very much at all.

I will never forget this. It is best not to be delusional about one's hobby! You just do not know who it will bite! KGV.

A rule of thumb I use is to determine the catalog value of your collection then take 10% of that number to determine the actual value. You'll then come closer to reality. Then again, if that's why you are collecting, your setting yourself up for disappointment.

Art

Another thing that people frequently find counterintuitive when being informed that their "collection" has no value is the notion that 70-year-old stamps are NOT considered "old". The vast majority of the time, when a neophyte says "I have some very old stamps..." they are talking about stamps that are 30-50 years old, i.e., from the 1960s and 1970s.

The fact that stamps from that era are considered "new" or "modern" isn't going to sit well with someone who thinks their accumulation is worth a fortune. Their first reaction is that you're trying to rip them off.

As a general rule, you literally have to go back 80 years before you find anything of any real value. When I show people mint stamps from the 1930s and 1940s, i.e., BEFORE World War II, and tell them that I can buy those stamps by the thousands for less than face value, they are immediately turned off by stamp collecting.

When I think of all the people that bought plate blocks and full sheets in the 1960s-90s as "investments" I shudder. It's about as worthwhile as having bought mint sets and proof sets from the U.S. mint from that time period. Almost without exception, over the long term, they have all lost money, or at best stayed even... none have actually gone up in value.

A few weeks ago I bought a book full of plate blocks of 20 that were lovingly put together in oversized hingeless mounts (think of what those cost). I got the book for about 75% of face.

To the non-collector, it must seem like "Why in heck would I ever put money into this???"

Yes, there is a popular misconception that any old stamp is valuable... It is wrong, but as someone who recently restarted collecting, that is part of what makes stamp collecting very accessible.

The internet has only made it more so. I'm at the stage of filling in my collections with inexpensive stuff... Right now, I can go on ebay or wherever and buy enough to entertain me for hours for a few bucks When I find a stamp about a subject I don't know about, I can look it up on Wikipedia and learn even more than I ever would have otherwise.

Try that with any other hobby... how much model railroad equipment can you get for a few bucks? Maybe a couple plastic trees? How much does a single part for that classic car cost you (been there done that )?

Yes, as I start needing to complete sets with higher value stamps, I will probably need to spend more per stamp but I can do it at my own pace and a very reasonable budget. In the meantime, I am learning which dealers I can trust to sell me a nice stamp or two along with a history lesson at a fair price - and which to avoid like the plague.