Building A Worthwhile Stamp Collection Is No Piece Of Cake

theres a current active thread about being a stamp dealer..which got me to thinking..building a worthwhile stamp collection is no piece of cake either..we enjoy doing it..but it does not happen overnight..once you get past the average stamp everyone has..you have to have contacts..knowledgeable ones ...fellow collectors with similar collecting interests...dealers that you trust..once you cross that line in collecting that makes you serious..thats what the dealer is for..he can find things that I can not..when it comes to spending serious $$$ I want to eyeball the stamp..not just bid on an internet auction..i rave on !!

Building a "worthwhile collection" wasn't meant to be easy. If it was -- or if it were possible to collect every stamp from every country -- there would be no challenge or interest in doing so.

To term one a "serious" collector by the quality of stamps he has is one thing, but there are very serious collectors who are on a budget and cannot ever hope to attain that five figure stamp for his or her collection. They are no less serious in their hobby, it's just that they don't have the resources to buy the desirable rarities.

For the "investor" who puts down serious cash for a rare stamp, is it really "collecting" when they just place their acquistion in a vault or a safe deposit box and all they care about is waiting for the stamp to appreciate in value over a given period of time in order to resell it to someone else?

I, for one, would rather collect hundreds of low value stamps at a budget price. I would suggest that I get more satisfaction out of the hobby that way, then to just acquire and study one individual "rare" stamp. I guess that's what separates "collectors" from "investors".

Besides, if it were all that easy or affordable to acquire a rare stamps that one often just dreams about, there would be no challenge, no interest in the "hunt", nor would there be any significant value in acquiring it, if the entire population could easily get their hands on it.

I agree 100 percent. When it comes to internet transactions, I back off at $50. I want to see the item first hand.

I'm just about at that point in my collection Phil. Now I'm upgrading the usual suspects and working on the very front of the book (early American classics) and B.O.B. stuff (parcel post/postage dues/some choice revenues of my liking) so I know exactly what you mean by "once you cross that line" as I'm starting to run out of gaps to fill in the bulk of my collection. Now it's getting critical to learn all the intricacies of the correct stamp ID process and it's starting to get both really fun and very interesting and much slower going and of course more expensive for better material and literature. Thank you SCF for the wealth of knowledge you all continue to provide as I'm quickly learning a lot of it must come from experience and trial & error and simply just not found in a book. -Jeff

Wt1, rarely do I ever disagree with you but in this instance our opinions differ.

Diversifying ones investments is a common ENJOYABLE practise exercised by those able/lucky enough to do so. Usually they may put a few golden classics away, and forget about them for 10-25 years until they may be in need of spare cash 'which has held it's value (inflation)'. It beats the 'slow tire leak shares' where one is constantly paying a percentage to Company Executives/Directors.

In the time between they enjoy normal collecting like all collectors.

But building a none worthwhile one is tons of fun!

From a simple pre 1940 WW collector. Don't care if my collection isnt worth much. I enjoy it just the same!

The degree of difficult is related to the size of your wallet and how deep your pockets are.
I have a slim wallet and my arms are two short to reach the bottom of my pockets.
Do I have milk for my cornflakes this morning, guess I will eat my cornflakes dry while I look at the new stamps I just bought

Considering the subject of this thread, here's a timely article on the investing aspect of stamp collecting as appearing in this UK newspaper for 01/25/2012:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...profits.html

That is what it's all about. Beauty will always lie in the eye of the beholder and just because the piece is expensive, doesn't mean it's attractive to all.

I got a worldwide collection ,this is from a few years ago when it was much smaller.

I think you can easily be both a collector AND an investor in stamps... Our money basically has to go somewhere, and we all need (or should be) saving for retirement. A good chunk should go into your normal retirement account, but, there is nothing wrong with setting aside some of those long term funds to invest in something that is a lot more enjoyable than a mutual fund. Any investment has risks, including stocks, gold, real estate, and stamps. I'd rather break-even over 20 years on a purchase of a rare stamp than break even on gold..

The likelyhood that over 20 years that the value of your investment stamps AND your hobby collection go up, seems to be pretty good.

When you talk about worldwide collections ,most collectors never get to the level of 100,000 different stamps and maybe half that amount ever get the whole collection mounted into a series of albums . Most really become horders and packet fillers or cigar box fillers . Very few ever mount it so it can be viewed .

***edited to keep the thread on track ****

floor trader,

We all drooled over it the last time you posted the pic. Stop makeing us jealouse!

Floortrader

I wouldn't mind seeing scans of what is in "Big Blue"- the Scott International Part I 1840-1940 album.

On the other hand, I can imagine what is in there, so perhaps I don't need to see it.

Hey Guys, I am a worldwide collector..i have no illusions..i have seen plenty of collections like mine stuffed into cardboard boxes on auction floors....Jack, I can live on oatmeal and tea for a long time..don't want to get spoiled with rib eye steak !

Without trying to be snide and cynical, what is the basis for that belief? Actual value of stamps in the past THIRTY years have probably decreased in actual dollars, let alone real (i.e. inflation weighted) dollars. I who re entered the hobby after a twenty year hiatus am shocked at what a dollar can bring today compared to when I left the hobby. And the prognosis for all but the very few rarest stamps is even worse. As the current generation of stamp collectors dies off, they will be replaced by whom? Their heirs will sell their collections to whom? The inevitable is that there will be numerous collections placed on the market, with few takers, forcing the price down. Thinking otherwise with out providing a reason for that belief is self delusion. Sorry for the rant, but I see this sentiment expressed frequently on various boards, yet am unaware of any serious dealer who believes it!

Enjoy stamp collecting. Don't consider it an investment