Where To Start?

I just decided yesterday to get into stamps. My question is which product is the highest value? I'm just doing Canadian I think, and possibly only newer ones and ones with flaws, etc. are souvenir sheets a good investment? Or should I be buying the official first day one that comes with the envelope? I hear as well that stamps that have the stamp on it from the post office are worth more as well?

Good morning Mrs Robinson. Welcome to the forum and the hobby. I think the response you will find here is to collect what you enjoy. Collecting stamps for investment can be very costly, and I'm not sure how practical.
This is especially true with new Canadian stamps. Stamps today are mass produced on a huge scale, and of course availability dictates value. Souvenir sheets and First day covers are generally valueless, again because of mass production. That shouldn't dissuade you from collecting them is you enjoy them of course. Errors and flaws can be a fun way to collect, there are several members here who enjoy what we call flyspecking - searching out those small flaws that may or may not add value, but certainly add interest.
I myself collect Canada (and US) but tend to veer to the older more classical stamps. Not necessarily for profit but because I enjoy the older design aspects. I also steer away from the first day covers, preferring postally used covers, I figure they have a history.
Again, as George Harrison said, "It's what you value"
Hope I haven't discouraged you. I think a lot of us here find our profit in stamps in the enjoyment and knowledge we gain, rather than monetary.
Looking forward to seeing your finds.

JAMESW hit it right, collect what you enjoy and not worry or think about the investing part or money value of your hobby .First you have to see the big picture before you start dumping money into it .My advice is to buy a older catalog of Canadian stamps ,it can be five or six years old ,prices have not change too much . Then purchase two or three mixture lots just to sort thru and view the broad range of Canadian stamps also start seeing other areas of collecting like the Provinces ,airmail covers ,back of the book stuff and others like perfins .......there is so much to Canada stamps, spend your time looking ......before you open your checkbook

Welcome Mrs Robinson!

No matter what you decide about what to collect I'm sure you will want to learn how to handle your stamps in a way that keeps them in good condition.

I recommend that you get some books from the library about stamp collecting. There you can learn more about the tools and techniques of stamp collection. Use the 'Search' function on SCF to learn more details about the information you learn.

And you can always ask questions of the SCF members (and accumulate your 50 posts) It always amazes me what a wealth of information we have here!

Surfing around these discussions will give you lots and lots of ideas about what you might like to collect. As the others have said, find something you like and enjoy!

Karen

Oh, and I forgot, check out the discussion on 'kiloware' under 'General Philatelic Discussions (Non Country Specific).

As floortrader suggested, if you get mixture lots you can see what's out there and get an idea what you'd like to collect. Also it gets you a lot of practice learning the techniques in a usually low risk way.

Also you learn to look at stamps as a collector does, seeing things you never noticed before. That's the fun of it. And it's never-ending no matter how much of an expert you become because there's always another way to notice. Reading these discussions have impressed on me this important feature of collecting stamps--- and increased my enjoyment!

K

And here's to you, Mrs. Robinson,
SCF loves you more than you will know.
God bless you, please Mrs. Robinson.
Heaven holds a place for those who play,
Hey, hey, hey

Somebody had to say it.

The problem with souveniour sheets is sometimes they are valued as part of the set and it becomes a pain to if you have everything and then find out the ss you need is out of circulation or was released in an area you have no way to get to. Some countries are good for that and thenh you have to pay double what the set is worth just for the sheet. IMHO, collect what makes you happy and you will never go wrong at least by you.

Welcome Mrs. Robinson! I won't offer any wisdom as the others nailed it now it's time to have fun and enjoy your stamps! Ask a lot of questions and don't be shy! -Jeff

Darn poets.
They're out there bounding about in the bushes again!
Bring my bow. Hurry! They're getting away.

Thanks for showing up Mrs Robinson - made my day!

Hello and welcome MrsRobinson to a fine forum.

Congratulations on your decision to collect stamps. A rewarding past time in many respects.



If you mean whether the new ones or the already use ones then usually the new (mint) ones are the ones that hold their value better as (there is always a reason) there are less of them around in years to come and so they are the rarer of the two. They usually look better too.

But, some like used ones (me) as they are cheaper usually and also have done their duty and served their purpose in delivering mail.



A good choice, Canada. I think some of (not all mind you) of the newer issues from Canada are well made and quality products that will still be in demand in years to come.

I don't mean will have increased in value considerably (although they might yet) but that they are usually issued in reasonable low numbers and, compared to some country's stamps, are better in appearance. All subjective ideas of course.

Souvenir sheets are usually wanted as they are shown in printed albums, and some choose just to collect them. For these, having a good used one is a harder thing to do (with a nice eye-pleasing cancel or postmark). Also the $10 whale out now, as a good looking stamp alone, seems to attract buyers on ebay, used or mint. But not every stamp will do this well.

Consider though that Canada Post issues millions of stamps (not as many as they used to mind you but still a lot) and less souvenir sheets usually and even less of the press sheets, a poster of usually uncut or unperforated (no holes around the edges) stamps. But keep an eye on the number issued.

Info about upcoming stamps can be had online from Canada Post magazines online at:
http://www.canadapost.ca/cpo/mc/per...ications.jsf
. . . or pick up the current Details or Collections magazines in any Post Office for free, or subscribe for the free paper magazines (delivered free) online at the above link also.

Nice stuff sells nicely. If the stamp or cover or sheet or whatever presents well it sells well. It helps if it is having some meaning to the buyer also.

Personal Canada postage is my favorite (see my avatar) and the 'looks good sells good' holds true there also.

To buy and sell stamps as an investment you must buy cheap (not from Canada Post usually) and sell well.

I don't know if anyone has compared the return fro stamps to other investments but usually stamps are not a good investment unless you know what you are doing and can see perhaps what the market will do in the future.

Or, buy mis-described or hidden in the bottoms of boxes stamps for cheap and sell later as properly described, well displayed items. Sae as with anything. Depends on your skills at every aspect of the whole thing.

Usually people who buy stamps a lot are from countries with a high Gross National Product. Countries like Canada, USA, France, Great Britain, Germany, etc and countries that are becoming more affluent like India and China.



The First Day Covers (FDC) or First Day Of Issue (FDOI) stamps are actually the same as the other stamps issued, no difference. It is just they are affixed to a specially made cover with a nice picture (cachet) on the cover and with a FDOI special pictorial cancel (cachet in French!) that makes it more appealing to collectors of that stamp or issue.

But, and this hurts to say, Canada Post has ruined the appeal of their FDCs by making so many of them compared to when they were made by small companies in limited numbers. they are great products and well made and look fantastic I give you that. But to be an interesting item for collectors and collectors / investors (and aren't we all a bit of both?) the quantity needs to come down.

You could make your own too you know. Go buy the stamps on the first day of issue (look in the magazines) and mail one or a block of four or a sheet to yourself, making sure to get a nice cancel if possible.

Postally used items (envelope, covers (what letters used to be before proper envelopes were made and sold)) rather than 'officially' 'special;y' cancelled (postmarked) items are usually worth more down the road. They are more historically accurate or 'real' than one made just for collectors. A philatellic cover is what they are called. Looks nice and all and presents well, but not historical.

A side note to these. I did notice recently taht aa seller on ebay in France or Spain was selling FDCs and doing well at it. This may be bacasue of how he was describing them (well) or how the market and marketing is for them over there or a combination of both.



This is the cancellation or cancel or postmark used by the Post Office to obliterate (or kill) the stamp so as to prevent future reuse of same article.

And you are probably referring to a nice Circular Date Stamp (CDS) cancellation that has been Socked On the Nose (SON or SOTN) of the stamp. So called because stamps used to be rulers, kings, queens, presidents, etc and when you squarely cancelled a stamp, centering the cancel on the stamp, it usually socked the personage portrayed on the stamp 'on the nose'.

These are also called, in different places, 'bullseye' cancels.

The are sought after and collected bu some people, yes, and paid more for usually, just the same as having a good cancel on a modern souvenir sheet is rare, because they are rare to get. Not every Post Master or clerk had a good eye for striking the postal cancelling hammer squarely upon the stamp. And having a page full of SON CDSs looks so nice too.

But there are other ways to collect cancels also that are eye pleasing. A corner of the stamp only has been cancelled or a part that leaves most of the design of the stamp free to be seen.

You will see such perfect cancels on Canacelled To Order (CTO) stamps, produced stamp and cancel both, by countries to sell to collectors and nothing else.

Basically, yp judge worth, if it looks good to you then usually it will look good to someone else also and thus be more wanted and more sought after and the price will go up.

Go to the library and look (probably in the reference section) at some stamp catalogues and see which stamps are catalogued at a higher value. Usually the stamps with popular topics like birds, transport, animals, fish, butterflies, Elvis, Marilyn, etc.