Does The Value Of Stamps Rotate

What makes stamps valuable besides the printing style and year? Do stamps value go up with time, or do they go up with political events or other situations?

Same as everything else, supply and demand. Are there more people who want them than the number available? That's what makes anything go up in value.

Thank You Cephus.

And they go down too. Stamp prices, even for rare and high grade material can fluctuate widely in a short time. Take this pair for example:



This is a side-by-side pair of #139 and #150. The right stamp has a grill, and supposedly the left stamp does not. This pair was offered at auction in November 2013 with a catalog value of $885 and has a PSE certificate from 2008. But it did not sell. It was offered again a few months later, in March 2014, with exactly the same description and catalog value, and this time it sold for $1500. But the story does not end there.

A few weeks ago this same pair was sold again by the same auction house, but now with the note that the PF had issued a certificate stating that the left stamp in fact shows a few barely discernible grill points. The listed catalog value doubled ($1750), but the pair only sold for $425.

The combination pair is more desirable and not listed in the catalog, so its value to collectors is much more than the value of the single grilled stamp it contains. But when the PF pronounced it as having a weak grill on the left, it fell from being an unlisted combination pair to a substandard ordinary pair. The previous buyer lost over $1000 on that deal.

Stamp collecting is best done for the enjoyment one gets out of studying the material, not so much for the opportunity to speculate on prices, or invest for long term growth. Money in the bank it is not, unless you learn how to play that game and are willing to live with some losses - just like stocks.

There are far better investments in our hobby than stamps themselves. Original Dennison hinges from the 1950s and 1960s have gone up in value by almost 4000%; this far exceeds the vast majority of stamps as an investment. A smart investor would have snapped up a few dozen cases of these 'back in the day' for 40-50 cents per pack and be reselling them now for $20-$25 each.

But not too many people would have fun doing this. Point is, stamps offer a far greater experience than simply investment. It is about learning, friendship, and other intrinsic things that we all find enjoyable.

Well said 51studebaker, its not like I could sit and stare at a pack of Dennison hinges for hours like I do with my spamps and covers.

essayk, odd that the new certed Sc #139 pair resold for far less than the supposed 139/150 pair. But since the person who bought the pair from the second auction was most likely the person who summited the pair for the re certification,and was not bidding on their own item, that the competition that drives up the hammer price was missing. However I would think that there are more that two banknote specialists that would be after an unlisted variety. Also would depend on what else was being auctioned at the same time.
All sheer speculation on my part.

To elaborate about supply and demand and their relation to stamp prices, there are various factors at play on both the supply and demand sides of that equation. For demand, you have factors like general economic conditions, a certain collecting area becoming more or less popular, even currency exchange rates, given that it's an international market.

The existing supply of stamps is more or less fixed, but there are still forces at play on the supply side as well. When internet shopping got big, for example, it made it very easy for dealers and collectors alike to put everything they have up for sale to the world. Even though no new stamps were printed, the result was a flood of supply hitting the market at the same time, resulting in dropping prices. Also, if demand increases significantly, supply will eventually be reduced further, driving prices even higher. I'm not an investor and would caution strongly against stamps as an investment vehicle, but figuring out all those variables in order to pick winners and losers is what one would need to do.

Valuable can be pretty. Valuable can also be exquisite craftsmanship. Valuable can be meaning to many people, after years the idea still holds a good flavour, a classic. Of course, values change, personal likes and dislikes change, beauty remains.

lttleriverphil,
To be fully honest and perhaps its just me (I am probably just weird)...
I think a collection of hinge packages throughout the years, along with the various hinge styles, would be kind of neat to see. This history of hinges could cover why hinges from long ago are far superior to today's offerings. I can't tell you how many modern collections/lots I have seen that were trashed by the used of horrid hinges that virtually require you to soak the page to remove the stamps.

Your observation about decreasing the bidding population when the buyer becomes seller is spot on, Phil. But as for the decision to bid, I can only respond from my own experience. If the pair had been certified as a combo pair, I would certainly have bid on it. Since it was not, and one of the stamps had little to show for a grill, I passed. A few lots later I began to think that may have been a mistake, since the stamp on the right is a very nice certified 139 straddle copy that, even without the left stamp, is worth more than $425. But I didn't think it through in the moment, and was put off by the yucky cancellation to boot. As for interested others, they apparently were elsewhere that day. Which is the story of auction time after time.

I know that the business about being unlisted makes people start to think RARE, but it shouldn't. Catalog editors have to make decisions about what merits listing and what does not. For a long time the catalog made no distinction between the two grill sizes on the BankNotes. No one had come up with an explanation for them, so they all got lumped into a single pot. When the rationale was finally put out there in 2007 (thank you Ron Burns) the heat was on, and in 2013 the H and I both got status. Now the move is on to find out which is the rarer type for each denomination. but for now, the I-grills are getting bigger numbers across the board? The demand curve is up now that people are paying attention, while at the same time the relative supply numbers are unknown except for the reports of a handful of long time observers. The higher denomination BankNote grills have always been pricey. This all just exacerbates the status quo. So it's best not to get too worked up over a few dashes and blank spaces in the cat, or you may have an awkward moment after the music stops.

How true! As far as the I grills.. are they getting the larger number becuse thay are so much more well defined and easier to see? The pair you mentioned were H grills, were they not? I know that the H grills drive me nuts! I have a couple of 139s, H grills, one of which I couldn't see any grill points on, until I finally gave up and dusted it with graphite, it has 4 points on it. Not exactly something most would want to purchase. :)

H grills can be buggers, no doubt about it, but so can some of the early state I grills. I am just getting ready to send in a 139A for paper, and a 141 that could be an I-grill too. The first was bought as an I-grill from a knowledgeable house, but with a grill as weak as many of the H-grills. The second is quite strong, with an easy point count, but the state is ambiguous. So the H versus I thing doesn't pan out when the going really gets tough.

There's an important test not to forget about Phil. I just bought a 143 with grill points so weak I have to say I could only see hints but nothing I would be sure of. Yet the thing came with 2 certs, one from the PF from the early 90s, and one from PSE for this year. The committees agreed with each other that the stamp is grilled. How did they determine that?

Well, I dipped it (watermark fluid) and then the image was clear enough for me to see that the thing is almost a candidate for a vertically split grill (still checking that). Try dipping one of your 139s and see if the story changes.