Why Do Non Stamp Collectors Think Stamps Are Worth Money ?

That's why I'm a hard-headed %$#@!

k

Good Man !! Lets look after our own !

kim and phil... I would say my US collection is worth considerably more then I have invested in it. A lot more. But my UN collection is as common as dirt (except for that special sheet) and is mostly worthless, but I had fun collecting them.

I collect for both investment and joy, I now buy collections to get what I want, sell what I don't so I can buy more stamps. My hobby has become a self supporting one.

I don't know. Remember beanie babies? I know lost of folks (some relatives, who shall remain nameless) who bought tons of the little darlings and pampered them, waiting for the big payoff.
...saw lots of them in a thrift shop today....beanie babies, not relatives.

James, tell them to hang on to them and wait just a few more years. After all these fools part with them in garage sales, the value will skyrocket just as expected, and they will be sittin' pretty on a mountain of cash.

Oh, wait. You said beanie babies. Never mind. I thought we were still talking about stamps.

Excuse me while I rotate my albums so they get a different view of the room...

Probably because they read about old comic books and baseball cards that have skyrocketed in value. If I still had all my old baseball cards and EC and DC comics, I'd be able to sell them and buy a White Ace album and all the stamps I want.

Back in 1957 I had a 1941 Plymouth coupe.hand choke etc, ...i see what the pickers are paying for rusted out hulks of them now...i should have kept it 55 years instead of running it ragged like kids do !!

MOst people do not even notice what comes in the mail because 99% of it is metered or a flag stamp. So when they see a commerative they think wow this muct be rare and if it older well then it must be worth some serious money. <SIGH>! The only hope is you can tell them something about the stamp and not discuss the fact it is worthless and get them interested in stamp collecting.
Nick

I have a very interesting file folder of papers. In 1929, my grandfather was talked into investing $125.00 ($25.00 down and $10.00 per month according to the file of papers). Starting in about 1932, there is a short series of letters, increasingly plaintive, asking where his money was.

He got nothing. I have an interesting set of family documents including an ornate certificate for 100 shares in the Dominion Reindeer Company (don't ask!) and a plaintive question of my own.

Why didn't he buy a stamp collection instead?

Intrinsic worth may be small but the enjoyment, the valued contact with like-minded individuals and the hours of entertainment and satisfaction derived are huge.

PS - I garden too. Dirt is great.

I knew it! It was the USPS, metered mailed and self adhesive stamps that dealt the death blow to stamp collecting...a slow lingering death.

PHILB - regular or synthetic?

Nells I figure the manual means regular for 5 thousand miles..7500 for synthetic ..the engines are going to run 100 thousand plus miles anyway !!

my relatives in Europe are told to bring the car in once a year for an oil change ?????

In stamps, as in any other field, knowledge is power. With the advent of the internet, accessibility to information is certainly not a problem. As someone gets specialized in an area, he/she can more easily spot undervalued items & make a financial gain. Thus, one who has an acute financial orientation can turn stamp collecting into a profitable hobby. The problem is that most collectors do not have that financial orientation. Collectors buy stamps to complete their collection; dealers buy items that could be sold for a profit. So the state of mind is very different between these 2 groups. A collector who is being offered 10 copies of a stamp issue below market value would most probably buy only 1 (max 2) copies for himself; he has no use for the extra 9 copies as he is not in the stamps business & does not have clients to sell to. On the other hand, he might very well spend a dollar on a stamp worth 10 cents if it fits into his collection. He does so knowingly. When I go eat at a restaurant, I can pay 10$ for a dish of pasta I know cost the owner only 1.50$. The dealer you bet would take all 10 copies & ask for more. His purchases are profits motivated, whereas the collector's purchases are to complete a collection. Unless the topic of his collection is "most undervalued stamps", by the rule of probability, 95% if not more of his collection will be worthless.

Another point I'd like to make is when it comes to outsiders, stamp valuing is something most cannot understand. Huge price differences due to grading are irrational to the eyes of the non collector; they don't see the value in these differences, let alone identify the differences themselves. This would cause them to often mistakenly believe a common issue to be the rare variety of that same issue, as they do not know in the first place what makes the variety a rarity. The human mind being attracted to sensationalism, you'd be sure anyone non initiated to philately browsing through a stamp catalog would first see the high catalog values for the varieties first (& ignore its corresponding common issue).

Just my 2 cents ~~. On a side note, it's quite entertaining to share ideas on such topics. Many members have very insightful comments :)

One man's junk is another man's treasure. Having a fun activity and socializing with others about similar interests are good reasons for stamp collecting. I spent less on stamps over the last 5 years than someone in the USA who took a 10 day European vacation recently.