Why Do Non Stamp Collectors Think Stamps Are Worth Money ?

You got that right...my wife and I spent more on a 2 week European tour in 2010 (Euro 1.43) than I spent in 40 years collecting stamps..we figured once in a lifetime..spend the money..Moulin Rouge and all the xtra tours..it was fun !!

The media doesn't help, either.

I posted a recent thread about a visit with "pawn shop" celebrities valuing things for a studio audience and one example were those modern first day covers with a 22kt "gold" replica on the side. The celebrity "pawn shop" folks valued them at what amounted to $3.33 apiece, when many knowledgeable stamp collectors may value them at 50 cents apiece, if that.

The same thing goes for any collectible. If you watch the "Antiques Roadshow" or any of the many shows of that style, the "retail" values are always mentioned. Hardly ever is a true "secondary market" value given.

The reality with "retail" values, is that no one has computed auction or consignment fees, or overhead costs to sell such an item in a retail environment. When someone hears the media say the retail value of a given item is $1000 and then gets disappointed when they may be offered only $100 or $200 for the item at a later date, they either get mad at the dealer or blame the purchaser for giving them a "low ball" figure, when the item is said to be worth so much more.

That's often the difference between "wholesale" and "resale" values, and having one be willing to tie their money up in an item for an unknown period of time before it can be sold at a profit, and the cost to keep the business open (overhead such as utilities, employee salaries, etc.) during that time, that all must be factored in.

When one is poor it is not important that you have not money, which it imports is that you are happy with what you have without importing the price.

The most important thing in the philately the value is not, it is the big quantity of experiences, knowledge and friends who generate.

My wife and my son asked me once: how much value do your stamps have?.
.-I only spend time to his enjoyment. You will have to realize the economic value of the stamps when I die.
.-But I am sure , when you stop seeing all the stamps, you will like so much that you will not want to sell them.

Regards
David

David, I agree with you 100 percent. I must have my stamps...for relaxation.pleasure,,mental health and on...my wife also collects..i think more advanced than I the pages she creates on various subjects...after us, my son can have the headaches of dealing with the stamps !!

I agree with the earlier statement that some people think that just because something is old, it must be worth lots. Nevermind that millions of them (stamps) were printed.
Was at an estate auction the other night and there was a large stamp album and an album of FDCs, one of those 'stamps of the world' collections some company put out in the 70s. I waited over two hours, and when they finally came up the price rocketed in no time.
The album of stamps was huge, but there were a lot of empty pages, and most of the stuff was common. But it would have been fun to poke through. The FDCs went for $50! I'd have gone $5, with the idea of reselling them.
Guess it just comes down to perception, and what someone is willing to pay. Or expect to be paid.

I have a local here that has a small US collection for sale. The only Stamp worth more than $1 is a 3 margin #11. He is asking $450.00. I offered him $25 and he was very offended. 6 weeks later he has dropped his price to $400 as if he might have overpriced it by $50...........

Stallzer, well I guess hes the authority on the subject..i met an old fellow once who had a wrinkled sheet of Knute Rockne stamps and a black book that told him the sheet was worth $25 ! I told him they were worth the value on the stamp for postage..but he would never believe me...that black book deceives a lot of people

All of us spend money on stamps . . . to one degree or another . . so it is fair to say that some stamps are worth money. The perennial question is, which ones?

After just now looking over Delcampe and ebay it seems to be the ones that I want!

Yeah yeah it is to laugh.

Look at this, Switzerland 2012 Bee stamps block of 4 MNH is EUR 4.40 and a used single is EUR 0.33 !





Looks like an eager beaver bee!

edit: I'm so befuddled I can't type tonight. Typos fixed hopefully.

So because I am new to this stamp collecting thing and have stamps from Albania, Algeria, Australia, etc. I am wasting my time looking for that pot of Gold. I don't even know what I have. I think some of your posts are funny. Thanks for the share.

Possibly because the only time the non stamp collecting public hears anything about a stamp, it's because it is valuable.

Hi,
Stamp collecting is kind of like another hobby of mine - collecting of postwar Lionel trains. Goodness, as soon as someone knew I collected them, they assumed that their toy train in the attic or basement or wherever was worth thousands. The truth was, most were junk.

And also like stamp collecting..... the peak of Lionel collecting hit in earlier years (80s-90s) and today are worth perhaps 1/3 of what they were then.........

But, I'm not in either of them for the money.

I had to laugh one day as I sat in a local stamp store (yes they still exist) when a person walked in off the street with a beat up Liberty Album with a few used stamps hinged to the pages then argued with the owner that the album must be worth more than $20 because it had stamps from the 1920s and 30s.

I guess some people assume that value increases with age, just as some people also mistakenly assume wisdom increases with age.