Why Do Non Stamp Collectors Think Stamps Are Worth Money ?

Also, I think in many people's minds, old = valuable. Think old cars, antiques, old works of art, (Lionel Trains) etc. If I saw something old that I wasn't real familiar with, I'd probably wonder, too, if it was worth anything. I wouldn't automatically assume that it was valuable, but I might want to check into it.

I wonder if this is more of an American phenomenon, since so few things in this country are truly old. I really have no idea if this is the case, but I wonder if this is as common in, say, Europe, where the surroundings are often several orders of magnitude older than they are in the US.

They've been watching too much Pawn Stars TV.

The only times that non-collectors hear or read about stamps is when they are newsworthy, and few things are as newsworthy as price.

Stamps are truly different from other old things, in terms of their value/lack of value. Over the past few years, I have been selling a potpourri of accumulated "stuff" on ebay. My personal experience is that stamps are the toughest items to sell. Old razors, tokens, buttons, and other stuff ...all of it...have sold surprisingly well. Of course, the fact that stamps don't sell as well is a great disappointment, because I've collected them for over 60 years...and studied some of them for 25 years. I'm not blind to the facts regarding their massive supply and the diminishing demand. Anyway, I think that the idea of value with stamps has a lot to do with myth. Myth is built by published stories of atypical circumstances, experiences of people who may have relatives or friends who know a stamp collector who has a "$2000 stamp" or by postal agencies creating "rare" varieties to enhance revenue. Once a myth starts, it is difficult,or impossible to stop. I too have thought that when I pass, I might want the backhoe to drop all the albums, cover boxes, and glassines into the hole with me. For one thing, it would be me doing my small part to help everybody else's stuff be a little more valuable.

Yes, but people stiff shave, people still gamble, people still button their shirts.

See stamps on their incoming printed mail? Not so much.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

I'm in Europe. My hometown, Barcelona, is more than 2.000 years old (not he oldest, by far, of Europe). You can easily see Roman walls. And here, also, people relate stamps with Money; and, when they inherite a stamp collection, think that they've got a fortune.
So, when a honest philatelist tells them the real value of Dad's or late husband collection; usually a few euros, they are convinced that the collector wants to have their "valuable collection" for nearly nothing.
Something that I find diferent from American collectors (as seen on the SCF) is that we are not worried at all about knowing how many stamps we have, or how much they`re worth.

You can buy 120 year old stamps by the carload for a nickel each. It really makes no sense compared with any other product. No wonder civilians are mistaken. The peculiarity is not with non-collectors, but with our hobby!

Agreed, one would expect someone with zero knowledge of stamps to think something 100 years old might have value. We have members here who's ebay listing show up on the top of the site who greatly over value their items.