Can Stamp Collecting Be A Self Supporting Hobby ?

Is it possible to never have to pay for another Stamp or cover and keep adding to the collection ? Probably not but I'm trying. Recently I purchased a pretty good sized collection and it was far more money than I've ever spent on any material and needless to say the Wife was livid.

So the solution I offered to her was that I'd sell enough material to make our money back and keep the remainders for my collection. It has been an interesting project but the labor is fairly intensive with sorting and cataloging the material I have no clue about.

The decisions that were taken into account.

1. Sell the high value pieces and keep more of the lower and mid range value items.

2. Sell more of the mid-range and lower value items in lots and try to keep as many of the high value items as possible, much more labor in this route.

3. Keep what is in my direct collecting interests whether high value, mid or lower value and sell the rest.

I have had to part with many items I'd have loved to keep but in order to satisfy the one I must obey there had to be some of this.

I am close to hitting my monetary goal and it looks like I will do very well on this one and get to keep many items that filled some nice holes in my collection and many have good value. I would do this more often but finding collections like this seem to be far and few between. Does anyone else try this on a regular basis ? I know being a dealer and a collector is not a good idea but selling some items does not make one a dealer.

4. Buy her something nice from the profits.

Except there will be no profits. Once the financial goal is met I will stop selling and start inserting into my collection :)

i believe it can be a self supporting hobby...depending on how much time and energy one relegates to the collecting and selling portions..but I do not rely on it being so ! If I purchase $700 a year and sell $300 I figure I have spent $400 although that might not be accurate !

Stallzer.. I try this too. Usually a mixture of options 2 and 3. Option 2 is painful in sorting out stuff as well as selling it.

Ram

I have followed that strategy for decades, the only difference being that there's no one to be livid. Also, as you buy more costly collections, more and more of the competition is shut out. Rarely is your competition "dealers" -- it's collectors with the same mindset as you.

Now send a postcard to a dozen auctioneers within 50 miles and tell them if they offer a good-sized collection, you are likely to show up and bid, provided you can examine the collection at your leisure.

I'm sensing a little bit of buyers remorse eh? (Join the club stallzer)
Just upgrade the better ones in your collection and finish off the sets if you can and then sell the one that's left over, that way you can sell your stamps and keep them too! Make a more realistic goal of only trying to get back at least ½ to ¾ of your money back so it's not so taxing on you, after all your not suffering right now right? I wouldn't buy a collection and then sell off the good stuff unless it's stuff you don't collect and even then you could find a specialist on here to either tell you more info on them for sale information/description, trade or something like that.

Edit:
Can you show some of your classic U.S. stuff from this collection by chance? I might be interested in some stuff soon..

No buyers remorse here Jeff. I have basically already sold enough to get my money back in full but now there is another dilemma I'll get into later. I kept all the classic U.S. and Canada and sold off things that aren't in my collecting interests but some of what I wanted to keep had top go to achieve the financial goal. I do collect Australia and have always wanted the 5/- Sydney Harbor Bridge but had to make a sacrifice and part with the Mint hinged 5/- Bridge in the collection. The Classic US included some great stuff that I'm missing (Mint hinged 36b, MNH 30¢ Columbian and many others)

The way I have justified my stamp collecting expenses (at least in part) is that to have fun, some people play golf, some go to NASCAR races, etc. and after the event they have nothing to show for the expense laid out.
I explain to her that my fun is stamp/cover collecting, and afterwards I DO have something to show for it. That usually works.
If you collect AND play golf, then this argument won't work.

My son goes to Foxwoods casino every month or so with his friends...i always ask him for 10 percent of his winnings but never see anything..i think the money is better spent on stamps !

You should have also pointed out that stamp collecting allows you to stay at home with her whereas those other pastimes would keep the two of you apart.

Like others, I've always operated this way.

More times than not, after I remove the stamps that I want, I end up selling the balance for more than I paid in the first place.

Normally when you buy a larger lot the scans and the description are kind of spotty. By breaking it down and selling in smaller lots with good scans and better descriptions you always make a gain. Of course ebay makes out well too and they take no risk.

As you make more expensive purchases you are leaving a large number of buyers behind. They aren't willing to put that much money out. You should indeed be rewarded for taking the risk.

I disagree with an earlier post. Dealers are quite often in competion with you. I have saw many a lot that I was after at a large auction house end up being sold in pieces on ebay. But that's OK, if you think about it you're buying at wholesale prices when you compete with dealers.

Sometimes it appears my philosophy is "buy high, sell low"

Okay, you remind me of a story. Years ago I told my wife I was going to an auction. It was a general auction but way down in the listing they had listed a small stamp collection. My wife told me that it was a bad time for us financially and she would prefer that I skip the auction. After I moped around the house a bit she told me to go but "I better not spend ANY money".
I went and the stamp collection in the listing turned out to be one of those readers digest type collections that I had no interest in. As I was looking at it the auctioneer came by and told me that they did not really have the stuff I look for at this auction, but they did have a couple boxes of "stamp crap" that came in too late for the listing. The auctioneer knew what I liked to bid on from past auctions. I looked around the room and noticed that all the stamp people were gone. They must have been just as disappointed in the stuff as me, but no one knew about the two very large boxes of stuff as they were back in a corner of a side room with stuff to crawl over to even get a look at it. The auctioneer was not a big fan of stamps and often made fun of them when they came up.
Well I waited and bought the two boxes. I paid 30 bucks for the dishwasher box full and between 15 and 20 for the toilet paper box full of stamps. From the top each looked like mainly on and off paper kiloware but a lot of it.
As I loaded my truck I dug a bit and found some better items and then dug a little further before I went home. I put the good stuff on top and was feeling pretty good about my haul.
As I was driving home the high from the auction was being replaced by guilt, remembering my wife's instructions. I also knew there was no way to sneak a hoard like this in after she fell asleep. So I decided to tell her the second I got home. She was not pleased and in my defense I said " But Honey, I could sell three stamps right here on the top and get all my money back." She replied "DO IT!". Crap! not what I was expecting. I don't know what I was thinking. Maybe I was hoping for a, that's okay, it was less than $50.00.
So I put them on ebay and they did sell and I did get my money back.

I'm not too different PJS, here's how mine went down. The one I must obey did know I was going to look at the collection but I did not tell her I was buying it until I was bringing it through the door. In my case I felt that it was better to ask for forgiveness than permission. After She settled down a bit I gave her the old "Trust me Honey" and I told it was either that or I could prove to her what the actual retail price of the items were. She opted for the 2nd choice.

I have purchased collections but never paid over $100 and the collections were appropriately priced at that. But it's a whole different world when you walk in and tell her it was $2,000 of our savings :) All is good now and she is relieved and has actually happy as I've shown her what I'm keeping and the value of the kept items.

When I spend that kind of money I do it with her full knowledge. I bid $5,500 on a fantastic Hawaii collection last year. She was behind it and had planned to help me break it up for sale and I would have ended up with a fabulous Hawaii collection for myself, but alas I was outbid. It was one of those deals that was almost a guarantee to make money, but someone had deeper pockets then I do. I think she was secretly relieved when we didn't get it.