So I Called Mystic To See What Dad Spent...

Hi once again,
Your situation fasinates me, and I got to thinking, when your Dad was putting together his collection, there was (for the vast majority of time) no online buying/auctions for him to participate in. Back in "the day", companies like Littleton, Mystic, etc., etc., were the main "stamp sellers". It was so easy to get on approval lists or to fill out order forms. And yes, it was expensive, but there was no viable alternative for many of us - so it was what it was.

I left the hobby in the mid 1960s because I just couldn't afford the stamps needed to add to my US collection - even used stamps.

On the other hand, I recently returned to the hobby because the market for unused stamps was so attractive, and I could afford many of them.

Please don't be hard on your Dad. He had a worthy hobby, enjoyed himself, and left you with something tangible. Many folks out there would be very envious of your situation.

ENJOY,
Mobilman44

Mystic does have a very high markup but the value to bring stamps to your door requires it. Overhead is high, meaning jobs are created. Without Mystic, many people would be unable to enjoy the hobby. In return, the stamps yield joy, and though your father thought he was investing part of the value he was looking to transfer was that of the hobby itself. You are interested and thus he was successful. Now, with the dollar in decline maybe hold those stamps. If inflation runs rampant you may be surprised at how much more they will be worth. If they appreciated to half of the outlay that would be great given the joy they also provided.

Breaking even is a great goal in stamps, and it should be noted even most of the million dollar collections are at losses when sold. Buy smart and hold twenty years then a collection may turn out different.

You knew Dad?

He didn't bother to show me his stamps in 40 years.
If he wanted to pass this along to me, he would have taught me.
He wouldn't have told me as he was dying that the value of the stamps would
take care of his wife and daughter if he wanted me to keep them.

Give me a break.
Mystic doesn't have some special hold on the market where they have to charge
several times more than others or flood people with product like there is going
to be no tomorrow... unless you are taking advantage of elderly, then maybe there
won't be!

You guys crack me up, bottom line... Mystic sucks. Mystic sells over priced stamps to uninformed, misinformed people. If Mystic marketed penny stocks to people the way they market stamps the whole family would be in prison.

FREDCDOBBS-----ROFLMAO, you said it best "sells over priced stamps to uninformed,misinformed people"

That's what I'm saying!
They lie in wait for the mark, so as to stay under the radar,
then when they set the hook, it's all over.

Yep, Mystic and other similar cos. (forget the names) are the slime bags that used to advertise FREE STAMPS in comic books and match books. They would try and hook naive collectors, such as children, with their overpriced clandestine approval scheme. But, even as a child I quickly recognized the scam (probably with the help of my parents) and sent the crap back. One of the companies lured my wife and son to order the "free stamps" about a year ago. The stamps were three basically worthless US issues from the 1940's. When I found out, I had them cancel immediately.

There are "Leave it to Beaver" episodes on this kind of stuff, which is why I recommend everyone, adults and children alike, view the entire series as basic education. My wife thinks I'm nuts of course, but it doesn't stop me from "forcing" the family to watch the series.

Mystic and companies like it do have a place in Stamp Collecting. I'd dare the majority of members on this forum probably started collecting stamps through similar channels.

I'm sure the time it took to realize that wasn't the way to buy stamps varied by person. But their come hither tactics introduced many to this interesting hobby.

Hi,
Like it or not, many of us "old folks" were lured into the hobby by Mystic and Littleton and so on back in the 50s and 60s. Without their introduction and promotion of the hobby, I strongly believe a good portion of folks would never have gotten interested.

And frankly, no one was ever forced to patronize them.

So, it would appear that Mystic has a listing of what the father purchased as they had the total cost. What I think would be extremely interesting would be to see what Mystic would pay to repurchase the stamps. That would be most telling.

"I am not sure I recall that face value correctly. It may have only been $300 face, as I seem to recall that there were only 800 or so unused stamps, and 800 stamps would be hard pressed to make $500 face. It was a few hundred, but whatever. When you have that much face, several albums, and a couple hundred FDCs, well, you get the idea... $100 ain't taking that home"

Unfortunately, the market for UN stamps is very poor and it is not unsual for them to get offers of 20% of face or less for the mint, and maybe 10c each for the FDC's.

Something doesn't sound right here .Yes ,many of us started collecting and got lured into the comic book ads of 1,000 stamps or 150 ww stamps for 10 cents .Sure we got the over price approvals but as we grew up and talk to other collectors .It was not long and after giving away our hard earn allowances to these mail order houses ,then we started with stamp dealers and then stamp shows for our purchases .The mail order firms moved us thru a certain period of collecting .
Why your dad stayed and was lock into purchasing from them can only be guessed at ,maybe he liked the weekly surprise in his mailbox or he never cared about the price while he grew his treasure..........but the fact remains he chose to stay at a beginner level .

I hate to see heirs get unpleasant surprises like this. The knowledge that the collector got enjoyment from the collection only goes so far, especially when either the communicated "value" of the collection ends up having been overstated or the amount spent was understated.

If I could plaster something into a stickey for novices to read it would be this:

Never, EVER, buy from outfits that have back cover or full spread full-color ads EVERY WEEK in publications. It's well known, not only in philately but in other collectible fields as well, that these are high-overhead operations.

Invariably one (or both!) of two scenarios occur: (1) The merchandise you get is decidedly inferior or with hidden undisclosed faults, or (2) It is overpriced to the Nth degree... worse than you'd ever get from any show/bourse dealer.

I despise Mystic and other "dealers" of their ilk. They prey upon the unknowledgeable and use deceptive marketing practices. They are the print equivalent of buying collectibles from home shopping channels. You will NEVER get your money back out of the purchase unless your holding period is in excess of a generation, and even then it's an iffy proposition.

Mystic is the modern H.E. Harris.

They are devious in the way they word their ads, implying that their "regular prices" are in any way industry standard. Hell, if I overprice something by 200%, you bet I can afford to take 40% off and call it a bargain!

To give you an idea of the snake oil they are pushing: they occasionally run a back cover ad in Linn's with a partial set of "rare" U.S. wine revenue stamps. I found it odd that they quote a Scott catalog that is 4 years old rather than current Scott catalog value.

The reason: The National Postal Museum deaccessioned tens of thousands of 20th century revenue stamps they had in holding, through several Matthew Bennett auctions a few years ago, which included wine stamps. The market was flooded overnight, and over the course of the next several years the catalog values have dropped, to where the values of some of the stamps are now less than 50% of what they were prior to the auctions.

So Mystic quotes Scott catalog values from BEFORE the auctions were held.

That's dirty pool. That's preying on the unwary and unethical as [CENSORED!]

I'll repeat: if it's a full-page color ad week after week, stay the hell away from that dealer, or at the very least realize that you are paying a significant premium by purchasing from that vendor.

I certainly have done this myself: Eric Jackson has some of the highest revenue stamp prices in the industry, at times insanely so. However, for certain scarce or high-quality pieces that I cannot find elsewhere, I've been happy to pony up the above-Scott prices... but I know that going in, and it's only for specific pieces.

For specialists it's one thing, but for run-of-the-mill "fill the album spot" collecting, not only "no" but "HELL NO!"

I feel sorry for the original poster. I was 7 when I started collecting and my mother was smart about it because her mother had a large collection, so while all the books in the local library were talking about how great an investment collecting would be, and telling young collectors that places like H.E. Harris and Kenmore were the ways to grow your collection to riches, my mother knew it was all bunk and kept me grounded.

Even today (almost 40 years later), I still cringe when I read articles that tout stamp collecting as a 'potential' investment. I recall several years ago reading a list of posts on an old AOL message group about stamps and every other message was someone who had inherited a collection/found it in an attic (You've all seen them) and wanted to know the quickest way to collect the riches (or lack thereof for those of us who know better).

I've worked a long time on my collection, and I get it appraised regularly for insurance purposes, and while I've spent more than it's worth, the knowledge of history, culture, politics, etc that I've gained from stamps would have cost magnitudes more to learn in an academic setting, so I take pride in that. Don't get me wrong, I would love it if the sale of my collection would be able to pay for a future heir's college education, or a downpayment on their first home, but it just isn't going to happen.

Back in 2007 the Federal Trade Commission put Mystic Stamp Company ads and solicitations under some scrutiny. Their findings are documented at this link:

http://www.ftc.gov/os/closings/staf...cstampco.pdf