Where Did The Dealers Get Their Stamp Stocks?

Hi!
I collected stamps in the 50s and 60s, dropped out and jumped back in with both feet a couple years ago. As I am a retired "business analyst", I've often wondered where the dealers got their supplies.

I'm using past tense here because I'm mainly interested in the dealers of the 40s - 60s. How did they get their stocks of stamps - especially those of their non native countries?

Did they buy from foreign governments or ???

Hey, I hope this isn't considered a boring subject, for to me its pretty interesting................

Thanks,
Mobilman44

During the Stamp collecting heyday sourcing material was much easier since it was so popular everyone had collections. I'd imagine that today it is much more difficult to source fresh material.

Since I deal mainly in covers, I've seen a number of letters and advertisements between dealers of this era. Some U.S. dealers would buy stock offered from dealers of other countries.

This will be a little past your time period, but I became pretty good friends with a dealer who saw her hey-day through the 80s and up until around the mid 90s when she retired.

I toyed with becoming a dealer in the 90s and picked her brain pretty hard. Her primary sources for stock were collections and other dealers. She sold primarily through mail order and at shows, and to her, while she usually was successful at shows from a sales perspective their real value was in expanding her mailing list and in obtaining stock.

I remember her saying she purchased collections at 10 percent of Scott (a little more for something really good) and for a dealer she'd go a bit higher. She would also trade with dealers from time to time. Generally, she sold her merchandise for 75-85 percent of Scott.

She mentioned that she used some wholesalers very early on in her business but that the stock she received from them was not very worthwhile.

They got it from collectors, auctions, other dealers, post offices, mail rooms, stamp agencies, jobbers, wholesalers, estates, family of collectors, etc. Most dealers get them from stamp auctions, directly from collectors and other dealers. They buy large lots and collections which they break down into stock.

"she purchased collections at 10 percent of Scott"

I assume that's for "better" material, or that dealer buy prices are less than that today. I've paid less than 10% of Scott - often much less - for probably over 90% of my collection, and these are generally clean, sound stamps. If I could get 10% today I'd be very happy. But again, 99% of my collection catalogs at less than $5, so I don't really expect even 10% for most of those. For the handful of stamps I have that catalog at, say, $10 and above, I might hope to get close to 10%.

Otherwise, buying at 10% and selling at 80% sounds reasonable, given that it likely takes dealers awhile to sell certain items. It's not like gas or other commodities where they can turn their inventory over practically daily, so they need to have a fairly high markup.

This was in the 80s and 90s, and I'm just not sure. I do remember her vaguely saying something about speed of turnover. If she had a waiting buyer she'd pay more. If she thought it would take a while to sell, she'd pay less. But these conversations were many years ago, and I've slept since.

Did they buy from foreign governments or ???

In that time period ...roughly 1937- 1953... British Colonial stamps were authorized by the Crown Agents for the Colonies. Stamps for the philatelic trade were bought and delivered from the Crown Agents in London and never actually came from the appropriate Colony such as Pitcairn Island, St Helena, Seychelles etc, etc.

If you haven't read it, try to find a copy of Herman Herst's Nasssu Street. Although some of the earlier chapters are devoted to the Depression Era, I think you'll get a good feel for how he and some other dealers acquired material. One of my favorite philatelic books, though, for many reasons.

Hi,
Just won an ebay auction for "Nassau Street", and look forward to getting it. Apparently its had several reprints, and I'm surprised I never heard of it before.

Thanks!
Mobilman44

To answer your question many stamp dealers in the U.S. and Great Britain would make contact with other dealers overseas and ship in huge stocks of stamps. Since you asked about the 1940's the major source was both Jewish people leaving Europe and the returning G.I'S ,in many parts of the world they were the only people who had cash . So everything was offered to them from desperate people . It is common knowledge the stamp dealers where waiting for ships to arrive at port. Many great stamp collections came to America that way and now with E-BAY a lot is going back .

Nassau Street is definitely my favorite stamp story book. He knew how to tell some great stories. As for where dealers get their stock. I've watched dealers buy collections big and small from collectors and buy dealer stock too. There's a lot of this kind of action before a major stamp show. Hearst says it right that most of the "good" stamps are in collector hands, dealers have a small fraction.

Floortrader,

re. your comment.

" the major source was both Jewish people leaving Europe and the returning G.I'S ,in many parts of the world they were the only people who had cash ",

as we say in Australia,

PLEASE EXPLAIN

Pagoda