How Much You Are Willing To Pay

For a ww collection what is the limit you fix for buying a stamp, what is the limit for a key stamp (like the first one of a country) and what will be the extreme limit (like US #1 and 2 . Please keep the context on a real ww collection like the one you will host in Scott or Steiner's pages. Not a specialized 1 country collection

about 600

If I can afford it, I buy it. If I can't I don't. I keep a close eye on my budget, but I have paid reasonable 4-figure sums for stamps I really, really want and which I'm unlikely to see again in my lifetime.

I go as high as 70 % of book. value because you will be lucky to get that much back.
from your investment.

As any given collection advances, this becomes an increasingly critical consideration.

Ask anyone who has been actively collecting any given subject for, say, twenty years, and they will be able to rattle-off a list of things they rarely see for sale ... if they care to share that information.

Now, 'rarely see' might mean in particularly pristine condition or in a particular usage, eg, you will find plate blocks but not that plate number, or you will find covers but none to/from a particular city, etc.

I find that, these days, I even apply this standard while rutting thru bargain boxes, but in the opposite way, eg, if hunting thru a one dollar box, I will toss something back if I am confident that I will see it some day in a one quarter-dollar box.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey

How long is a piece of string ? It would depend on condition, postmarks, new, used, countries,etc.

In order to keep to the topic of the OP


I am in that boat. There are literally 100.000's of empty spaces that needs to be filled in my WW albums, 90% of them can be acquired for pennies. So - how to prioritize - blow large money to fill one single space - or fill thousands of empty spaces for the same money?
This autumn I spend similar amount of money to get one key stamp as I did for an enormous accumulation that will fill thousand of empty spaces. The combined investment - both for quantity and for something quite rare gave me great satisfaction.
I have no set limit though, only trying to find a balance between the key stamps and the workhorses

For the last few years I've had a specialty collection (German Area) and some other country collections. For those parts of my collection this about sums it up:




I work in sales and my income varies widely; my stamp expenditures go up and down with my income. Low three figures is about my max for a single item, and even that's rare.

To the original point, I just decided in the last couple weeks to start a general worldwide collection, using stockbooks. My goal for this collection is basically to have a lot of pretty stamps to look at, ideally not costing too much on a per stamp basis. In other words, at least right now, I don't care about completion in any given country, other than ones I was already working toward. Using stockbooks means I won't have any empty spaces crying to be filled, so things like short sets won't bother me much. Given that context, I really don't anticipate spending more than a couple bucks a stamp in most cases, although I could go higher if it was something I wanted.

Also, since I'm just beginning this little adventure, I shouldn't need to spend much more than that to add interesting stamps to that part of my collection. I plan on adding to my WW collection mostly by purchasing collections and bulk lots. I'd go into the low hundreds to buy a collection that I thought was worthwhile, maybe higher if I thought I could also make some of the money back. As my collection grows and I find new favorite areas, I'm sure I'll find plenty of stamps I'm willing to spend more on.

The tread is all left and right, I'm trying to figure a cut-off limit for a WW album project.

ArtfulHinger


Wow - starting a WW collection sounds like great fun I am using stockbooks for my WW collection, and high quality stockbooks are an excellent option. If you allow me to give but one advice - speaking from experience - I would have choosen vario stock sheets if starting again from scratch. Now is your chance to get it right, allowing maximum flexibility. Good luck on your project!

I am looking for stamps from all countries, and that collection will eventually include the Swiss canton issues.

For me, if we're talking for my worldwide collection, just not much. That said, my worldwide collection isn't so much a collection as it is an organized accumulation.

Now, for my collections that I am more serious about? A couple hundred bucks and up. I think my record is about $600 for one stamp once.

If I want it, the sky's the limit. My rich stamp collector friend said when I asked him this question. For me without that kind of income, I still agree with that statement. I have not gone into debt to buy stamps but if I want it, I will. Right now I want US C 15-18 MNH, this is going to be expensive. That set is my budget for my hobby for the next couple of years! I think the answer to the question is it's based on want not need because you don't need stamps.

You don't? What??

I haven't been collecting for very long, but I have figured out that condition is what I'm after. I have also noticed that many collectors are the same way. They are not hesitant to pay a premium for a well centered high-quality stamp.

This being said, I don't think I'm ever going too far over cv.

wp62

A couple of years ago, I was once hustled out a bidding war in a major London auction house between two other folk who "really wanted" a South African Republic stamp (SG 6, in fine used condition). I stopped at CV. They fought on until 60% above CV, not including 20% buyer's premium. In October last year I picked up this stamp from a dealer for about 30% of CV and didn't even have to pay the postage.

Pick the battles you want to win, and avoid those which look like they will be either expensive or pointless...