My Friend Now Tells Me He Has Been Hoarding New Issues For Years

A friend of mine that I have known for many years came out to me telling me that he has been hoarding new issue stamp panes for some time. He knew I was a stamp collector but I was unaware until now that he was doing this. Basically, he was trying to sell his large accumulation of mint stamp panes but has been unable to get anything close to what he spent on it. He is soon to retire and has asked me if I was interested in it. I said that it is not what I collect and that I cannot afford it. I have told him that he would be fortunate to get at the most face value for it but not to hold his breath since he would most likely get much less for it. This has been a wake up call for him. I said I am sorry that I couldn't do much for him. I quit collecting new issues several years ago after getting burned when selling them.

Sad to hear. People have done it for years and years, and almost always are burned. Even really money-smart people -- when he was young, Warren Buffett stockpiled a bunch of air mail stamps before a rate increase, on the idea that they'd suddenly became valuable. He learned an important lesson about the stamp market, and had pallets of the stamps in his garage (to use for postage, to get full face value) for decades afterward.

Wayne Gehret buys and sells huge amounts of postage and is good guy;

https://www.usmintsheets.com/buying/index.php

All those years you've known him, I assume he never asked for your advice on what he was doing? I wonder if part of him knew it was throwing away money and just didn't want to hear that. delusions are funny things.

I'm not so sure he's going to make a profit, but very few dealers today - internet included - buy modern issues in quantity. It's just too expensive.

The result is that many of these modern stamps are starting to rise in value as collectors try to find them.

It really depends on what he means by "modern" issues. If he's talking since 2000 and later, he can probably offer them up on ebay and may make a few dollars back of what he spent.

If he offers them to a dealer, he's going to lose 30-50% of what he paid.

The best bet would be to sell them one sheet per listing, at 90% of face, on ebay and see what happens with the first fifty sheets he puts up. If there's no interest or he's not getting what he's asking, then look to sell them discounted to a dealer.

Just my recommendations...

It is interesting that he is not the first and only person to spring such a surprise on me. My father and my uncle also did the same thing too to me at different times in the past. They thought that they somehow knew better than me and didn't say anything until they had a selling problem. I guess that there are many closet stamp collectors around that may be hiding some big expenditures from those that they know like family members and friends. I don't know what makes many that don't really know anything about stamps invest in new issues from the post office expecting some kind of big return on their investment. Then when that fails, they come to me expecting me to somehow help them out of their dilemma since I am the only stamp collector that they know.

I don't really collect modern stamps but decided to complete Queen Elizabeth GB
( as i'm from the UK )

what surprised me was I was buying year packs complete year un-mounted mint for less then they were brought for in the 70s and 80s

All I know is if I had brought these back then when I was a kid i'd have expected them to atleast go up with inflation but too be worth LESS twenty and thirty years on is crazy.

The ebay suggestion is spot on. Will take some work but could be well worth the trouble. Check history to get an idea of what past sheets are going for.

ebay - US Stamps. 1940 to date unused. Sheets. SOLD items.

Just for comparison - some face value lots from Harmer's latest auction

https://hrharmer.com/en/_auctions/&...w_all_lots=1

Mark - yes, I bought a substantial number of presentation packs to use for posting ebay lots. Usually go for 50-55% of face at auction. One of the many stamp "investments" that were a poor gamble.

The secrecy is an interesting part of this ... perhaps the thought is that, if every one knew about this great moneymaking opportunity, the profits would be thinner. Of course, once you get inside the family (eg jogil's father & uncle), the reasoning can be more, uh, personal.

Cheers,

/s/ ikeyPikey